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September 7, 2014, 9:53PM PDT.
I have been a busy guy. I am still a busy guy.

We sold our condo and bought a manufactured home in a 55 plus park. I will not go into why we set ourselves up for this horrible task except to say, as hard as the work of moving and the buying and selling has been, it was worth it. We are in the midst of the moving still. We have moved two pickup loads and two aztek loads of boxed small stuff and we are taking another two loads over tomorrow and hope to have the energy to put some of it put away. We have 'two men and a truck' coming on the 16th to move the big stuff.

Between now and then we are going to go to Montana for a few days. There is a 60th anniversary in the family at Plentywood and we want to get in on the festivities. We are flying to Billings, taking a rental car to Miles City where we intend to stay over night, then we will drive to Plentywood. We are going to be there Friday and Saturday, come back Sunday and resume our moving on Monday. Holy smoke, those are elaborate plans. I will do a writing on the 15th to let you know how it all turned out. If we get back home OK.

That is the kind of action that keeps me awake, even at night.

After Norma gets everything arranged in our new home, I am going to sit in my chair and listen to the fall and winter rains on the roof.

There has been some question about the availability of these writings. Seems it is not always possible to get the computer to display my web site. It may be a case of incompatibility between my windows xp and anyother software out there. I will test it.
JH

July 24, 2014, 10:54AM PDT.
Do you remember the January doldrums I told you about? Well we are haveing the July doldrums now. This may be what was called the dog days of summer. I don't know. Here in Western Washington there should not be such a thing as dog days of summer. We have had only a handfull of hot days so far and now we are experiencing some normal weather. It rained an inch yesterday and it is still cool and overcast today. An improvement in the weather is scheduled for this afternoon. It is supposed to get sunny and warm for a few days. I think this cool wet weather has done some bad things to my bones and muscles. It may not be doldrums at all, it may be arthritis.

Just in time. Jamie and Laura Jo along with Laura Jo's sister are hosting a Roberts family reunion. They are not calling it that. They are calling it Karen Con. That is the 60th birthday of the hereontana sister. It is going to be a four day convention. They are going to utilize the same outdoor facilities they used for the wedding plus any other place they can find. We are invited. It is going to be a good time. We will picnic tonight at the park.

On second thought, what I think is the doldrums, may be laziness, which may be the result of too easy life style with too much leasure. The old rocking chair gets me about once every day. I should quit sitting in that chair. It has sleeping sickness. JH

July 6, 2014, 10:35PM PDT.
It has been several days since the wedding and a couple of days since the the fourth of July. Now, I will get some writing done.

But, it is ten thirty at noght. I am tired. I didn't do anything to make me tired today, but got tired anyway. Well, I did help Jamie cut my grass and Norma and I went about Everett on errands this afternoon. That fresh air did it.

Summer has finaly come to Western Washington. Summer is so short here, we feel we should stand out in the sun while it is shinning. We are afraid it will disappear and we won't see it again. The humidity is about 90 and it was about 78 today so I did sweat a little bit. It has been good weather for the plants. The black berries are in bloom. It looks like a good crop is on the way. I intend to steal a few in a couple of months. The seeds are terrible but they can be u    d for pies. I like to make pies, as you may remember from my wonder berry days in Miles City. Wonder berries make a much better pie than black berries. I am afraid to plant wonder berries here. They may go wild and I won't be able to corall them.

I do have some Montana plants. I planted holyhock seed a couple years ago. There is a small patch, but they are gowing just fine. I will put some tall stakes around them to keep the wind from puching them over. They are about seven feet tall and not in bloom yet. The will be blooming in another week.

A little information about the wedding is in order. After all the worry, mine, and the planning, Laura Jo and Jamie's, it went without a hitch. Everything went well with sunshine on Saturday. That was inportant because they were married in the back yard of their home and the reception took place there as well. All together it involved four events over four days. On Wednesday Jamie cooked chilli at our place, on Thursday, the ladies had a shower and the men went to an Aquasox baseball game, on Friday Norma and I hosted a dinner at a fancy restaurant on the Everett water front and on Saturday the wedding and reception finally happened under sunny skies in the bride and groom's back yard.

In case your eyes have glazed over, I will not describe the July fourth. I will need something to write the next time.
JH

June 19, 2014, 9:03AM PDT.
Evrything has gone haywire. Here I am writing early in the morning instead of late at night and the sun is shinning. It must be a special day. I will try to do some chores to take advantage of that.

My doctor of the hindend examined my hindend yesterday and pronounced me well on the way to healing. Glory be to God. And, of course, thanks to my doctors. I have had several. I must have been pretty sick. It does seem that my fistula problems are coming to an end.

I do, still have a problem. That old rocking chair has got me. There is something wrong with it. Everytime I sit in it, I get sleepy and lazy. Is it time for me to stay out of it?

I did stay out of it last week. We had company from Phoenix. Martha Mullins and Jim spent several days in the area. They stayed at Tom's place but we got to see them two times. I went with them on a Boeing tour on Tuesday and they were up and visited with us on Sunday.

We are looking forward to a lot more of the same next week, when Art and Judy, Marge and Eric and Molly, Mark and Eric will be here for the wedding. I am pretty sure I will have to go to hospital after that is over for a rest. It might be too great a shock to go from the chair to high level socializing. Don't think I can do it? We will see.

It all begins today. We are going to make our final request at Lombardi's for the dinner, and order some food for the reception after the wedding. This will be the point of no return.

Looking forward to seing you all. JH

June 9, 2014, 10:17PM PDT.
The long delay in my writing reflects my life in general. Laziness has taken over. I am lazy.
Or, the rocking chair has got me. Either way, I am not getting much done. I have been looking forward to summer for abut eight months and now I look up at the calendar and it is well under way.

Speaking of summer, we have a realy big event coming up this summer. Jamie and Laura Jo are getting married on the 28th. We have been focused on preparing for that. I don't have an official job in the preparation except, that of worrier in chief. This is the fourth complete summer we have spent here in the great state and something big has occured in each one of them. Including 2014. I have had plenty of practice in my worrying. I am getting really good at it.

We have only a few relatives here in Western Washington, but we spent time with all of them over the past weekend. We donSunday. t do much but eat. We did plenty of that this weedend.

We have a new relative in town now. Marty and Jim are at Tom's tonight and may be here tomorrow. I hope Tom lets us know if they can come up to see us. They are going to be here for a few days, so I am sure we will get to see them. They can eat with us.

I must mention my health before I sign off. Well, I have had four surgeries on my fistula since September 2013. And three doctors. I have an appointment in about a week for a post surgery exam by the third doctor. There is still hope for me. JH

April 10, 2014, 10:58PM PDT.
Man, is it warming up. Just when you think the whole world has gone to heck, spring actually comes. I thought we were stuck in perpetual winter. Now this.

Tomorrow is blood draw day and Monday is doctor day. I have three appointments on Monday. I think. Maybe not. I need an executive assistant to keep track of my appointments.

When I had my fainting spell, the cardiologist, ordered a mobile EKG for me to ware for a month. I have had it on five hours now. A month? Is he crazy. I can't do that.

OK? enough about my sicknesses? Your eyes glazed over yet?

We had some nice visits with the boys last weekend. We got to see Joe's newly rebuilt condo and have supper with Tom and Joe. I made breakfast for Jamie and Laura Jo on Sunday morning so we saw them all. We are going to Jamie's for supper tomorrow and for a bbq on Sunday. It is gointo be 69 degrees on Sunday and even warmer on Monday. I am anxious to see the grass on Jamie's back yard. They are going to be married back there on the 28th of June. The grass was planted too late in October then replanted this spring. But, grass planted when the ground is too muddy and cold will not come up. It may be time pretty soon for the sod man to come. I am afraid to look.

All we do is eat. Right now, I am going to bed. JH

March 19, 2014, 10:05PM PDT.
It must be close to spring. About one day. We have tulips growing, hostas comming up, roses leafing out, prim roses blooming, heather in bloom, grass growing, forsythias blooming, cherry blossoms comming out and various small shrubs starting to bloom. I am happy. So what. It is still raining. But there are some dry days predicted to be comming. It has been raining so much of the time in recent days we can not find a break to go to the mail box. This is rain city.

As you know, I haven't been working these past couple of weeks and don't think I ever will work again. So this is retirement.
I guess I can do it. You can see I am real observant. That seems to be what I do for entertainment.

When you are retired and not allowed to drive, there isn't much news worth telling. I do feel like I may have turned a corner with my fainting. They tell me to drink a lot of water. I don't like water that well. I like beer, wine and coffee a lot better. But, in recent days I have been taking that advice more o laetseriously and feel better. I am trying to hydrate my self enough to avoid any future fainting so I can get back behind the wheel. Hope is a wonderful thing.
 
I just read a book on mental health that rated hope very high among the virtues good for mental health. I am not mentally ill. But, a Christian can have hope right up through that famous last breath. I don't know about the other guys.

I am still upright. I hope you are too. JH

March 9, 2014, 2:57PM PDT.
Some big changes have taken place.

Doc removed my seton. That was a surgical procedure with the things that go with it. Surgery prep, a short nap and recovery room time. We will have a post op visit to the doctor on Tuesday the 11th of March. Then I will know if the whole process was a success.

The other big news item is that I got fired. I am truly retired. On Monday evening, I fainted again. After that I felt like I should not go to work the next morning so I called the boss's cell phone. I left a message I ask if I could stay home the next day so as not to faint in my cubicle with a client. When she called back she agreed I should not work the next day.

I saw the Doctor on Wednesday and he had no more idea as to why I fainted than he did the first time I saw him about fainting. When I called that news in to the boss, we decided I should notr that wellwork until the problem got resolved. Which is going to be the remainder of the tax season, so I am effectivly fired.

There is still some hope that the problem will be resolved. I am to see a neurologist this week and the cardiologist is sending me a heart monitor to wear for three weeks or so to record my heart action. This makes seven doctors in two and a half months. And I still can't drive. I am still a shut in. Thank goodness I have a driver who is going to take me to church in a couple of hours.

I got the news that Diane Hecker died on the 6th of March. I hope for an imediate lifting up to heaven of her soul.

Another item, but of little importance. I have let the old rocking chair get me these past few months. It will be required of me to work against the lethargy that causes if I am to ever do anything. So, I went for a .85 mile walk and fixed the small break in our fence. Resolving, as well, to do more outside physical activity each day to get into my previously fine shape.JH

February 16, 2014, 9:33PM PST.
I am three weeks into my current employment, and going pretty good. The short days have something to do with it and the office has a slightly better atmosphere. All for the better.

I am getting along better with the weather. We have had a dryer than usual winter. It brought us a little bit of sunshine and a little bit of cold weather. It can't get sunny without getting cold. That is why it is sunny in Miles City, or why it is cold in Miles City. Anyway, it has been a pretty good winter.

We had some pleasant holidays and now that we are into the doldrum part of the winter, I miss those days. But, we are working our way through the winter and the case of the fistula. The fistula too, is less and less a problem to me. I have a visit with the doctor coming up on Friday and a final surgery a week from Tuesday, the 25th. That should end it all and I will be whole again.

We have seen quite a bit of the boys in the past couple of weeks. Joe has moved back into his condo. Tom says it looks great. I believe him. Joe has become a pretty good judge of furnishings. He has everything he needs back in his condo now except the cat. She is still boarding with us. She is a cat with the usual simptoms but at the same time she is real good company. I don't know if we will miss her more than be releived when she goes. Joe says he will come and get her in a couple of weeks after everything has been put back in place.  Jamie comes for a visit once a week. He comes on Saturdays when Laura Jo is at work. He sits in our rocking chair and we drink tea.

I got my driving privledges back which I lost when I fainted. My primary care physician told me not to drive for six months, then referred me to a cardiologist. At my follow up  visit he said "I don't have a problem with your driving". I believe that overrides my primary care doctor's edict. The problem is, you can't live here without driving. My driving assistant was so good though, about being available when I needed her that I may not need driving privledges. Anyhow, I am driving myself to work. JH

February 1, 2014, 8:12PM PST.
I am still a busy guy. I worked for five half days, did my zits baths and did my naps. That is about all you can wring out of me.

I have good news. Dr Herman is going to remove my seton on the 25th of this month. That is a milestone. But, I have my good days when the thing dosen't bother me much. I can live an almost normal life, but I still can't drive. I am going to see my cardioligist in a few days, and maybe he will loose me from the no driving order. It is a little late for that. I have become accustomed to being driven around. I kind of like it. But, that is because I have a reliable driver who takes me everywhere.

We are having Seahwaks fever here in Seattle. Tomorrow is the milestone day. The super bowl. It will be a bigger relief than removing the seton. We have althe people we know coming over to watch our TV. They either like to see football on a big tv or they like Norma's food. Anyhow, we expect a bunch of people. It will be great. Even I have a Seahawks jersey. I believe it is Lynch's number. I don't care much for some of the Seahawks, but I like Lynch.

Joe is moving back to his condo but we still have the cat. He wants to leave it here until he is finished moving in a few days. JH

January 27, 2014, 10:10PM PST.
I am a busy guy.

We got some things done today. I visited my colorectal specialist in Bellevue. He declared my seton doing a successful job and we made an appointment to get it taken out. That will be done on the 25th of February. Not a minute too soon. But a lot of minutes too late. I am getting along with it fairly well, but it is an irritant and a worry.

How is it to plug up the fistuala? The doctor will, carefully separate the pinchure muscle until he gets at the chanel built during the preceeding 10 weeks and tie the ends off. I don't know if he will cut the middle of the chanell out or not, but this is supposed to plug up the passage way from the rectum to the abcess, or the channell opening where the abcess was. Too much to learn in such a sort time. Not to worry. I may have it wrong anyhow.

Low and behold. I checked the work schedule at H&R and I am expected to be at work at 9. It is going to be great. I even have a Seahawks jersey. :00AM in the morning. I hadn't expected that. I thought my first day was the 4th of February. You can see how on top of my life activities I am. Well I have to take this one day at a time. I can't imagine working for two and a half months, but I can handle four hours. We will see how it goes.

I have to go to bed to give the cat some rest. JH

January 13, 2014, 8:43PM PST.
I did see Dr Jacobson. I didn't ask all my questions because he was intent on studying the results of the hospital tests. He came to about the same conclusion the three doctors I saw in the hospital came to. He dosen't know why I fiented either. I told him why I fiented but he didn't accept my diagnosis. He did send me to a heart specialist, the fifth doctor, who didn't know why I fiented either. I did notice that each time a doctor came to my consumption of flow max he would "Hummm". I take that as a suspicion so I halved my consumption of flow max, just in case. I did also notice that on the two occasions when I fiented it occured after eating virtually nothing for five or six hous, so I am keeping my belly full. That is enough health news. I won't disuss my seton situation. Your off the hook. Three weeks to go.

One more thing. Dr Jacobson forbade driving for six months. That seems a little harsh to me. But I do understand the reason. When you fient it is sudden and without warning, so, if I did have a fient while driving in traffic, what a disaster that could be. So I will obey. I have a very good assistant driver in the household. She has volunteered to drive me to work and to church. Otherwise, I am a shut-in. Anyone who wants to come visit will find me at home.

This is auful. You talk to a guy who is sick and he knows nothing except how sick he is so that is all you hear from him. I have to start reading the paper.

We have been hosting some wild football parties. The boys come over and we eat and watch the game. The guys like to watch our 55 inch TV screen so we have company every Saturday or Sunday. It is a good thing for a shut-in. We will watch the game this Sunday when the Seahawks will most likely give the 49er's a good thrashing. Then we will get a week off and the Seahawks will have to go to New York to play in the snow against the Patriots or Broncos. I hear the Patriots are going to appear but I don't think so. I am looking for the Broncos to be Seahawks meat. Anyhow. it is going to be great for a shut-in to have all that company.

I am going to work at H&R in a couple of week, God willing. We will see. JH

January 4, 2014, 9:23PM PST.  
I am going to get a few things off my chest.

First of all, I am committed to do tax returns for H&R again this year. I am scheduled to start on the 2nd, of February, Ground Hog's Day, unless the manager at the office needs help sooner. 
We had an office meeting today that was for the purpose of telling us how to increase business. It was a good thing for me because my salesmanship has always been poor. But six hours seemed to me to be a little bit long. But, on the other hand, it was a good test of my stamina. I am glad to report I held up pretty well.

Speaking of stamina and that indicates health, my health is improving. I am feeling better and my butt is getting a lot tougher. I can function pretty well without pain or irritation. I have an applintment with the Butt doctor on Monday and another one with my primary care giver on Tuescay.

Whyo inderstand the reason are you gong to see your primay care giver on Tuesday, you may ask. Well, I feinted the other day and spent a night in the hospital. There is a fient trigger list a mile long, and I recognized the cause of mine. Hungar. I was hundary. At least that is what I hope it was. I have some control over that. We are going to discuss fienting. I do have a diagosis. Vasovagl syncope. It may mean a nerve failure allowing a drop in blood pressure. My blood pressure has been low for some time. Maybe it got too low for a little while. That is a sample of the discussion I will have with Dr Jacobson. I will have more information on that the next time.

Finally. Some weather I can enjoy. I love to watch snow shoveling in Boston and New York on the evening news. I have seen some in Chicago and Ohio too. No to worry. We have already had our snow for the winter.

We are looking forward to spring. I got some passport cards so we can drive to Canada after the weather gets nice and warm. I guess it gets warm in Canada in the spring. We could go to North Dakota, but I am a venturous guy. I want to go somewhere I have never been before. I have a pamphlet of tours in Canada. I think there must be a short inexpensive one into the Canadien rockies that would be fun.

That is everything that was on my chest. JH

December 13, 2013, 8:32PM PST.
I started this blog 14 years ago when I was doing chemo therapy because it gave me something to say. So, we have come all this way to Fistula. Now I have something to say. I have noticed, that if you are trying to have a conversation with a sick man, you might as well get used to the idea he is going to talk about his sickness. Why? Well, that is all he thinks about and what a person thinks about is what comes out of his mouth.

So, I will tell you a little bit about my sickness. I am in the first week of 10 weeks of waring a rubber band in my fistula. I am trying to use cleaned up words here. So far what I have written about fistulas is true. My colo-rectal specialist is doing what he does. He has installed a rubber band in through the fistula channel and out through the butt. That is a cleaned up word. Then he tied the ends of the rubber band to keep it   place for 10 weeks. This is supposed to cause scar tissue to grow in the channel and plug it. In a second surgery he is going to remove the middle part of the rubber band and , I think let the ends of the rubber band to form a couple of plugs.

That is something you would to a bum steer.

If all this comes to pass I will be happy. But, not a cleaned up word, in the interim I have to put up with repeated bouts of infection. I just got a new supply of cipro to clear up this new case of infection.

That is about all the news from here. I know other things have been happening, but I have not been paying any attention to them. JH

November 24, 2013, 10:23PM PST.
Well, the poor devil is still up at 10:30 at night. I am going to be up a lot later than this. I don't drink coffe more than once per week, so it has a powerful effect on me. Joe came over at about 3:00 PM so I had a cup of coffee with him. Sitting in my recliner I get lethargic and don't have much to say, so to make Joe's visit a little bit more lively, I thought I would have a cup of coffee. Well, it sure did make the conversation lively but now I haven't shaken the cafiene yet. I could still carry on a lively conversation, but Norma is assleep and the cat does not understand me. So I have to keep my mouth shut, but I don't think I can sleep.

We had a nice time today. Norma made a beef roast for the boys and we ate. That is about all we do, is eat. However, Joe played with his cat and Jamie, Laura Jo and Tom got us caught up on their news. Jamie and Laura Jo have gotten all the basic work done in their back yar In a second surgery hisis going to removed in preparation for the wedding next summer. Tom is driving his new Yaris for work and pleasure. He needed a dependable car so he bought it. Joe has seen his condo and knows about how much work is left to do. He dosen't expect it to be done until after the first of the year. Then the cat goes home.

Next dummer, we are going to do some other stuff. We have applied for passport cards, good for Canada, Mexico and the Carribian. All we need to do is drive a couple of hundred miles north and we will be in Canada. Big deal. I do have a book of tours in Canada. We may drive up, jump on a tour bus and see the Canadian Rockies in the summer time. I know a guy in Canada who has a tour service, but he is Chinese and most of his customers are too. Would that be fun. I will see what Norma thinks of it. We could go to Mexico. I would like to go to Rocky Point, but probably can't afford it. Only, if my butt heals by then.

I have some issues with my boss. H&R called the other day and wanted to talk to me about my work schedule. I knew I would have to make a decision soon, and that was a good time to discuss it with a person of authority. So I spilled my guts and told her exactly what my condition is and what I expected in the furture. The result was to take my commitment off the schedule for January. That may lock me out for the entire season, depending up on how many people they have and whether they want an old geezer in the office. I am not going to sit in a cubicle with a sore butt. I don't like sitting in front of my own computer with a sore butt.

I think that is about all the information you need from here. The only thing missing is the whether, and you can get that from the internet.JH

November 12, 2013, 4:45PM PST.
It took three days to get this computer back and running. I think I have done it some good.

The real reason I am writing today is to let you know how my physical suffering is coming along. You will recall I had painful surgical recovery and shingles going on at the same time. Compared to that I am almost pain free. Butt there is still a problem. My surgical wound is not yet healed. It seems to be a little less painful but still plagues me. I have an appointment with the doctor on Thursday. Maybe he can see some sign of healing and hope. I hope it will be healed enough by the end of this month so I can tell my employer I can go to work in January. We will see.

This is a humdrum time aroung here. The Mariners are all done, I don't care much for the Seahawks and I don't know who the Sounders FC are. If my guess is right, we have an olllller sturation of professional sports. They have deluted the pool with too many teams.

In Miles City, it was the January dalldrums. It is about the same. I removed most of my flowerpots from the deck on Sunday because they were an eye sore. Now I am going to pull the Gerniums from my flower beds and replace them with some Washington Kale or winter cabbage. It is a colorful cabbage plant that looks pretty good and will with stand the Everett winter. If the weather is decent, Jamie is coming over on Sunday to cut my grass. I have been sick and he has a nice little 14 inch battery powered mower. I haven't been that sick. I could cut it with my grass trimmeer if I had to, but I don't want to do that. I haven't done anything like that in such a long time, my legs might go south on me. My back yard is about a 45 degree slope.

I am going to go get the mail. JH

November 11, 2013, 3:31PM PST.
Big things have been happening in my computer room. 
Three or four things have happened in the last day. I backed up my entire system, reformated the hard drive, installed windows XP, Setup the on line connection so I can run Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, installed and retrieved the file for openoffice, and installed and retrieved the file for this program. I still have to download Core FTP and figure out how to set it up. You can see, I went about this backward. I should have got info to setup the on line connection and set up the FTP program before I wiped everything out.

The big question is why did I do this? I hope there is a good reason. JH

October 30, 2013, 10:49PM PDT.
Since I have burdened you with all of my pain and suffering, I will let you in on each little bit of improvement that may occure from time to time.

Now that I have told you I will let you know

Humdrumet each little bit of improvement in my condition, I can't really think of any improvement to report. The doctor told me my shingles would last three weeks, but it has been about five weeks and I still have a little pain and some gross blotches on my arm. I can live with that. Butt, the big issue is the Fistualotomy. My doctor told me quite plainly, that it would take three months to heal. A man in pain is not a man with patients. Some times I can sit on this thing perfectly fine. I believe the cushion has something to do with it. We tried to find a better cushion today, but could not. Tomorrow I am going to a medical device place to see if they have something that will make sitting a little bet more comfortable.

So there, you have it. JH

October 27, 2013, 3:43PM PDT.
More of the same. When you talk to a sick guy what can you expect him to talk about? His illness, of course. OK?

I am getting better. For two reasons. Time has healed and I am getting better at taking care of my wounds. The blader scan pain only lasted a day, then it went away. Thank God. The shingles are running their course. It is down to some purple spots where the blisters were and the pain is almost gone. Thank God. However, the butt surgery site is still sore. No bowl movement yet today. Thank God. All I wanted was a little bit of comfort. Now all I want is a lttle bit of ambition. It is fun to get the urge to do something and do it. That is my next goal. When I get there, I am going to be fine.

The sun is shinning today. I know, you think I am lieing. It has been foggy for several days, but the sun came out this morning and it is still out. The weather matable.n says it will shine even more. It would be nice to get out for a short walk. I haven't done much lately. It irritates my butt wound. I think I will give it a try. JH

October 23, 2013, 8:07PM PDT.
It has been a month since I last wrote. Reviewing the last writing, there is not much more I can say.

But there is. You guessed it, I have more pain. I have the shingles. They started a day or two after the butt surgery and are just now healing enough so I can get by without the narcotic pain killer.  I had a rash on my left arm from the arm pit to the fingers. It turned into a bunch of blisters and now it is a bunch of scabs and red blotches. I am not going to discribe the shingles any further. You can get plenty of info on that from the internet or your doctor.

There is more. My radiation oncologist became worried that I had some scarring in my bladder. So, you got it right. I got a bladder scan from my Urologist. There is no scarring but I still am recovering from the side effects of the scan.

So, now I am up to shingles pain, butt pain and blmore tomadder pain.

I am looking forward to a better time next month. I know there is a better place on the other side of the forest. But I can't see the forest for the trees from here.

When I catch a lucid moment I have a couple of project in the works. I am preparing an info package for the condo owners to inform them that we need to raise our HOA dues a little bit to cover the insurance premium. That job is pretty well done. I still have to run it past the president and get copies ready to mail to the condo owners. I had a moment today when I was able to think a little bit about something other than myself to do a little bit of work.

The other is the H&R thing. Hopefully, I will have a few minutes tomorrow when I can get my application finished so I can go to work again I January. See there. I can see a better place on the other side of the forest.

We have seen the boys in the past few days. Joe came up on Sunday to visit his cat and Tom came up on Saturday to visit us. We saw Jamie and Laura Jo last night for supper at their house.They are all fine. Joe is moving back into his condo in a couple of months so he has to make sure the cat remembers him.

Jamie and Laura Jo are fixing up the back yard for a couple of events next summer. A wedding in June and a birthday in July. They have it looking pretty good already. Just waiting now for the grass to come up.  JH

September 25, 2013, 4:34PM PDT.
The birthday has come and gone. The big 78. It would seem my goal was to reach number 78. But that is not the case. I didn't have a goal, but I am surprised to have reached 78 considering the 78 grueling years it took to get there. That was not a given for a whimp like me.

Now, I am suffering from a severe case of butt pain. A fine way to start out number 79. It seems I had a condition that had to be surgically corrected on my butt. It was an abscess caused by a leak in the rectum. My rectum. It required, not only cleaning the fistual canal from the rectum to the skin but fixing the hole in the rectum. Again, my rectum. If it had been your rectum I wouldn't have this pain. To deal with the pain, I was given a narcotic pain reliever which caused some side effects. I didn't like that so I switched to tylenol Sunday. That was a mistake. Monday and Tucam sday were miserable so I switched back to the narcotic and I feel great today. You may find this boring stuff, but I am probably just talking to myself anyhow.

I am sitting here all by myself. Norma, the only housemate I have, is out this afternoon meeting with a gang of similar folks to discuss the latest reading assignment. Norma told me I could read the book and probably enjoy it because it is told through the eyes of a young boy, son of a bar tender in Montana. I will, because I like stories told through the eyes of a young boy. A good example of that is the Christmas Story, if you have ever seen it on TV.

That brings to mind a couple of shows I have seen recently on Public TV. One was The Farm Story told by an old man who had been a young boy on a farm at Wildrose, Wisc in the 30's, 40's and 50's. Leaving out some of the Wisconsin stuff like milking 13 Holstens and raising cucumbers for a cash crop it had a lot of Montana farm similarities in it. The other was about the Lefeldt Ranbulet sheep ranch at Lavina. This one was about the management of ranch operations in the sage brush country of south central Montana. It included the Lefeldts talking about thier ranch and a lot of camera shots of the sage brush, the hills, the sandrocks and the jack pines.

That brings to mind another issue that is burning in my mind. They are billing us $80.00 for TV Cable every month. So, I have been researching antennas. For $80.00 I could by an indoor TV antenna and stop paying these cable people every month. But, can I get shows like the Farm Story and The Lefeldt sheep ranch story? I don't think so. Or, how about the afternoon judge shows. I don't think so. But I may buy it to try it , so I will know. I can always get part of my money back by selling it on Craigs List.

I have been talking to myself for quite a while. JH

September 13, 2013, 11:22AM PDT.
I am sitting here watching the weather. We have a small patch of grass beside out condo that I have been keeping trimmed for the past three years. It had gotten pretty weedy so last spring I put some weed and feed on it and got pretty good results. Now, however, the new weeds are growing. So is the grass. During the dry spell it looked pretty bad, but as soon as the rains started the grass came on pretty good. It is supposed to be cloudy this morning and sunny this afternoon. I want to see a little blue in the sky before I commit my weed and feed. So, as soon as I see a blue spot up there I am going out and do my work.

It has been a busy summer. For me. I am a lot like the cat. I only work a little bit each day because I need to spend some time sleeping.

What has made this summer so busy. Well, H&R has required us to get certified in the new na application they have developed. So, I have been doing case studies and Web Based Training exercises along with my usual household chores. Now that is done, I am not sure I want to commit to three months of part time work.

Ouside of the rrip to Montana, which took a couple of weeks, we have not done much this summer. We have planned a couple of things, like a Mariners ball bame and a visit to the Chuhuly glass show at Seattle Center, but when the time came to go we decide to watch TV. I guess that is a case of lazyness. I would like to jump into the car and drive up into the mountains for a little something different to see before winter comes. Around here, you can drive up into the mountains in the winter as long as you don't go too high and get into the snow. Winter is not a freeze up. It would be nice to go to Paradice on Mount Rainier, but it may be a little too late for that. There might be snow up there.

Norma is healthy, but I have got a problem. I am still sitting on my absess. It had surgery last year, but it has come back and makes a nusance of itself once in a while. A week from today, we are going to have surgery to clean it out again.

We have a busy summer comming up next year. Jamie and Laura Jo are getting married in their back yard and they are having a 60th birthday party for Laura Jo's sister, so a lot of work has already been done in preparation for the events. It will be a transformation of the yard. Shruggery has been removed structures rebuilt and grass planted. Of course there is stuff to be hauled away. I get to do some of that with my strusty Montana pickup. JH

August 29, 2013, 9:43PM PDT.
The weather comes first. It is going to show up in this writing anyhow. Might as well get it over with. The day started out normal. It was cloudy and wet. It had rained during the night. But the sky gradually turned partly, about two thirds, cloudy with enough sun to dry the driveway. Then, this evening we got a real good old thunderstorm. Well, it didn't thunder much. I heard it once. It rained though, just like a thunderstorm is suposed to, in great sheets blown by the wind. For a while, it was just like Miles City. That is the weather report for this time.

I am on track to go to work at H&R this winter. I have been jumping through the hoops to get hired and to get certified in the company's new software. Last summer it was the Registered Tas Return Preparer test that ruined my summer. This year it is the new software. When the dust settles,ooped.... I can see that this new software is going to be a good thing. Maybe, now, I can get some tax returns done instead of fighting the software. You know what they say happens when you go in to drain the swamp? You go in there to drain the swamp but wind up fighting the alligators.

We have preparations under way for a wedding next summer. There dosen't seem much time goes by without preparing for something. This is no diferent. It needs a lot of preparation. Jamie and Laura Jo, after a very long courtship, are getting married in June next year. We are all delighted, and helping out as best we can. I have, up to now, been giving plenty of advice in the upgrading of the back yard at their house to make it a suitable place for a wedding to take place. This could even go beyond advice to actually lifting things. One thing I have been doing is everything I can to get the tomoto garden to hurry up and ripen, so we can remove the garden for the planting of new grass. There are quite a few green, fair sized tomotes in there. I don't know if is the soil or the weather that prevents the fruit from growing to full size. Some are pretty
good but many are under sized. They are tasty.

We haven't been at Jamie's house for a few days so I don't know how things are coming along , but we are going to the EverGreen State Fair in Monroe on Sunday with them, so we will get a good look at the prograss then. I bring up this information, bcause I want to mention the intended attendance at the Fair. It is the best fair I have every seen, not to down grade the Plentywood fair or the Forsyth fair which we attended last month. The have gotten so much better than they were in the old days. I was greatly impressed by them both.

I know there is more I could dicuss, but I am getting sleepy. I will try to get back to the key board tomorrow. JH

August 2, 2013, 3:30PM PDT.
I did somewhat describe our Montana trip. But, it was a hummdinger. There is no way to adiquately describe a hummdinger. But, I can hit the high lights.

Persistantly persuing the most bang for my buck, I stumbled onto the Costco travel web site. In fact , it was suggested to me by an employee of a car rental firm. I wonder if he is still employed? It turned out to be a great oportunity. It lowered our rental costs by about a hundred bucks. We got a nice new Dodge Journey, red, with seating for seven.It had all the new gadgets and gave us a nice ride. Unfortunately, we had to give it back and so we are driving the Aztek now. But the Aztek is a pretty good ride too. It has a lot of miles on it and I don't want to put it under stress with a long drive, because we want to drive it for a while yet. What I am saying is, if we didn't have the Aztek we would be riding in a 32 year old pickuccccc2 year old pickup is sitting in the garage ready to go at a momments notice.

We visited most of the people we know in Montana. Missed a few, but I don't supose it was a big disappointment to them. In the two days in Forsyth we saw Frances Ellen, Frances Dillet, Art and Dan Clifton. The farm and the Rosebud county fair. Not bad for two busy days.

We went to Miles City for three days and saw most of the people we know there. I don't remember what we did in Miles City. We did go to church and see a great many folks there.

The visit to Plentywood was the highlight of the whole trip. We got to see Norma's sisters and the Rosevelt county fair. That is fair number two. Now, believe it or not, we are going to see fair number three in a couple of weeks. It is the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, Washington, right outside of Everett. I had the best hamburger I have ever eaten at the 4H booth at the Forsyth fair and the best roast beef sandwich I have ever eaten at the Rosavelt county fair in Plentywood. The treat at the Evergreen State Fair is going to have to be pretty darned good to beat that.

My chores are pretty well done and now I have to get started on the H&R summer work. This is not regular paid work. It is studying and upgrading my skills for next tax season. This is not your ordinary stuying and upgrading. They have written a new software package to process tax returns. We have to learn how to operate it from scratch. Maybe I can't learn to use it. I don't care. I don't want to work next winter anyhow. But it will be interesting to see if I can. So, I am going to give it a try. They are going to pay a little bit for doing the training. I want to make a little bit of money so I will do it.JH

I'm a bussy guy, so this may be a short writing. Thank the Lord you won't become glassy eyed reading.

It is true. We spent a couple of weeks in Montana. It was a fine trip. We got to see a long list of folks. It was a little hard on me, because, as you know, I am not a good visitor. But, it was right up Norma's alley. She had a wonderful time visiting with almost everyone she knows. As usually happens, when we got home we thought of someone we would like to have seen but didn't for one reason or another. Forgetful.

We borrowed a nice new car from Budget Rent a Car. That gave us a chance to ride in a nice new car and give the old Aztek a little well deserved rest. Now, it will be able to serve us longer.

We had a nice ride out and a nice ride back, so our wanderlust should be satisfied for a while. Maybe not. Four days on the road didn't bother me at all. We loved it.

We were careful to get the most bang for our buck, so I cordinated our visit with Art and Judy's visit to Forsyth and with a visit by Norma's sister to Plentywood. So, that gave us a chance to see no only the people we know in Montana but the people we know from Ohio and Texas as well. That is getting the most bang for your buck.

Now we are back at our Everett, Washington digs and everything is fine. But, we will do it again. As I said at the beginning, I am a busy man. I have to cut this off. In fact I am writing now, because I am going to reinstall windows on this computer, and, who knows, it may never run agaim. JH

July 13, 2013, 9:06PM PDT.
Don't worry, this will be short. We are getting ready to go to Montana for a few days. Norma to see people, and me to see the hills and experience the heat. But, we are going together so we will both see the same things.

We are going to Forsyth where we will see Frances, Arthur and Judy then we are going to Miles City for a couple of days to see Sue and Lil and, I hope, a few others. Then it is on to the big affair at Plentywood. That is where the Becker remenant will meet for a few days of reaquaintance.

I hope the Forsyth visitis not a let down after the reunion in Forsyth last summer. Maybe not. The fair starts in Forsyth while we will be there. I want to go out to the fair to see the place and the cows and sheep. You have to understand, a guy in the city dosen't see those things except on TV. If it weren't for RFD TV I wouldn't see them at alleeful

We will be gone for most of the reaminder of the month, so you will have to wait until August for a conprehensive report on the trip. JH

July 7, 2013, 1:12PM PDT.
I was in here with the cat, but it got too hot for her. She went into the bed room to sit in the open window on the east side of the place. I am on the west side where the sun getst at me this time of day. Yes, we have hot summer sun that sets in the west just like on the grass land of Eastern Montana.

Oh, yes the cat, I wanted to say something about the cat. Her name in Olive and she has lived with Joe for eight or nine years but resides with us now. Joe loaned her to us for six months, or intil his condo is rebuilt. She is a delightful animal as far as cats go. She is way over socialized. Likes to play with her toy feather. I wave it around and she chases it. Dosen't amount to much so far. But, she will fetch. I have never seen a cat fetch. I throw her feather and she looks at it and looks at me and after a while she goes and gets it. She lays it by my feet and looks at me. Of course, I throw it again, and she goes and gets it again. She is not a dog. This process gets repeated only three or four times. Then she is done. How is that?

We had potatoes and peas in cream sauce last week on day. I had to mention this. The peas were from my pea patch. The peas that have grown seven feet tall. There are more peas growing on the vines as we speak. It look like another batch will be ready before the week is over. I love those peas. Just wait until the tomatoes get rip. I have three big plants with three or four big breen tomotes on them. That is ten or twelve tomotes and more blossoms.

And Jamie's cucumber vines are filling the garden spot. We gave them a shot of Mirical Grow and they just went nuts.

We had a lot of fireworks going off in the region. I don't know where it was, but it made a din if not a roar all night. I am not interested to go anywhere to see a fireworks display, I have seen some already, but I have heard there were many in the area. That dosen't include the illegal ones. Besides burning 14 boats on Lake Union, we had plenty of injuries for 2013. Is is over. The dogs can come back out of hiding.

The fourth parade on Colby, our main street, was a sight. It is a fine parade. A little different than those in Miles City at the Buckin Horse sale. There were three saddle horses and a pair of draft horses. The remainder was mechanized and human foot traffic. Plenty of kid and plenty of costumes.

Lest I forget. I need to include an article about the upcoming trip to the grass lands of Montana. Most plans and arrangements are made. We will spend some time with Art and Judy in Forsyth. I need to call him in the morning. It is too late now. He dosen't like to take my calls after midnight in Ohio. I never have gotten that time zone think right. Then we are going to Mile City to visit around a couple of days. We probably know enough people there to spend a couple of days then it is on to Plentywood and the Becker reunion.

Besides that I am not doing much. But I am trying to understand the Confessions of ST Augustine. I also have the City of God. There is a summer's reading. That and the car will keep me busy. JH

June 25, 2013, 7:20PM PDT.
I hope this doesn't turn into an eye glazing long shpeal. There are so many things to talk about.

For instance, the HOA(Home Owner's Association). I am the treasurer which is OK. I keep all the money safe. And, it is recorded in a clear manner so everyone can understand where it is and what it is being assessed for. The problem is parking. A surprise to a Montana guy. Here in Western Washington parking takes up too much space. When I drive down the six lane Evergreen Way(Highway 99) past the care dealerships I get the idea that our area is covered by a layer of asphalt and cars. Each dealer has acres of cars. The Lord help us if they ever all get on the road at the same time. Some of our neighbors have garages full of stuff and the regulations said there is no parking except in front of the garage. This regulation was not inforced or missunderstood so we had troI througJune aguble. The trouble lead to a board of directors meeting which lead to a change in the regulations.

We went to Jamie's to see the garden yesterday. Unlike last year, our stuff is growing. We have pea vines seven feet high, tomatoes two inches across and cucumbers two inches long. I can hardly waite until this week end to see how much it has grown. I don't really grow it for the vegetables but to see the plants grow.

Now, for the baseball news. It is not about the Mariners, it is the Aquasox this time. That is because Jamie and I went to the afternoon game on Sunday. It was a nice afternoon, no rain, the stadium is nice and the game was a good one. Before I forget, the grilled sausage was the high light. The Aquasox are a rookie league that plays in such places as the Tri Cities, Spokane, Eugene, Hillsboro and VanCouver. The stadium is in Everett, easy to get to, easy to park and not so expensive as the major leagues. We are going again.

Th  ere are some blue spots in the sky today. As you know, we don't get much sunshine so blue sky is a nobelty to us. We are coming to the blue sky time of year. That is something to look forward to. But, the weather has not been bad. It may be over cast but it is warm and quiet. Maybe a shower or two.

The big deal coming up is a trip to Montana. We are going to see Art and Judy in Forsyth on the 17th and 18th. We are going to see Frances too. Then we are going to spend a couple of days in Miles City before going to a mini family reunion in Plentywood. I refer to it a a mini reunion because it was not planned very far ahead of time. But, only in the past few weeks so Norma, her brother and her sisters can spend a few days together once again. Lest I forget. We are going out to inspect the farm while we are there. That and the Rosebud county fair are some more high lights of the trip. JH

June 15, 2013, 2:15PM PDT.
Howdy. It is father's day. What will they think of next. Jamie is cooking in his back yard this evening. We are going up at about 5:30. It will be enjoyable. The weather is perfect today and he will do a good job on the steaks. I will not do a good job on the steaks, because my chewing apparatice is not what it should be. But I will work at it as best as I can and enjoy salad and beans. In spite of what I have just written, I expect very tender steak. It is just that there is no steak tender enough for a guy with a poor chewers.

We will, not only, be with a back yard cook but in the area of our gardens. We have got some patches of vegetables growing. He has a patch of onions, some potted tomato plants, a patch of cucumber plants and a patch of lettus. I have a patch of tomatoes and a pea patch. It all looked good the last time I was there. about a week ago.ard of;;; I want to give special attention to the pea patch. I didn't know it, but I bought seed for climbing vines. These suckers are four feet tall and still growing. I put up some polls and string for them to hang on to keep the pea pods off the ground. If they get any taller, they are out of luck. I can't build any higher. They were in bloom the last time I saw them and now I expect to see some pea pods forming.

The weather is great. Good for the crop. It is in the 70's with mostly sunny today. It has been improving for several days, so we have had some sunshine off and on for about three days already. Notice how Western Washington people get excited about warm sunny weather. It is. sometimes, front page news.

Norma and I have planning to go to a Mariners baseball game for some time now. We had decided to go a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't buy tickets. When I went only the day before the game the good cheap seats were all sold. If there are any good cheap seats. So, now we would like to go later this month to an afternoon game. We want to ride down and back on the bus in the day light. We had picked a day, but now I realize I am scheduled for jury duty just two days ahead of the intended date. Foiled again. It may still work out if I am not selected or if the trial is called off.

Who would have thought that out of the people who live in the area I would get a summons. I served on three juries while living in Montana. I think I have done my duty. But that has nothing to do with it, so I will bite the bullet and go.

Enough of that. Now, the good news. Our summer chores are coming along pretty well. I used a simple and easy window washing scheme on the outside of the windows. I got some stuff that is attached to the garden hose and squirted on the windows. It did a job as good as I would do by hand. I am satisfied. These condos have second story decks on the back side. With Washington weather the way it is they take a bad beating during the winter, so need a good fixing up in the spring. That is the second chore I got done already this spring and didn't do a bad job there either. Although, not perfect, I am satisfied with the job. We have had some queaky spots in the floors in this place ever since we moved in. We should have known better. But, I have been waging war on the squeaks for the last couple of years. That is the last summer chore I have tackled. It is hard on my back, but I got the living room floor done last week. When my back quits hurting, I will do some more up stairs.

If you have soldiered your way through this writing to this point you deserve a promotion. Now you are a sargent. JH

May 29, 2013, 4:42PM PDT.
I just reread last week's writing. What a delightful piece of prose. Let's see what comes out this week. Well, it wasn't a delightful piece of prose, just a little better than I expected.

We did examine the garden over the weedend, and no, there are no blosoms on the peas. But, the vines are continuing to grow taller. They must be 18 inches tall now and show no sign of topping out. I have to go up and put more strings on the stakes to keep them form falling over. They say it is not a good idea to let them lay on the ground because, with all the rain here, the pea pods will rot. I believe it. That is what happened to our tomotos last year. We have got them staked up now too. I am just waiting for a dry day. I don't think it rained much yesterday, but was threatening all day so I stayed inside and this afternoon it is raining. Maybe tomorrow.

We got out of the house for a little while this morning to go grocery shopping. I was barely able to keep up with Norma. My back was out of sorts from my work yesterday. I have a little bit of artheritis in my back since I have attained this ripe old age. I feel like I am the 2000 year old man. I know there are legions of men older than I. How do they function? I will tell you how I do it. When I had my severe back problem in April I went to my primary care giver to complain and he sent me to the physical therapist. He didn't want to listen to me complain so he assigned me to her. She has made me learn how to do a whole new set of exercises to strengthen my muscles and loosen my joints. With all this help and tylenol I am getting along just fine as long as I don't abuse myself.

Well, you may want to know, how did I abuse myself so badly that it effected my function a day later. I did it by crawling around on the floor installing squeek no more screws to remove the squeeks in our floor. These are screws to be screwed right down through the carpet into the floor joist. They are not screwed in all the way, but left with about an inch of the screw above the floor board. You then use a special device or a claw hammer to break the screw off just at the floor board level so no part of the screw can be seen or felt through the carpet. Pretty darned clever?

My back is going to get it again tomorrow. I have to cut the grass and go up to Jamie's and put some more strings aroung the peas. JH

May 26, 2013, 10:17AM PDT.
It is the long weekend. Memorial day. A big deal to the working flolks. I am not very impressed. I don't do anything anyway. I is just another day to me. In fact, it is so ordinary it is raining. Not so fast. It dosen't rain here all the time. We had some sunny and hot weather in the first couple weeks of May. It was so hot and sunny, it killed my moss. I had big patches of moss that grew in my lawn over a dark and rainy winter that are brown now. I guess the sun killed it. I scattered a little grass seed in the brown  spots and used a racke to ruff up the dead moss to protect the seedlings when they come up. Lo and behold, it is raining to water the seed. I am going to have a good crop.

The pea patch is looking good. I just spoke with Jamie and he tells me they are in bloom. We are going up to his place at 2:00 this afternoon so I can see the pea patch and other stuff. Lettus, cucumbers I I and tomatoes. You would think we were running a truck garden. No. It is just a couple of little patches we like to tend. We already harvested our radish crop. It was a failure. The radishes were big enough, but they were damaged by the same thing that ruined our turnip crop last year. Worms. The were nice big radishes full of worms. We had to through most of them away. Better news to come later in the season, I hope.

We are going up to Jamie's, not only to see the crop, but to see the restored cars in the Cruze to Colby. It is a car show named for the main street in Everett. These people not only show their cars, they drive them around town to show them off. There will be 400 cars. A true spectacle. Sure hope it stops raing for a while. I need to take an umbrella, camera and a chair.

I just got a call from Sears. They want to insure our appliances against breakdown. After working for H&R I know they are trying to maximise their earnings for every sale made. We did a little of that too. Don'r like it.

The most painfull thing happened. Norma bought a nook tablet to use to read novels. She didn't use it but I found it to be a wonderful device. The painfull part is, I lost it. I never took it out of the house, but still managed to lose it. I think I laid it down were it fell into the garbage can and it went to the dump in the garbage truck. It is not in the house. I have looked in every nook and cranny. Now, I miss it so much I have been on ebay every day looking to steal a replacement. But, you can't do that. The prices are too high. I can't imagine that there isn't a glut of tablets out there by now. I will keep looking.

I hate to quit on such a sorry note. So, I will mention the cat we are careing for. It is Joe's cat he left with us until his condo is rebuilt, you probably know it was destroyed in a fire. Well, the cat is a delightful animal as far as cats go. She was resussitated by the firemen so we have a pretty valuable animal in the house. She dosen't seem to have suffered any long term effects and is doing fine. JH

May 13, 2013, 10:20PM PDT.
We did very little today, so I can tell you all the details. I could not stand not seeing my garden so we drove up to Jamies'. The report is good. The radishes should be harvested, but I want to wait until Jamie gets home on Thursday for that. I don't think they will be blooming yet by then. The peas are looking real good. The vines are bigger and they are developing the little climbing strings they  need to hang onto the strings I have installed along the rows. The peas are going to be great. Too bad I don't have a bigger pea patch. We stopped for a little breakfast at Ihop on the way home and the rest of the day was pretty much a rest period.

The good report on the garden has been made possible by the cooling of the weather, the cloud cover and a little rain.

I had a nice visit with Art this morning. He is planning a summer of travel. We are going to try to isntercept them in Forsyth. I always like to get the biggest bank for my buck. Seeing Art and Judy while we are in Montana any way will give me double bang. For now, I am going to put together a little itinerary of my own for our summer travels. It will have to be a pretty modest one. As you know I am a guy of modest means. I got a problem in the mail today. The Snohomish County Court has summoned my presence at the court on June 24th. It is for a week or as long as the trial lasts. It probably won't interfer with our Montana trip, but I am going to call them in the morning and tell them I am sick.

One more thing. We had dinner with Jamie and Laura Jo on Friday because it was Jamie' 50th birthday. They left on Sunday for a little time off at the beach at Long Beach, Wa. Then Tom treated Norma to a movie in Seattle on Saturday for mother's day. I got to go along to drive to Tom's place, then he drove to the theater in down town Seattle. We saw Jurassic Park in 3D. The movie and a chance to spend some time down town in the evening was a great experience for us. It is not down town Everett.
JH

May 9, 2013, 9:03PM PDT.
Things I have done this week. Since my last writing, I have done chores. I think, it was Monday, I painted the railing around the patio. It is a second floor patio so has special problems when it comes to painting. Nothing that a little ingenuity and elbow grease won't solve. I set up my sprinkler in the flower garden and did some work in my vegetable garden at Jamie's place.

That was nothing special. Millions of people have done the same in the past week. But, I did something special. I have suffered severe lower back pain recently and have been ordered by my primary care physician to submit myself to physical therapy. I have gone for three session and have been practicing my exercised daily. The routine is not bad and has done a good job on my back and legs. I am feeling much better and believe I will be OK. So I can continue doing my chores.

ForsyOur oldest is going to be 50 years old this month. He and his girl friend are going to Cannon Beach for a few days of celebration. But, Norma and I are going to dinner with them tomorrow at the Lana Thai restaurant and delivering a gift. If you are rich, you may give your first born a new car on his 50th birthday, but if you are poor you give him a shirt. We have a shirt for him.

You can see I didn't have an exciting week, but I am taking care of business. JH

May 6, 2013, 9:50PM PDT.

Finally I am writing. There are plenty of excuses for being so far behind with my writing. Too busy, too tired to concered about vanities. Vanity after vanity after vanity. What a blessing it is that most of the worries disappear sooner or later. Just a few weeks ago I was deep into the vanities of the tax business. Now they are all forgotten. I should be basking in care less ease. Oh, no! Now I have a whole new set of vanities. I will mercifully not list them.

But, I will tell you the weather has been great. It has been warm and sunny for so many days I have forgotten it is a cloudy and rainy place. Western Washington. We sat on a bench in the Everett Park on the shores of the Puget Sound for a while this afternoon to enjoy the warm sun and the cool breeze. We had a nice drive through Everett to the park. Tulip, daffodil, and cherry blosom season has passed but we are now into the blooming bush season. The homes in the older part of town where the wealthy people live are ablaze with azalias, and blooming bushes I can not name. They make a lovlier landscape than the earlier blooming plants. Our area doesn't have the landscapes of the older parts of town built whan land was not as scarce. We live in a condo without much yard and even the single family homes have so little land they don't have much pretty landscaping.

Condos gets me on a new train of thought. We have only five owners in our development so everyone is in some way part of the condo government. I happen to be the treasurer. What a nasty job. The bad part is, I did much of the work in starting our home owners association, and I am asked to do things I really don't like to do. Like take sides with one owner or another on his issue. We will not go any farther into that, but I am learning little by little things about condo associations I did not know such as there are common areas. For instance, that little patch of grass in front of your door is not your lawn, it is part of the common area. I think, the common area is everything that is not inside of the walls of a condo. That is where my tinking has evolved. Unfortunately, my fellow owners thinking has not evolved to that same point. Thank goodness, we have a conditions, covenants and restrictions document.

Enouph of that. Now the important stuff. In the month of May we have three birthdays and mother's day. I had been in ignorant bliss about all of these thing until a couple of days ago at Sunday super at Jamie's place I was educated about all of these things. Now I am in a state. I don't know what the state is. I only know there is a little chill running up and down my spine. Maybe it is juct my lower back pain. I am being treated by a physical therapist for lower back pain. I think it is caused by stress, but she is making me do difficult exercises to stretch my leg and back muscles. I discribed my exercies to Jamie and Laura Jo who are yoga praticioners. They tell me I am dong yoga. What ever it is, it is just fine I am feeling better.

I am generally feeling pretty good as long as I don't do much phsycal work. Norma is pretty worried about turning 73 later this month. She is afraid of what that is going to do to her health. Probably nothing, but I am not going to tell her. She will be fine.

There are a host of little vanities I could discuss, but this writing would go down hill from here. JH

March 1, 2013, 4:06PM PST.
It is 58 degrees at the farm today. Prety nice weather for March 1.

They gave me the day off. It is Friday so I get three days in a row off. I have worked two months and already I am tired of it. There are six weeks to go. I will get to the end. All I have to do is put one foot in front of the other. But, in the the short run I can enjoy these days off.

We are going to a concert tonight to enjoy the singing of children's choirs and the accompanyment of Tom. He is enthusiastic about the music he will be playing and made sure Norma and I could come. It is not far from here so it will be easy to get there and back. We will have a good time.

Tom was in Los Angeles last week. He visited our old neighborhood in South Gate and took some video. It was sure good to see the place again. The house is still there. A little the worse for wear but not bad. Joe came over too, so we had a video party with sandwiches and wine. To bad Jamie couldn't make it. He was sick. He is the only one who may be able to remember the place, but I don't believe so. He was pretty young when we left.

Norma is still out on her weekly lunch with her friend Wendy. They think it is great fun to go have lunch and then travel around the area visiting the stores. I can't understand that, but that is what they like to do.

Just one last thought. When I saw the old place in South Gate I was impressed by the fadding that had occurred in my memmory. There is no way that I can trust my memmory to be accurate anymore. It seems to get things a little bit wrong sometimes. JH

Feb 18, 2013, 8:09PM PST.
I am back.

They worked me seven hours today and I am scheduled for four hours on Wednesday. It will be a pretty short week. I was ready for one. The busy part of the tax season is over. We are in for a lull until about the first of April. I hope I get more than 11 hours per week from now on. My savings account won't get plumped up much. I like short weeks but on the other hand I want hours so I can earn more money. You can't satisfy a guy like that.

Sure you can satisfy a guy like that. I feel real satisfied right now. I had a great supper and I am as sleepy as an old dog on a hot August afternoon.

But I am tingling with anticipation because my tulips are up. That means spring is coming soon. Maybe the sun will shine and it will get warm. Warm means 50 degrees and no rain. We have had no rain in a couple of days and the clouds are thiwe had n enough to let a lot of light through and even a patch of sun shine once in a while. That sounds like spring to me.

We saw Jamie and Laura Jo Saturday evening. We see them at least once each week. This time it was to go to the Mexican resaurant for, of course, Mexican food. We like to sit in Jamie's house and drink tea afterwards weather we have supper with them or go out. But, we don't see the other two guys as often. I visited with Joe last night. He was at Tom's place. Tom had just returned from a few days in San Diego. He goes there to visit and burn himself in the blazing sun every February. He goes durning the school's seasonal break when he has no teaching to do.

Other than that, Norma and I haven't been doing much. I am planning to take a drive up into the Skagit valley soon to see the tulip fields before they bloom. We have seen the tulip fields in bloom, but not before they bloom.

I am happy with the home owners in out association. They are all paying up each month so we are accumulating nice funds for our needs. Thank God. This thing only works if they cooperate. JH

Feb 12, 2013, 8:14PM PST.
This writing is going to be one line or two.

I haven't had much to say lately. I have been working full time and it has taken it's tole. Now I understand what social security is for. Old guys can't earn a living. In spite of that, I am going to make it through the tax season. JH

Jan 14, 2013, 11:05AM P
sT.
I'm back.

As you probably know, I am aware of Alice's passing. I am sorry to hear it.

As they say, life goes on. At least for everyone elses. I am wedging this writing in between some morning chores and getting ready for work. I have to be there at one PM. I don't like it. I am old and lazy. There may be little to do and I will have to make work for myself. I can do that, but I would prefer sitting in my recliner napping.

We have football Sunday each week for about three weeks. Some of the boys come over and watch the game with us evend eat. That will stop now. Just like the Broncos we couldn't finish off the game. Well I will be interested in the SF and Atlanta game next week. I have no predictions. In fact I have no favorite.

The weather; always a good subject. It has been pretty darned cold in Montana lately. In fact Frances said it had been blizzarding. We too have had some snow. It snowed a little bit last week one day and stayed around for about three days. It wasn't much but the temperature was so low it wouldn't thaugh. There is still a little in the grass. The temperature is just terrible.

We got through the holidays without a great deal of suffering, except for the checking accout. It took its usual beathing. Thank goodness I have this job at H&R to earn a little money to plump the account back up. We got to see everyone. At Jamie's on Christmas eve, Christmas day here and we go to go bowling on New Years. That was the best part of it all. I got a little exercise, didn't eat much and bowled an 85. I left a happy man. I really wanted to bowl a hundred.

Going back to the weather again. All is looking up. I can already notice the lengthening of the days. I am looking forward to the sprouting of the rulips and the greening of my hosta garden and the blooming of my side yard. I am the only one in this development with any gardening. I didn't know the nature of condos in the beginning and now I am grandfathered in so I think my farming is safe.

I am still doing my afternoon walks, but not as consistantly as I would like. The job, the rain or other things seem to be interferring. I probably only get out a couple of times per week. It would be good to include a 20 minuter after work even though it is dark, just to keep my legs working.

I will give that a try this evening. JH

Jan 13, 2013, 8:15PM PDT.
I have been tardy again. I am going to do better.
But, not today. This will be a real short note. I am too tired to think so I will let that until morning. I am going to work at 1:00PM so I will have time to write something in the morning.

Just so you will know, we are fine. Just old and tired. JH

December 17, 2012, 9:15PM PDT.
I have a short list of items to discuss. For instance, my employer has required me to jump through many hoops before he will allow me to go to work. Well, I have been jumping through hoop after hoop and have come to a time of a short rest. There are no forseeable hoops between now and the firat week in January. I sat next to a guy in a class the other day who believes we have been required to jump throught many more hoops this year than in years past. I feel vindicated in my belief. Not to worry. I expect to make ad few bucks this winter starting in about three weeks. Putting all levity asside, I feel much more prepared than in past years.

I was not at all prepared for the administrative, social interaction and patients required to get a home owners association started for our condominium development. A development like we live in requires a home owners association with a board of directors to assume some responsibilities for the maintenance of the units. We have come from zero in September to an association with a board of directors, a master insurance policy and a budget. You are looking at a happy man.

Christmas is coming. Christmas dosen't come. It stays in place. We come to Christmas. We are moving along in time, and the first thing you know, there is Christmas. We have arrived. We have brought gifts, like the wisemen, we have sent Christmas cards, we have cooked Christmas dinner, we have over eaten. We are sleepy. We have dishes to wash.

Norma, our Christmas planner, has voluntiered to cook Christmas dinner. She knows what she is going to cook and I am going to make pie crusts. She is going to mix up the batter for two pumpkin pies. And, besides that, she wants to buy a coconut cream pie. There are going to be about a dozen people here for the dinner. It will be a big job and I will have to help. But will be a good thing for a couple of old people to have some company.

We were company a week ago Sunday. We like to see the boys interact with one another so we organized a supper at Tom's and desert at Joe's. We went to Seattle with food and Jamie and Laura Jo went down too, and because Tom and Joe live pretty close togeather, about a half mile apart, we got to see both their batchler pads. They are not bad batchler pads. Pretty sumptuous. But again, all we do is eat.

Speaking of food; I remembered the fruit cakes we had on the farm. So, I found a recipe in the Home and Garden cook book. It turned out so good I made several batches. It is curing in the refrigerator as we speak. And, lo and behold, In the back of the cupboard I found our old pressure cooker. That too resulted in a tast treat. It is true. You haven't tasted pot roast until you have tasted por roast cooked in a pressure cooker. We don't do much but eat. JH

December 1, 2012, 9:45PM PDT.
We had a nice time today. We took a trip to Seattle to hear a concert put on by the music school Tommy works for. He works as an accompanyist at their practices and performances. So, we went down to hear the kids sing and to hear Tommy play the piano. Besides the performance we enjoyed a nice visit with Tom. We didn't have a long visit. He finished at about 5:00PM and had to be at another job at six. He accompanies another group who performed at the Salvation Army Red Kettle fund raiser.

He is a busy guy but is going to make time for a family get together at his condo next Sunday.  Norma is going to prepare food to take to his place for the cooking part, then after we eat we are going to Joe's for desert. Jamie and Laura Jo are going down with us so the entire family will be together for the day. All we do is eat.

We are going to Jaamie's for supper tomorrow. There you go; more eating.

Speaking of going to Seattle. Speaking of going anywhere around here, going and coming are as important as the activity you went for. Today, getting there required a mapquest driving instructions and a map of Seattle. Getting back, the same thing. Doing anything here is three times as difficult as it is on the grass lands. The going and the coming are as big a deal and as strssful as the activity itself. By the grace of God there isn't a scratch on the Aztek.

We got home about six o'clock and I spent the remainder of the evening like a couch potato. I am a couch potato. But, not to worry, I saw some good stuff. I caught a real good documentary on EWTN on the real presence. I shall never doubt again.

As you know, we have no extreme weather here in the Northwest. Unless you count rain five days a week, or cloudy skys six and a half days a week extreme weather. We are, right now, in the pit of winter. It is the rainiest time of the year. It may be a little colder in January but now is the wet season. I don't know why I am complaining. I am used to it. It doesn't feel nearly as bad as it did a couple years ago, and I don't have to go out when it is raining. Stay inside.

I am starting to feel like I may have a job. They have had us jumping through hoops for several weeks now. I don't think there are may hoops left. They are going to run out of hoops or time before long. Tax season starts in a month. JH

November 20, 2012, 3:11PM PDT.
I am sitting here in my office with the west facing window enjoying the bright Washinton sun shine. Is that a surprise. It should be. It rained two inches yesterday and was raining cats and dogs when I was out this morning, but now everything is forgiven.

I don't have any pressing issues to discuss right now. Each is either finished satisfactorially or the ball is in the other guy's court.

There are a few things to discuss. We Watched Ken Burns "Dist Bowl" the past couple of evenings. It got my juices all aboil when I saw what happened on the southern plains during the dirty thirties. It makes me glad I was on the northern plains. We had a pretty bad situation, but I didn't know anyone who died of dust pneumonia. There won't be a dust bowl here.

We have weasled our way into the Delotte's kitchen for Thanksgiving dinner. They are ;msssLaura Jo's sister and brother in law.

Speaking of Laura Jo; she bought a brand new Mazda 2 for herself. It is a pretty darned good ride. They came Saturday. Of course we got to go for a ride in it. It is small, but not to worry. It is bright green. It will never get in a accident. You can't miss it.

I am short on news. I am going to go on line to find out what the expected gas milage is for a Mazda 2. J

October 31, 2012, 4:42AM PDT.
Happy day. My HOA project is finished. We have collected some money, written a check to the insurance agentand all has ended in happiness and joy. Amen.

There isn't any more I can say. I have to get down stairs to guard the jack o lantern and the candy dish in case a local spook comes by. JH

October 27, 2012, 11:58AM PDT.
We are still on day light time. When do we change to standard? Is it tomorrow? I had better watch for that. I don't want to be early for Mass.

Anyway, the condominium home owners project is nearing completion. All that is left to do is to write a check and get my neighbor to sign it so I can take it to the insurance agent and close the deal.

You would think I would be at ease, relaxed and happy. Oh, no. Now I have to jump through H&R's hoops. The IRS and the company require continuing education as well as a passing grade on the Registerha Tax Return Preparer test. So, I am doing some Web Based Training to comply with that requirement. All for a lousy part time seasonal job that dosen't pay much. I have not yet been hired      
and I don't much care if I am. I am starting to like sitting.  But we need a few bucks so I would like a call soon. Are these uncertainties keeping my mind sharp or driving me nuts? We will see.

Be that as it may; my core conscience mind is trending toward at ease, relaxed and happy. It may not get there, but taking care of business helps in that regard. Not to beat a dead dog, but my philosophy on happiness, a subject I don't know much about, is that there is a little bit of good in taking care of business and learning something new. But, more importantly, good news.

The good news is that we are fine. Norma is trending toward at ease, relaxed and happy. She has been displaying those symptoms lately. She does best when she has little social events to look forward to on a regular basis, just like everyone else, I guess. I helped make cookies a couple of days ago. I did some of the baking. The cookies turned out mainly fine except for a few that were under baked. They were the one's I baked. I sure thought they looked fine when I took them out of the oven.

Something about the weather. It has been raining lately. OK. I will stay inside. The grass, and flowers will have to take care of themselves. We do have one more outdoor duty. We have a crop of beets and turnips at Jamies's to harvest. They were planted so late I want them to stay in the ground as long as posible so they will get a little bigger than radishes. We will harvest them in the next week.JH

October 13, 2012, 11:08AM PDT.
Been busy. As I have previously reported, my summer was ruined by the Registered Tax Preparer Test. Now the summer of study and the test is behind me, you would think I would be relaxed and living the life of Rielly. No. Not here. I have a new project. The bank has finally sold all of the condos in our development. So, it became apparent something had to be done about the insurance. There were questions like do we buy a master policy to cover all of the condos who buys it and how do we pay for it. It became apparent to me that we needed a home owners association that buys the policy, collects the money from the owners and pays the premium. But we didn't have a home owners association. Now we have. We also have officers and directors. We have covenants, conditions, regulations and bylaws. We are going to meet next week to decide which policy to buy based on the I tooquotes some of us have received from our insurance agents. But its is not a done deal. Not yet. Who knows which way these cats are going to go. As much as I believe the outcome is going to be a fruitful and happy one, I must conclude that the purchase of a condo is not advisable. For instance, as I read, in the newspaper, about home sales and prices in Western Washington, I find that home prices are rising. Good news. Not so fast. There is a difference. Snohomish county condo prices are still falling. I didn't know why. But now I know. There are onerous regulations on financing condos set in motion by the bursting housing bubble of 2008. It is more difficult or impossible to get financing to buy a condo. My only light at the end of the tunnel came in a conversation with a real estate agent yesterday when he said he believes within a couple of years there will be a loosening of the rules. I have been busy.

Gonna be bussier. It is already the middle of October. I hope to go to work part time seasonal at H&R on the first of January. By then I need to be hired, vetted, educated and put on the payroll. All for a few bucks I could spend in a few minutes by accident.

In the near term: we are going to Jamie's for pizza tonight and Tom is coming up to see the old folks tomorrow for lunch. He is going to bring along the 1940's song book so he can play Chattanooga Chew Chew. I didn't think he could play it very well the last time we were at his place, so I want to check to see if he has been practicing.

We saw Joe a couple weeks ago, but I will call him to check on his condition.

I shouldn't go on like this, but there is one more subject. We are having weather today. The rainy season has begun. It is late. It hasn't rained since the middle of July. But now it will rain until the middle of July 2013. Or about. Most of the time. I guess you know what I mean.JH

September 29, 2012, 9:06PM PDT.
So, the test is done. Now I can do other things. I have been doing other things. We have been busy organizing an HOA for the condo development. One was setup by the developer but was allowed to go inactive, so we had to start over from scratch. I think I know what we are doing, but I have never been involved in this before so I am not sure. If we keep going it will probably be done in a couple of weeks. God willing.

Frances and Rosella have been back in Montana for a couple of weeks. I noticed the temperature in Billings was to be 80 yesterday. Good for them. It is nice here, but getting pretty late in the year. Our nice weather is going to crash any day. I don't remember that it was this nice in late September in 2010 or 2011. When it doses crash, the good weather will be gone until at least the fourth of July. That is no joke. Spring here is as bad as the winter. Not as cold but just a wet.

I guess the  I haWho knowssllls't done much since the test. So, let us talk about what we will be doing in the future. We are expecting Jamie in the morning for bacon and eggs. He likes bacon and eggs and so do we so he comes over every couple of weeks on Sunday morning. He will be alone in the morning because Laura Jo is working the week end. On Monday, the first of October, we are going to see the Chahulie glass exhibit at the Seattle Center. It is a display of large glass sculpers around the space needle, I think. We will see. I expect we will have lunch and make a nice time of it. We expect the weather to still be fine.

To change subjects, our garden is doing fine. We planted some stuff in Jamie's back yard. We got some tomatoes off our one bush, and some beets. The remainder of the beets seem not to have sufficiently large leaves, but they are developing roots. Given some more time, they may make edible vegetables. Out of deperation, after three crop failures I planted a lot of turnups. They are about the size of large radishes now, and they will also need another month to get big enough to be of any use. By the first of November we may have had a pretty good harvest.

Speaking of harveting. I have been picking black berries along my back fence for about a month. I have made four pies and eaten them on my shredded wheat. They are tart but tasty.

Vote. JH

September 13, 2012, 9:36PM PDT.
I took the test today and I passed. But, it wasn't as easy as they said it was. Thank goodness it wasn't any harder.

Life is not back to normal here even after the test. We have company. Frances Ellen and her sister Rosella are visiting us. They are down stairs with Norma talking into the night as I type.
I don't care. I am going to bed. After all I had to take a test today. JH

August 17, 2012, 10:00PM PDT.
This will be short. It is late. When will my day end?

It would seem I am a busy guy. Well, I am, but I take a lot of rest spells during the day so it takes me all day to do a half day's work.

The big thing now, is my study for the up coming Registered Tax Return Preparer test on the 13th of September. It has ruined my summer. I have been studying and reviewing every day, because my memory is pretty bad. It is suprising how much I havett.  learned about studying. It is really nothing but self teaching. The idea in teaching is to repeat the material until the dullest of your students gets it. The bright ones don't need repetition, but the rest of us do. The same thing is true in self study. It is true in learning and it is true in remembering what we have learned. What we call review. That is the lesson for today. The news will follow.

The big news is that Frances Ellen Hecker and her sister Rosella are visiting Washington in a few days. They are going to spend a few days here with us at the end of their visit. Norma and I will be busily scurring around picking things up before they come. We don't want them to see how we really live. I don't know what we will do while they are here, but we will think of something. Maybe we will go to the senior center for lunch. Maybe not. I will keep an eye on the Everett Herald for events during thier visit. The touble is, they are going to spend a couple of weeks with their brothers in Golden Dale and Tacoma. They will probably have been everywhere and seen everything before they get here. We have the Nimitz, but I think it has come and gone already.

We are enjoying this short summer. All summers here are short. None shorter than last year. This summer is great compared to that one. We can't get too soft. There is a long dark winter coming.

August 19, 2012, 11:05PM PDT.
We have been pretty busy for the last few days. I don't have much to do, but it takes me all day to do it.

We had some visits with some out of staters. It is always fun to have out of staters come here when it is warm a and summy. We try to convince them it is always that way.

We had a visit with some folks from Miles City. I questioned tham on the subject of Mile City weather this summer. They tell me it hadn't rained since May until last week. It rained a half inch. That sound pretty tipical. As it always is, it is good to find someone who has worse weather than we have. At least, some times.

The reason for all the company, was the graduation from Western Washington University of a neice of Jamie and Laura Jo. The University is in Bellingham, so we got to go to Bellingham. It was our first time there. It was a nice drive there andngback and the campus, you might say, was woodsie. Woodsie here means lots of trees. Big trees.

Jamie and I have been trying to get our garden to grow this summer. It has been real slow going until the recent hot spell with sun shine. Since then we have had a real stong growing spurt. I see some nice produce in the farmers markets aroung here, but I don't know how the farmers can get the vegetable to grow early enough to get them to market this early in the year. Our seasons are about two months behind the rest of the country.

I am about an hour behind my bed time. JH

August 13, 2012, 10:25PM PST.
My bad. I have not been doing my work. But, I am a busy guy. It dosen't seem I have anything to do tomorrow, but when it comes, I have to do a little of this and a little of that and take my naps. The first thing you know, the day is gone and I am tired.

I will bore you with a short list of the things that have been keeping me away from my obligations.

We bought a garage door opener last month which turned out to be too long for our garage. We had to do some engineering changes to make it fit, so that has taken some of my mental time as well as the physical effort to make the changes. I am happy to report the door is finaly installed and works fine.

The other issue that has been consuming my mental energy is the preparation for this registered tax return preparer exam we have to pass by the end of 2013. I scheduled it in September of this yeiear, so my summer has been ruined by study and restudy of the tax laws and repsonsibilities of tax preparers. After learning this stuff I am not sure I want to be a tax preparer. I have paid my money and I want to pass the test, if I can. It would be nice.

I know, that dosen't answer the question of my tardiness, but that is all I have.

Norma is fine and I am fine. We are doing a few things besides maintaining ourselves. We went down town Seattle for an afternoon and we did a bus tour to Crystal Mountain during the last couple of months.

As you notice, it is getting pretty late. I made a couple loaves of bread today, took my walk, studied and did a few light chores around the condo. That is about all I can do in one day, so I am going to bed. JH

June 13, 2012, 8:10PM PST.
I feel particularly well tonight. It may be because I have been behaving myself a little better conserning after supper snacks. The icecream before bed time every night was raising my Glucose. Also, my hemaglobin may be coming up since my encounter with radiation therapy. More on that at the end of this writing.

Right now, I want to complain about the "Registered Tax Return Preparer" test coming up this summer. All tax preparers have to pass an IRS test. The little bit I get paid to do my job seems hardly worth the effort. But for two reasons I forge ahead: one, I think I will need the little bit I get paid, and the other is that I want to PASS it. There will be some satisfaction in having passed it even though it makes no economic sense. There is the studying, and we have to go on line to arrange for test time and place. This computer drives me nuts. I had the sign up just about done this afternoon when a dialogue box showed up. I don't know what it said, I see so many of them I don't alwaysavedead them with my slow tired old eyes. I clicked OK and the whole web site dissappeared. Now, I don't know if I am signed up or not. Not to worry. I can call for help tomorrow.

That is what I am going to do tomorrow. What about today. We bought a condo with a squeaky floor up stairs. We have lived with it for more that a year and a half, but Norma found a solution advertised in the paper. We bought the kit on line for a song and I put it to work today. I crawled aroung on the floor all day putting the screws in and, low and behold, it works. That is job satisfaction and a back ach.

Tomorrow, beside what I mentioned a couple of paragraphs up, I am going to finish the chair repair I started last week. I put a new rung accross under the seat and, of course, it needs to be stained the same color as the chair. I did stain it. It looks terrible. It turnes out, you have to rub the stain on with a rag and rub it to make it smooth and pretty. So, tomorrow, I am going to sand the stain off of it and stain it the right way. It is an hour's work, but I know I can make it last all day.

You know the 2012 Hecker/Schleder reunion is coming up soon. I have rented a car and reserved some motel stays so, as for me, I am all set to go. We will leave on the 27th with our pedal to the medal and be in Forsyth before you know it. It won't take long. I want to pick up Arthur, and take him to the farm so we can see the new highway. We may even be able to do that on Friday morning before the crowd gets there.

Before I quit, I have to mention the blood draw in the morning. They are going to test some of my blood to see just how thin it is. My oncologist and primary care physician are interested and so am I. JH

June 6, 2012, 7:10PM PST.
I will discuss: the weather, our health, or lack of it, the big drive out to the Big Sky, or reunion at Forsyth. Is that all. I must not have a life. But I do. I have been able to keep myself fairly busy. Oh, there is next winter's employment, keeping life in this condo humming, like in taking care of business.

That last item is a big one. I am not a happy man as the average happy man goes. I would consider myself to be in the bottom third of happy men. So, I don't know much about happiness, except this, taking care of business increases the happiness I do have by just a little bit. So I take care of bussiness. I might as well finish this speach. The other component of happiness is to learn a little bit each day. Read the paper, watch the news and read a part of a good book every day. But what is happiness anyhow. It is related to the word happen. So, happiness is contingent upon the accidents that have happened recently as well as t   ng care of business and learning a little bit every day. Who needs that. Joy is where it's at. I am not going to discuss that until I have learned a little bit more about it.

We started at the end of my list, so let's progress backward to the beginning. Keeping the condo humming along is preparing meals or snacks, cleaning the place, water proofing the deck, Oh boy, does it need water proofing around here, and putting groceries into the refrigerator. You get the idea.

Next winter's employment. That is interesting. I made 3500 dollars last winter minus the hearing aids which I needed to hear my clients. So, for that little income, I have to do continuing education and prepare for the IRS preparer's exam this summer. I will let it up to you to determine if that makes sense.

The reunion in Forsyth is coming up soon. We are going to rent a car so I don't have to obssess over the viability of the aztek to go 2500 miles in ten days. This is going to make driving out to Montana much more pleasurable. There may be only a few people there I know, but that is alright, I may know plenty more before I leave. We will have great fun traveling the new highway out to the farm and seeing the many changes that have taken place. That on top of the great food and activities Frances has planned. In spite of the cost, I am pretty enthusiastic about going.

Our health is fine. We have had cataract surgery and radiation therapy and it has turned out OK. There is one thing about tring to stay alive at my great age that I don't like. I have had to set up a schedule for my doctors to see me. In fact, I have an appointment tomorrow, and, I think, another one before we leave for Montana. I have six specialist and a primary care giver.

Thank goodness, this is the last item. The weather is terrible. We had a few days of sun and warm weather in the middle of May then this rain started up again and has continued until today. We got a sun break today but a storm is coming in tonight. No wonder the gardens don't grow. It is to cold and dark. JH

May 22, 2012, 9:18PM PST.
The big deal today was my visit to the radiation oncologist. It has been a month since my treatment ended and he gave me some information on the results. One result is my psa nas dropped to half of what it was and he expects it to drop to one or two in about five more months. We are going to get together about then to check it.

The reason for the continued dropping of the psa is that the therapy does not kill the cancer cells, it damages the dna so that when the cell tries to divide it dies. A sort of cancer cell cuicide. That takes some time.

The other thing is the side effect. One in particular. Fatigue. It is a predictable effect, but in an old wreck like me, it is serious. My red cell count is 3 instead of 4.6 and my Hemaglobin in 10.9 instead of 14. I have three months to recover from that. I have been living this way for six weeks already and have a cosuple of months to go if all goes well.

I am not finished with the health news. We are going to surgery for Norma's second cataract operation in the morning. Her first eye surgey went well and she is calm about this second one, but I am a little nervous. What I am really conserned about is using a toric lense for long distance seeing on one eye and a toric lense for reading in the other. She thinks nothing of that and has a good friend who did it, but I am afraid it will keep her brain confused. But, I have no influence over that, so I have no reponsibility for it, I guess. The next time you see her, she won't be wearing glasses.

The chores around here are getting too hard. It has something to do wirh my condition, but not all together. The deck on the back of the condo is a pain in the neck. I sealed it last summer but didn't strip it first, so I sealed in a lot of dirt, mold and old sealer. This summer it looked bad, so I pressure washed it off. Now I have to reseal it. The mold has to come off of the railing and it will need to be repainted. I think the HOA should be doing that stuff, but my neighbor is doing his, so I have to keep up with the neighbors. I have also been doing a little gardening. My tulps were a success, and the little flower patch on the side of the building is coming along pretty well. My garden up at Jamie's is OK. The radishes are up and the tomato looks good, but I don't see any cucumbers or swiss chard. This is a great blace for a garden. Mother Nature waters it for you. JH

May 13, 2012, 7:46PM PST.
Fun, fun, fun. We have become a couple of fun seekers. We saw a movie at the Old Everett Theater on Thursday, had a birthday party for Jamie on Friday, gardened with Jamie on Saturday and did Pike Place Market with Joe and Tom today. Needless to say, Norma is napping on the couch. She did wonderfully well climbing Seattle's hills and jostling through the crowds at the market. It was a nice clear warm day to be out. The opportunity to walk around without a jacket and no rain drops falling on our heads was a real break for moldy Nowthwest Washington people. We really appreciate it. Remembering the fog schrouded tour we did on Eliott Bay with the Becker family last August, I am astonished the weather can be so bright and warm. Joe and Tom bought our lunch and Tom bought her a bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day. So, with a warm and fuzzy feeling in her het she can rest on the couch.

Jamie introduced us to noir movies. For five bucks you can get into thr Old Everett Theater to see a black and white murder mystery made in the 40's and 50's. We saw "House by the River". Which reminds me. Last night , on the 55' LG TV we saw "Arsenic and Old Lace" made in about 1938 with Cary Grant. It got repetitive in the later part but I managed to keep my thumb off the channel button long enough to see the whole thing. I am glad I did. Cary Grant was such a hoot in his younger days. But, we saw part of a Cary Grant movie  called something like "taking care of baby" which was so bad I couldn't keep my thumb off the channel button. So if you want to see a different kind of Cary Grant from the sophisticated guy he played in the 60's and 70's, see one of these old ones.

Jamie also introduced me to gardening in Western Washington. So far, I have learned not to plant too early. Warmth dosen't come as early as it does on the grass lands. Te middle of May is about planting time here. I planted my little patch and he planted his little patch and setup some soaker hoses to water them. I also learned after a couple days of sunshine a lttle watering is in order. Who would have thought after last summer.

I need to let some news for tomorrow. JH

May 7, 2012, 9:43PM PST.
We had a visit from Tom yesterday. We cooked hamburger on my Patio Bistro in front of the garage in the sun. It was fun sitting in the warm sun for a change.

Speaking of warm sun. We have had a lot of it for the past three days. They tell me we will get some clouds and showers again tomorrow. That is fine with me. I planted my garden at Jamie's place this moringing. It could use a little sprinkle. But, I am about done farming for now. The flowers are all in, the tulips are about to drop their petals and my vegetable garden seeding is done until the weed show up.

We are going to the doctor for a review of Norma's cataract surgery in the morning. The vision in her operative eye is not always clear. She thinks the doctor needs to reposition her lens. Give it a little after inSostalation adjustment. Can he do that?

I am going to see the doctor for a little after radiation therapy review. I don't know if he can do any adjustment, but I could use one.

All is well. JH

Apr 22, 2012, 5:30PM PST.

Let us start with the weather. We broke 70 today for only the first or second time this year. We are way ahead of last year. I think it was June before we got a 70 degree day. Norma and I enjoyed the nice weather at a park by Silver Lake, the area we lived in when we spent the winter here in 2002. We didn't do much, but sit in the sun on a bench until our skin felt the burning. The place was swarming with people. They were mostly young people with kids. We didn't walk very far. I am weak from my radiation therapy and she just had cataract surgery. Well, I had better discribe the surgery.

She had something called Toric lense put in her eye so she wouldn't have to wear glasses. It was a good thing. The surgery was on Wednesday and she is already seeing better without glasses than she could with glasses. And that is only with one eye. In a couple of weeks she is going to go back to have the same thing done to her other eye. We are not in agreement about the second lense. She wants one that will allow her to read with one eye and see at a distance with the other without using classes for either. This is the first time I have heard of such a thing and, of course, it will take me a while to get used to the idea. I am afraid that switching from eye to eye will cause her brain to go plumb hay wire. She and her doctor have ganged up on me so I guess I will lose. Anyhow, you all are required to pray for the second surgery to be as successfull as the first.

The other big item is that I have finished 42 sessions of Tomo Therapy for my prostate cancer. It is a radiation treatment that damages the cell DNA so that the cell dies when it next tries to devide. It is supposed to kill the cancer cells, but I think it has killed some of my red blood cells. It hasn't bottered me as long as I don't do anything physical, such as to walk. The doctor tells me it will get better in some time. I don't know what that some time will be. I hope short.

I have to tell you that my tulips are in full bloom. I planted 150 tulips and they all came up and they are all big yellow blossoms. That is my contribution to Everett's spring display of color. In some neighborhoods the displays of flowers is dazzling. We started out with heather in February, the the cherry blossoms in March and now everyting seems to be blooming. Annuals, perannuals, trees and shrubs. The blooming shrubbery in the well to do parts of town is the best. I drove through there every morning since February and enjoyed it every day on my way to the hospital.

We saw all the boys yesterday. I helped Jamie get a bale of straw for mulch in his garden and Norma went shopping with Joe and Tom in the afternoon. Now we are gong to Fred Mhyer for a cherry pie to eat in the shade on the deck.  JH

Mar 28, 2012, 3:10PM PST.
This is the second day of a set of two days off from my seasonal part time job at H&R. Twenty more days to make my fortune. They have been working me 16 hours per week for the last month, so you know what that has done to my income. However, the schedule shows signs of picking up from here on out.

I started out to complain how tired I am after two days off and got into how little I am working at the office. Well, I am pretty stiff and tired. As you know, I don't retire well. So, as usual, I had to have a project for yesterday and today. Our flower bed wasn't formed right. It was too flat. There wasn't enough dirt over the fiberoptic cables and gas lines to comfortablly dig holes for planting. I took the perannuals out, put some more dirt in it, mixed in some compost and started to replant the flowers. As you might expect, I palyed out. Now that I have had some rest and it is still day light, I will get the remainder of the plants replanted.

Speaking of retirement, I have not been able to figure out how it is to be done. Last summer I worked until the 18th of April then started to worry and plan for the Becker family reunion in August. Then it was time to start jumping through the hoop to get back to work at H&R so the summer was filled with stress and work. What, in the dickens, am I going to this summer?

I guess I could talk about the weather or my health issues. Let's do the weather first. It is getting better. The temperature gets up to 50 and the sun shines part of the time. It rains part of the time too. I guess that is spring in the Northwest.

Now for the big one. I have been doing radiation therapy for about six week and have a month to go. The problem is, I have to schedule my therapy sessions around my work schedule and some unplanned health issues. The only health issue I need to mention is my unplanned surgery to drain my butt absess a couple of weeks ago. It turned out OK but was a scheduling problem. I have more trouble with my schedule than I did when I was a working man. How did I do it?

One last thing. They told me I might get tired about the third week of therapy. I blew it off because of all the experience I have had with these things. But, it came to pass. I don't feel tired until I do something that takes physical energy. Then my muscles ach. Like when I climb stairs or walk up hill. Or shovel dirt. This is the first time I have had these particular symtoms. But I know why. They are thinning my blood. Killing the cells. JH

Mar 22, 2012, 5:15PM PST.
This has been a busy day. I went to the hospital for my daily radiation therapy session. Got home about 9:30 for a little rest and time to get ready for my real job. They worked me from 11:30 until 3:30. Of course, none of this was real work until I headed for home. I dropped my car off for an oil change and a break inspection. I didn't get either. The evening mechanic is off sick. I will try again in the morning.

I did the real work on Thursday last week. During the doctor's inspection after therapy, an absess was found. I spent the day in the hospital where one thing lead to another. After surgery to drain it, I got home about 8:00 PM beaten and bloodied. Not to worry. It is healing fine and I am back on my therapy schedule.

It gets worse. They gave me a colonoscopy on Wednesday, last week.

That is the bad news. The good news is. Spring is here and it sure feelainod. The temperature is up about 5 degrees and the cloud covering parts a little bit once in a while. There have been several sun breaks in the past couple of days. That is something we really appreciate. The streets are dry, and, most importantly, my tulips are about six inches tall. While the sun is out, I am going to get my shoes on and go out to feed the birds and inspect my tulip garden.

Just one thing's bothering me. I see it has been 70 in Billings and even warmer in many other places where it is supposed to be freezing this time of year. True, I am jellous of that sort of thing, when it barely gets above 50 around here. The trouble is, I am afraid it won't ever get to be 70 degrees in Western Washington again. Last year, the weatherman promised warmer weather just around the corner, but we never go to go around the corner. We might, this year. JH

Feb 16, 2011, 7:35PM PST.
I am getting sleepy so this may be short.

My day started pretty early. They gave me a dose of radiation at 8:30 and I worked from 10:00 to 3:00. Norma made a nice supper and now the sleepies are getting pretty bad. But, as you can tell. I have started radiation therapy. Today was the third treatment. Only 37 to go. I figure on functioning normally throughout the 8 weeks it will take to get all the treatments done. As far as I know, there may be a little fatigue coming, but I don't expect it to be disabling so I will continue to work through the tax season. I can't quit now. I don't have my hearing aids paid for yet.

I am working, partly, to pay for the hearing aids, but I bought the hearing aids so I could work. Does that make sense?

There are other things going on. My tulips are up. This is tulip country you know. We have some of the biggest tulip farms there are. One I know of raises a thousof tulips every year. My patch is only two feet wide and twenty feet long. The heather is in bloom and the stores are starting to sell the more hardy plants. We bought some heather, box wood shrubs and a couple of azalias. Now, I have those plants sitting on my patio waiting for me to put them into the ground. Last year we bought flowers to show off during the family reunion but this year we are buying stuff that will last.

Now I am really sleepy. I don't think it is caused by the radiation therapy yet, I am just too peacefull. Maybe the peace of the Lord has finally come to me. Anyhow, I am sleeping better, in fact I want to sleep right now. It may be my prayers to St Micheal the Arch Angel. Do you suppose he is keeping the devil with his anxieties at bay? JH

Jan 29, 2011, 5:30PM PST.
Whoa, let me off, this wagon is going to fast.

Ten days have gone zipping by, but I have been busy. Rather I have been keeping other people busy. My oncologist, nefrologist, urologist. radiation oncologist and, now, my gastoenterologist whom I will see tomorrow are busy. All in the past couple of months. I must be sick. I think I discribed my sickness in my last writing. Now we are getting ready for radiation therapy. I have two more visits with the doctors, one on the 3rd of February and one on the 6th to get me ready. I expect the therapy to start soon after that.

I have been busy too. We are in our peak season at work. People are coming in regularly keeping three or four of us busy all the time. It is a real releaf to have work to do after the past few weeks when there wasn't much action in the office. Now, I am thankful for a day off. This is Sunday, my day off, and I will get another day off next Sunday.

Tom is getting his condo furnished and Norma gets to hoom.elp. That makes two people happy, Joe is getting his condo furnished for one instead of two, so that makes another person happy and Jamie is making money working at ElDeck, so everyone around here is happy. We are going to have a big super bowl party here in front of our big TV next Sunday. Norma is planning for treats during the game and that makes me happy.

The snow storm is over. Our weather is back to cloudy with showers.  JH

Jan 19, 2011, 10:03PM PST.
I have been lazy. December 18th? There have been so many things going on I could have written a book.

Christmas, for instance happened during the past month. We had a wonderful time then. We had everyone we know in Western Washingyon over for Christmas dinner. It wasn't a very big crowd, but it was everyone we know.

We went to Seattle for dinner with our boys. We got to see Tom's new condo. He has moved in but there is more work and things to buy before he is finished. Norma is going out with him on Sunday to help get a few things for his place. I have suggested the Good Will store would be a good place to find some small furniture items and wall hangings at a low price. I can't tell if I had any influence on them. We will have to wait to see.

Another big thing is a reqular work schedule. We seem to have been cut back on our hourisudget. I have been getting four hours per day. It looks like that will change at the end of this month. She has me scheduled full time in February. I need it. I can't make much money working four hours per day. Which brings up the biggest item of all. I bought a pair of hearing aids at Costco a couple of months ago. You know how much they cost, I suppose. It is going to take a lot of full time days to pay for them. It may turn out, I am just working for a pair of hearing aids this season. Anyhow, I sure like them. I can hear the sermon, I can hear my  clients, I can hear the boss and I can hear the TV. That is a heck of a deal.

Here is another even bigger time. I am a cancer patient again. No it is not a lymphoma relapse. It is prostate cancer. My PSA was 12 so I had to undergo a biopsy. The cancer cells were not found in the entire prostate, but only in one section. Of course, that is good but not good enough. The malignacy that is there must be removed. After an explanation by the Urologist, I chose external radiation. The reason I chosen the external radiation is probably too complicated to explain in writing, but I can give a couple of reasons. I have had radiation on several occations to remove tumors in the skin or just under the skin that were the result of lymphoma and had good results. I don't like the idea of radio active seeds implanted in my prostate. Besides, there is a little bit of a nasty procedure to get them there. And surgery is out of the question when radiation is available. Also, it somewhat justifies our being here in the Great Northwest among all these faciilities. I won't have to drive 300 miles a day to Billings for each treatment. I am going to see the radiation oncologist on the 25th to get started.

Another big thing. I'll be here all night if I don't run out of big items. This one has to do with my long time hobby of computer geek. I have lost so much of my geekiness that I can hardly do anything anymore. It looks like I have been doing too many other things to keep my interest and skills in the field fresh enough to be of any use. I managed to distroy my web site on the domain jimhecker.com. I have decided, that for the time being, I will abandon web site building and use the fee space on my ISP to run a web sit using HTML. The new address is 
http://myplace.frontier.com/~jhecker. I will also be moving everything I have on midrivers to the new site if I haven't already done that. So, if you want to read this writing, you will have to go to the address shown above.JH

Dec 18, 2011, 8:09PM PST.
It seems like something is missing. I thought I had done a writing since December 2nd. Well, If I did, I must have forgotten to save it because I can't find it. So I will have to plow on with another one.

The really big thing is, I have learned how to upload my html and data files to my new isp, Frontier.com. It is the same stuff that was on the midrivers.com site, but the url to access it is different. It is myplace.frontier.com/~jhecker. That is, instead of www.midrivers.com/~jhecker. I will upload this writing to both sites.

So there, that is pretty good for an old man to accomplish in two and a half weeks. But there is more. I am working on an aspx program with some new pictures to be run on my jimhecker.com site. This is going to be great.

But, there is still more. The company has been jerking my chain and making me jump through hoop after hoop. Last week I attendedange couple of instuctor lead courses and did one on line course after another to get ready for the 2012 tax season. It starts in a couple of weeks, you know. right now, it looks like the preparation is done, but I have thought that before.

You would think my life would slow down for a while now for some rest before the season starts in January, but, oh no, we had a family dinner here last night. Our boys, Laura Jo and her mother came for Norma's meat loaf and we had a very nice visit with them all. We are going to do it again on Christmas day, when Norma is going to cook and I am going to host. You know I am not very social. After the big affair we had here last summer, I must be getting better.

I am tired and I want to go to bed. JH

Dec 2, 2011, 9:15PM PST.
I stay up late one night each week to spend an hour in the chapel where we adore the blessed sacrament perpetually. My shift is from midnight to 1:00Am tonight. So, on Friday nights I always get sleepy earlier than any other night. I chose this shift because I knew it would be a sacrafice, but not too big a sacrafice. It is a bigger sacrafice than I had anticipated.

Speaking of holiness: we attended a church mission this week. Norma and I have heard a fine energetic young preacher every evening since Monday. The theme was ,who is God and our relationship with him. I don't know what the theme was supposed to be, but that is what I think it was. Now, if we don't have a better understanding of God and his love, then it is our fault.

It is not our fault that the silly season is here. As you can see, I am not a Christmas person. That is a bad thing. It is our Lord's birthday for goodness sake. I do appreciate that, but not the stress of it all. I am sure I am no different. Everyone knows what the stress is. It is that lousy Santa Claus. He is the guy who causes it all.

We have been out visiting lately. We visit the only people we know here, the boys. Norma cooked at Joe and Tom's condo last Sunday and we are going to have supper with Jamie and Laura Jo next week. Laura Jo's mother will be here from Miles City, so we can find out how terrible the weather is there. Dang, I hope it isn't nicer than it is here. Norma is cooking Christmas dinner here for the boys, and Laura Jo's sister and her family. There should be quite a few people in the condo.

We are going to a concert by the school choruses Tom accompanies tomorrow. It is going to be fun. He will be playing a helping out with the singing. With my new hearing aids, I will enjoy it more.

I am going to go take a little nap. JH

Nov 19, 2011, 5:30PM PST.
I have a big deal to report. Yesterday Norma and I went to Costco to get my hearing aids. Not that I needed them. But it does make a suttle difference. While I was asking her to repeat what she said, today I haven't had to ask once. I can hear the clicking of the turn indicator in the car. Not that I pay any attention to it. I forgot what it ment.

These are Bernafon Chonos 7 aids. I got them for a song at Costco. I didn't actually sing. I paid a price that was less than I think it would have been anywhere else. I don't like shopping at Costco, but the price on these aids made it worth while. So far I am pleased with them.

I got them, mainly, because they are necessary for work this winrer. I was afraid I would be asked to get hearing aids or turn in my badge. Now I have gotten a jump on the problem. All the rest of the benefits are gravy.

Other than that, we are enduring a cold spell. It snowed lat night and got cold and clear today. I don't think it got over 40 and was 34 at about 4:00 PM this afternoon. JH

Nov 17, 2011, 8:07PM PST.
We have been busy. We are going to continue being busy for quite a while.

We have been busy because Frances was here for a visit. She, as you know, has recently become a widow. It has been said the best thing for a recent widow is to get out of the house and see and do things that will help her focus beyond the recent events. I supose that is easier said than done. But Frances is giving it a try. She had a good visit with Norma and is, as we speak, waiting for her train in Everett. It is a little late, but that is the way trains are.

Company training continues. There a couple more clases before the season gets underway.

We have a big day tomorrow. It is fitting day for the hearing aids. I had trouble hearing my clients last year so I bit the bullet and paid the dear price for a pair of brand new Bernafon Chronos 7 hearingwe are putt. I will be sharing half of my season's pay with the hearing aid manufacturer.

that is about the only notable news that comes to mind. JH

Nov 4, 2011, 10:50PM PDT.
The time is getting real late. I am up late because I have volunteered to be present in the chapel for adoration of the blessed sacrament for an hour each week at midnight on Friday nights. 
So I am an official adorer. The difficult part is staying up until midnight. I usually go to bed at around 11:30. I didn't think it would be a burden to stay up an extra half hour, but it is an extra two hours because it will be 1:30 when I get home.

Darn it was cold today. It didn't freeze and I am glad. We have some flowers in pots I want to keep in the garage this winter. I am waiting as long as I can to bring them in to shorten their stay as much as posible.

We have a couple of projects in the works. I am looking for hearing aids. There is pretty good information on the internet so I know what I want. One thing I don't want is a high price. It looks like I am not going to get everything I want. Last year I had trouble hearing some of my clients on the phone and at my desk. The real problem was when we had a discussion in the office by several people a little too far away. And I have to get in the front row in the classes. I like to sit in the back row. Our other project is to find the best medicare advantage plan. Out of about 40 plans with about 40 benifits on each I have no idea which one is the best for us. We have it narrowed down to about two so far.

These golden years are keeping me busy.

I have to leave in about 20 minutes. JH

Nov 3, 2011, 9:35PM PDT.
get your long johns on. It is going to be 36 degrees tonight. I hope is dosen't freeze. I want to move the flowers into the garage before it does. I have intentions of wintering them in the garage. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't.

The weather seems to be a little better than it was last year. It could be that isn't true. What is true, is that, I was shocked by the drizzle and clouds last year but now I am used to it. I don't think so. It really was worse last year. I am ready for what ever the winter brings. The tulips are planted and the grass is planted for a nice spring. Speaking of spring, that is the most disappointing season of all. It never seems to get a start. It is mostly the fault of the weather man. He says "tomorrow it is going to be nice and warm" but it turns our just as nasty as it was in Janua. The fall has been pretty good. A little rain, a little fog, a little wind and a little cloudiness, but generally better than not.

I have been a busy guy. The company worked us three three hour days this week. They called it a seminar. We got to run the software a little and it was a good thing. I had forgotten everything. In other words, I didn't do very well. It is medicare plan sign up time so I am in a place of confusion  about that.

I didn't do much for a busy guy, but when you are my age it takes twice as long to get anything done as it is supposed to. JH

Oct 20, 2011, 1:39PM PDT.
This is more like it. It is a nice warm, quiet, drizzly day. There is no wind, no sun, just a little drizzle from time to time. If your are not a grazing animal, it is just fine. So I am staying in the house.

I have spent the last couple of months jumping through the hoops to get back my seasonal job. There have to be some good reasons for doing this. Sometimes I can't think what the are. The pay is low, the work is, in some ways, stressful and I am 76 years old. On the other hand, I need some sort of worth while outside interest, or as we say, something to do, I need a little money to suppliment our SS, and I do get a kick out of qualifying for employment in these hard times. To successfully have jumped through all of the hoops this summer is itself a source of satisfaction.

I just finished a good book. 973 pages. That is how much time I have little on my hands. "Pillars of the Earth" was written by an atheist who did a good job. More over, no one but and atheist could have written the book. The reason is the hierarchy and even the layity were a strong influence in the fictional 12th century and the author showed some of them in a harsh light. A Christian would have been reluctant to do that. I was reluctant to read it. But it may have been an accurate picture of the mores and culture of the 12th century.

That suggests another issue. How accurate is a book of fiction when it comes to the actual culture in which the story was placed? I don't know, but I am going to spend a little time this afternoon on line checking in to the book and its author in hopes of finding out. Maybe a history of the 12th century would be a good read for a guy with my kind of time. I have to get started. JH

Oct 12, 2011, 10:45PM PDT.
Am I doing better? It was only two days ago that I last wrote. Here I go agaim.

I am still persuing employment for the winter. They had me jump through some more hoops this week. I attended a prehire class and got the instructions going forward. The CPE is all done, but now I learn there is one more class I need to complete before the 31st of  this month when there will be more madatory rehire classes to attend. It is all for a little bit of pay and some energising activity.

But, in the mean time, I don't have much to do. I think I will make a batch of bread in the morning and go to the doctor's visit with Norma in the afternoon. Today I did my housekeeping. You are getting pretty deep in to retiement when you have to bake bread for something to do. Anyhow, I made the best darned cinnnamen rolls this week. JH

Oct 10, 2011, 2:28PM PDT.
There. If I don't keep watching the ock time slips by. In this case 10 days.

It dosen't make much difference. I am retired. That is why I haven't written anything. Nothing has happened. So, what am I going to write today. I could make something  up, but I am not going to do that. This is not a novel or some other kind of fiction, it is real. There have really been a couple of real things that did happen in the last ten days. Number one . Norma and I went for a little drive to Snohomish yesterday where we had a nice cabbage soup lunch, toured the antique stores and bought some vegetables at a little shop in the valley. This area is not known for its agriculture, but we do have some truck farms, tree farms, turf farms, flower farms and dairy farms.

In the last paragraph I mentioned that I am retired. That dosen't mean I know how to be retired. I have been retired for ten years and I haven't learned how it is done yet. Just as an example, I am waiting for a call from Kansas City to get on the staff to do tax returns again this winter. It is not a certanty that will happen. They have had me jumping through hoops for a month already and there are more hoops to jump through yet to come. I have a master plan for this winter. I hope to make enough money to buy a pair of hearing aids. I can hear pretty good, but only when conditions are good. I have some trouble when I have to talk to someone on a cell phone or listen to someone in a noisy room. I am going to work so I can buy a pair of hearnign aids so I can work.

Another real thing that we have done in the past 10 days. Jamie and I went to the sausage fest at Emaculate Conception parish on Saturday. The food was good and the rest of it is a big flee market with a couple of tent shows for the kids. They do a good job in attracting people. The crowd was crushing.

Lest I forget. One of the items I might mention, is the new work bench in the garage. With $12.00 and some screws and left over fenceing, I put together a little work bench for myself. I don't intend to work there but it will make a good place to store some more stuff. We are dong pretty good. We have been here a year and we can still get the car and pickup in the garage.  JH

Sept 30, 2011, 5:56PM PDT.
Goodby September and good riddance. I have never liked September. School starts in September and summer ends in September. I have been out of school for 60 years and I still don't like September. Next, comes October. A nice month on the grass lands of Montana. The month of Indian summer. But it is followed by dreaded November, the month of the first cold winds of the winter. October may not be so nice here with the rain and drizzle, but November is much better. Just more rain and drizzle. no ice cold wind.  As you may know, seasons are late in coming here. Fall comes in October or November, spring in June, summer in August and winter, about January. the seasons are late but they do come.

The town is pretty quiet these days. That is just my impression. Could be wrong. Norma and I went to the home show at ComCast Arena this afternoon. I got pretty spooked when''tsss I got in there. It is a giant ad campaign. It is a large city sized arena filled with booths manned by eager sales people. They are selling everything in there. From cars to pickled beets. We are only down about $80.00 counting parking and addmission. When they charge addmission to go in and buy stuff that is pretty cheese. That is Costco's trick.

That is all of the complaining; now for the good stuff. The town may look busy from the outside, but in here it is a bee hive of activity. Besides preparing for my second year at work, if I can get hired, I have all the usual household chores to do. These are all little, nearly, useless tasks, but they have to be done if we are to continue. These are little things like, paying the bills, watering my new grass and doing my weekly house work, which I haven't done yet. I planted a few patches of grass in the pack and it is coming up. Hallaluia! It is strange how little things improve a person's happiness.

that is enough. I have to turn on the TV to see some of the american league play off this evening. JH

Sept 28, 2011, 1:52PM PDT.
I am going to take my exercise in a few minutes while the weather is nice. It was nice yesterday except for a shower or two, but the sun was out most of the time. It has been out most of the time today too and no sign of a shower.

I need a little time out in the fresh Washington air to clear my head after the hellish spell at the computer taking an ethics course and test. Good news. I passed the test and learned a few disturbing things about ethics. I am not naturally as ethical as I thought I was. I have to monitor my actions a little more carefully from now on.

The bad news is you can't have a sample of my bread. I baked a batch yesterday that was about the best I have done so far. Now that I have the technique, I am going on to better things. Cinnamen rolls. JH

Sept 25, 2011, 3:01PM PDT.
This is going to be short.

My visit to the doctor was fine. My lab report was good as can be expected from an old guy how has had some of the treatments I have had. We are thankful for that.

The other is this sunny fall weather. We are thankful for that too. We know it can be replaced by cloudy rainy weather any time. You learn not to by.    g about the weather here in Northwest Washington.

there is some action coming up in the next few days, so I will have something to say soon. JH

Sept 19, 2011, 8:50PM PDT.
I got some good news and some bad news.

The tax return amendment class didn't entirely snow me. Again, I was thrown in with a bunch of really bright women. Smart women are always showing up when I go to school. It is giving me a head ach. I don't know how many more times I can keep up with them. Maybe I haven't been keeping up. I was the last one done with my assignment on Saturday, but not to worry. I have noticed speed isn't everything.

Well, anyhow, the software is not ready for the test so I have another week to prepare. Then I have another three months to finish my CPE. I'm going to do it on line. I don't even have a job yet. Won't I be mad if I don't get hired.

Saturday didn't end there. We had gathered up a few goodwill offering at the reunion and the anniversary dinner, so we gathered up the family and went to the space needle restaurant for dinner on Saturday night. The floor of the dinning room turns one revolution per hour, so you get to see the entirety of Seattle. True, we were there after dark, but that may have added to the scenery. The tops of so many buildings can distract from the beauty of the city. Anyhow, we went all out. We had everything on the menu, from ordourves to desert. My digester was stressed some, before it was over, but I made it through the night.

You wouldn't want me to forget the most pleasant thing we did in the last few days, would you? Well, we, on the spur of the moment took a drive on a nice sunny afternoon today and wound up at the lighthouse park at the Mukelteo Ferry landing. Norma said she would like to take a little ferry ride over to Whidbey Island and back for the fun. So, we did. For four buck, two senior tickets, you can enjoy a big ship experience, We had lunch from the ferry's hot case and cold case just like at Town Pump in Miles City. She had a hot dog and I had clam chowder while we watched the Puget Sound go by.
After a walk around the park I was ready to come on home and take my nap.

The bad news. I had a blood draw this morning. I'm going to see the doctor to discuss my lab report and some other little issues I think may be better understood with a little MD input. I fully expect the lab report to be a glowing reflection of my glowing good health. So, that isn't such bad news after all. JH

Sept 15, 2011, 11:30AM PDT.
We are going into the fall. We had summer, a month of sunny weather, and now the fall has come. It is cloudy but not rainning. In fact, we have had no rain for about six weeks. It is going to start soon. I don't like rain, but there will be plenty of relief in cloudy dry days. Those are sometimes pretty pleasant.

The Tax class I took last week didn't mess my mind up real bad. I finished it, and took the test. I passed. So, now I have three hours of CPE, another three hours scheduled for Saturday and I intend to do the remainder on the Computer Based Training site. That means I can sit at home in front of my PC and, hopfully, learn enough to pass the test.

We have recovered well from the reunion and anniversary. There was only one bad thing. We discovered, yesterday, that our sister-in-law from Las Vegas, has been suffering from some , so youblood clots in her legs from the long car ride back. She is recovering. One other thing we need to recover from is the trip to Forsyth for Jerry's funeral. Our recovery is good there too except, I havent paid the bill yet. Not to worry. I think there will be plenty of money in the account to pay the bill when it comes due.

One other thing going on with the coming of fall, is that it is back to school time. That always gives me a moment of reflection. I too, was a school kid once. I remember all too well the shock of going back after a long summer of fun in the sun.

We have accumulated enough cash and gifts to pay for a dinner at the space needle. So, we are rounding up the boys and going down there Saturday evening for dinner six hundred feet above and a view of the city after dark. Should be a fine experience. I will report on it later.

I have other thing to do now. JH

Sept 12, 2011, 22:15AM PDT.
There was a time when I was not sure I would see this day. That was before all of the summer monkey businesses and the trip to Montana for Jerry's funeral. Of course it is not all over. I can hardly, really believe I went to Jerry's funeral and that the world is going on without him.

Getting back to the monkey business; we had a complete summer of planning and preparing for the Becker family reunion. You don't want to be caught flat footed, so we planned and schemed for months about how we could make our visitors comfortable and entertained for four days. We must have done a pretty good job. Our guests left happy and satisfied they had gotten their money's worth. It helps to live beside Puget Sound, near a major league baseball park, the Boeing Factory, the Walter E. Hall Golf course, Museum of Flight, Lake Washington and many other attractions. On . other hand reunions we have had were not always successfull. Recalling the one in Miles City when the young people were so desparate for some activity, they went 12 miles up the Tongue River for a float down to Miles City. I told them it would take four hours but it turned out to be 12. Ooops!

We did use our reunion guests. We required them to be present at our 50th Anniversary dinner. It was a real lucky curcomstance. It gave them a fun occassion to interact and a good crowd for us. We didn't want to have an anniversary dinner all by ourselves.

Today is a day of humdrum. Thank goodness for that. Humdrum is very little scheduled activity, a thin layer of clouds and cool temperatures. Thank goodness, those three weeds of blazing sunshine we had for our summer are over. Now, for some rain.

So much for our summer, now it is time to startup for the new tax season this winter. I have finished one tax course and have a couple more to do before the end of the year. I have sent in my application for employment, we have to reapply for our old jobs each season, and I need to refresh some of my fadded memmories from the past tax experience.

Along with a few chores and hobbies I like to do, I am a busy guy. JH

Aug 1, 2011, 11:00PM PDT.
I have found out why I haven't been able to save this file. I will do a writing tomorrow.
JH

May 29, 2011, 7:08PM PDT.
I have been ginning up stuff to write for 26 days. So, here it goes.

We have been doing some stuff. First, We joined the senior center of Everett. We signed up and paid our dues. Which was only five bucks to park in the lot. We had lunch, two bucks and played penochle, fifty cents. The whole thing cost us seven dollars and fity cents and we had a good time. The bonus was, it is good to spend a little time with people, most of whom are older and shakier than me, it makes me feel better about myself. We may go up again on Tuesday for a game of pinochle and sign up for a trip to the Mariners game on the first of June. It depends on my traveling companion.

Speaking of traveling companion. Norma and I drove the Aztech to Plentywood and back last week. Of course, we spent some time in Miles City. We met with a great number of acquaintences and relatives. But the biggest thing woongue as that we got to see Montana in flood stage. It isn't often that you have to drive through water running over the interstate in the great state. We did encounter some spots where that was the case, and we heard of many more. You can't get eight inches of rain in Miles City withou some water puddles forming.

But, lo, the horse races at the bucking horse sale were canceled because of too much mud. I was down in the dumps. But we went to the parade, but not the sale. I am lucky. The cold wet weather at the parade did something bad to my artheritis. Neck didn't want to turn, and the sholders didn't want to bend for a few days. The sale would have put me in the hospital.

It was good to see Montana and the people there. It gives me a better perspective on there and here. I can take the rain here as well as the rain there.

We had a good time this afternoon. Jamie, Norma and I went to the clssic care crues on Colby avenue in Everett. What a car show. You don't have to walk around looking at the cars. You can sit on your chair on the sidwalk and the cars cruse past. There were four hundred cars in the show. I didn't see a Packard, a Nash or a Hudson. But I did see a 41 Studebaker.

I have a lot of jobs to do this summer. I will not list them here. I am, however, going to my chair and watch some TV for a while before bed. JH

May 6, 2011, 10:16PM PDT.
Another rainy day has come and went. A lot of rainy days have come and gone since my last writing. Most of our days are rainy. It hasn't become spring yet. We are still in the grip of winter. But, onthe other hand, that gives us something to look forward to, dosen't it?

This has to be a short writing. I wrote a couple days ago and lost the file. I burned up all of my inspiration for nothing. I have to give up until another day. JH

April 23, 2011, 5:41PM PDT.
I am sitting in my study, or as you might say, the cluttered room. It is hot. The sun is out in full force today and the temperature reached the middle 60's. No kidding. That is 15 degrees warmer than it has been in months. The sun is shinning in the window cooking me but I won't pull the blinds. This is what I have been praying for. Finally. A warm day in western Washington.

The tax season is over. I have put all oy pay in the sock. It didn't take a large sox and I am fee to do as I please for a while. The question is, what do I please to do? I am having a little trouble with that question. Norma and I are planning to drive to the Big Sky, Montana, country next week. We are gong to attend SpringFest at Sacred Heart Church. Then we will check out the recently recovered elderly relatives who have undergone painfull surgical procedures recently. Hopeing to find them in fine shape and ready for a nice visit. Of course, I will squeeze in a visit to the farm. That should be about enough for an old guy. Then we will get back to the condo to get ready for the Becker family reunion in August. That may be too much for an old guy.

We are going to have supper at the Italian Resaurant with Jamie and laura Jo in a little while. JH

March 30, 2011, 10:15PM PDT.
It has been awhile since the last writing. How am I doing? I don't know. Compared to my contemporaries, Jerry and Terri, pretty good. I haven't had heart stopping surgery. We have gotten good reports on both of them. They are recovering, although, if you asked them they may be surprised to know that about now. Maybe I will call them tomorrow and tell them they are covering. It will make them feel better.

I haven't answered my question. I am doing alright. I did one tax return today, answered the phone and setup some appointments. I don't know if that justifies my pay, but by the time they find out the tax season will be over. There is less than three weeks left. We are all short timmers.

Other than that, I haven't lostnn any weight or gained any, my legs are getting weaker because they need some exercise, but I am too lazy and I am putting my pay away in hopes of fincncing a fine time this summer. I can't get any better than that. I suppose it could. But, at my age, you don't want to expect too much.

The last paragraph was confusing so I will quit before it gets worse. JH

March 13, 2011, 10:58PM PDT.
The news today is, it is the first day of day light saving time.

Other news is that Norma and I are hosting the Becker family reunion in August. Along with that, we are doing a 50th year anniversary. With that in mind, we were at Jamie's house this evening when a lot of planning broke out. As you know, I am real skittish around social things and the planning of them. But, I was good at keeping my mouth shut so the juices could flow fairly freely. Big plans were made without much input from me. That's good. I am real nervous about them turning out well and as planned, not to mention the cost. That's bad. I can handle it. I think I know my place in this. I am going to be politcally and socially correct even it it kills me. Or costs some of my own money. After all we don't have a daughter's wedding to pay for. Anyhow, there is a social event planned for August. It is expected to be a time of joy at..d happiness for all. A time to renew family ties and to cheer each other up. Let us hope and pray it turns out that way. God willing.

I might make a couple of phone calls in the morning to cheer up a couple of folks. That will be a big order for a guy like me. But, we have received some news about the health of a couple of older men in the family that makes me want to do something positive.

We are going to the bank to deposit my pay check in the morning. I always look forward to that, but sure don't look forward to going to work to earn it. I am getting enough experience to enjoy my work , but there is entirely too much down time waiting for clients to walk in the door. This is the March lull. When the first flush of tax filing is over and the final push has not yet started. I am looking forward to a couple of good weeks at the end of the season.

That is enough. J

March 8, 2011, 9:25PM PST.
See that date? It is time for the spring thaw in the Big Sky. I have been checking the temp every day but it barely gets above freezing. It has to hit 50 before the water starts to run.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Thank goodness. I have been practicing Fat Tuesday for some time now. So, tomorrow I am going to start my lenten fast right off in the morning. The trouble is, we seniors are exempt from fasting because of our weak constitutions. That is true. We have weak constitutions, but it is too easy to use as an excuse to continue Fat Tuesday. I have heart burn now so a little fasting can only make me feel better. It is alright to feel good during lent?

I planted by garden yesterday. It is a row of peas at the bottom of the slope in the back of the yard. I can't wait until the first sprout comes through. Then there will soon be a lush row of pea vines. Then they will be heare with white flowers just before they get heavy with pea pods.

We have tentative plans for some land scaping around the place. It is a surprise how much work it is going to take just to do a few little things. It is going to be hard on a lazy guy. I haven't done any work in the last six months, so it only takes about a half hour and I am done. Resting in my recliner. In fact I am getting tired right now. I am going down stairs to eat a piece of cake and go to bed. JH

Febuary 28, 2011, 10:07PM PST.
We really put on a show yesterday. We had company. Norma made swiss steak and mashed potatos for the boys, Laura Jo and me. We ate and watched the oscars on our new tv. It is not realy new any more. We have had it for almost six months, but it seems new to me. We were please everyone enjoyed the food and watching the show. Who wouldn't enjoy watching a thousand lovlies on the red carpet. That is what we did this week end. Saturday we prepared and today we unwound. Not exatly. It was one of only two days I had off this week so I had to do some more chores.

I knew an older guy in Miles City who appeared to be working. I asked him if he was still working. He said I am working half time but it takes me all day to do it. I think I knaow what he ment.

It might warm up one of these days. That would be nice. I am surprised it is so darned cold. I ey ought it would be warming up by now. Don't mind the clouds but I don't like the rain and the cold wind.

We are fine, and we hope you are too. JH

Febuary 19, 2011, 9:54PM PST.
Once again western Washington has been ablaze in bright sunshine. We have had two days of sunshine. The moon and stars are out for once and everyone is in a good mood. It is a break from the winter just like the January thaw was in Montana. We have hope for more.

The grass is visibly growing and I put some flowers in the ground today. Spring can't be far behind.  I'm going to need some conditioning before spring. The little walk and gardening I did today made me feel like I want to go to bed. Hopefully, some longer walks on a more frequent basis will get me in shape to do some of my chores. I want to do some work in the back yard and on the deck soon.

We had a fine time this evening. Joe and Tom made supper for us at their condo in Seattle. Pot roast with baked potatos and strawberry short cake. We had supper with Jamie and Laura Jo at the Geaines Italian cl on Friday. We eat a lot.

The job is going along as well as I expected. They are giving me plenty of hours and I have been fairly successful doing tax returns. No big blunders yet.

Norma and I are about over our head colds. I sure hope Art and Judy are better too. As you may know, on the day Art and Judy arrived I came down with a terrible head cold. Every one in the condo got it including Art and Judy. But, they had to go to Hawaii and spend time in the auful hot sun with a head cold. Well, I don't suppose we will see them anytime soon.

I am gong to bed. JH

Febuary 13, 2011, 8:46PM PST.
I want to go to bed again.

Let me tell you why. . . . They made me work from 11:00AM until 4:00PM. From the minute I walked in the door until 4:00 I was swamped with clients. By the time it was over my mind was numb. I can tell the difference. It wasn't numb when I started. It was the constant thinking. I have to stop that.  After that, I went to Mass at 5:30. Then it was a trip to the deli for some food. Now my mind wasn't as numb but the body started to go.

It feels like I am recovering. It has been a couple of hours now that I have been inactive.

I have some news. Art and Judy were here last week for a day. We had a nice visit and ate some good food. They went on to Hawaii for a visit with Kari and Will and Leo. Leo is Art's grand son. The first one. I haven't seen him except in pictures and he is a fine look FiFriday efng boy. He is about a year old. And he can walk.

The boys visit us often. Joe was here today, Tom was here yesterday and Jamie visits every few days. Norma is planning a Becker family reunion in August for her brother and two sisters and anyone else who might like to come. I hope a fair size group shows up. As you know, as time goes on there are fewer people in the imediate family to count on. She has lost two brothers in the past five years. If I don't go to bed, she is going to lose me. JH

Febuary 11, 2011, 10:36PM PST.
This line is just to let you know we are still functioning OK. I am writing only one line because I am tired and want to go to bed. They have been working the heck out of me this week. JH

January 17, 2011, 7:46PM PST.
It is Martin Luther King day already. You have gotten nothing from me but silence since the 5th of January. Auful sorry about that. I know it is scary. But I am still here, scarier, just been pretty busy.

Last week was my first week of full time employment. It sure takes a lot of time to put in 30 or 40 hours at work. By the time you have gotten yourself ready, traveled to work and traveled back home it takes most of your day. I am going to keep it up as best I can for the next three months. I will stop only if I am fired for good cause.

The last couple of Sundays have been wonderful fun. The boys came over to help us watch the Seahawks play football in the play offs. It is good for us to see their smiling faces from time to time. Jamie stopped in on his way home from work today to pickup his cell phone and spent a little time visiting with us.

Outside of that, it has been rain, rain, rain. We are due for a little break tomorrow morning, but then it will start up again in the afternoon. I see a sun on the Saturday weather page. It may disappear before Saturday, but I am looking forward to that.

Speaking of sun. I had a nice visit with Art, Judy, Marcy and Melady today. It brought to mind the many sunny days we spent in AZ a couple of years ago when we went there for the spring training baseball at the Peoria sports complex.

Not to worry, I will enjoy my little drive to work in the morning and spend some time in the bright lights in the office. I will have to fight for clients to keep me busy, but there will probably be only a couple of us there. If so, I should get to do enough returns to make the day pass real quickly. JH

January 5, 2011, 9:40PM PST.

Ten days have passed since my last writing, and I thought it was just a couple. Where has the time gone? I must be having fun.

Well, maybe. I am busy. That is not tosay that I don't have my down time. At my age down time is absolutely necessary. I can't get on without it.

I am so busy because my job has started this week. I am really at work now. We are still jumping through hoops. That is what I call training now. I have been at it since the middle of September, starting with the basic course, then there was the soft skills classes, the update classes and, now, the dress rehearsal classes. There is only one class left. It will be all over by noon tomorrow. And I am glad. They are trying to train me to be a nice extroverted marketing person. I am not going to make further comment on that last sentence.

The work, so far, has been closing the office at the end of the day. I am still looking forward to that first client. I am going to give him the works. I have learned how to count the cash and shut down the till, take out the garbage, lock the door and answer the phone. The tax season hasn't actually started yet. The IRS isn't even accepting efiled returns yet. It is a time to ge the hang of the softwar and office procedured.

Enough of that, now let's talk about the weather. For a few days it felt like I was living in Miles City. The shy was blue the sun was bright and it was cold a heck. WE even had snow on the ground. Then, I woke up this morning to the sound of rain on the roof. The snow is pretty well gone and the temperature is up about 10 degrees.

I have to go check out the late news. JH

December 26, 2010, 5:07PM PST.
Christmas shopping is done and the days are getting longer. There is joy in Mudville. I am not against Christmas. Sometimes folks get that idea. I love Chistmas. The idea is fine, the lights and decorations are fine, the music is fine and the dinning is fine. But, there is still a little something about it that makes me a little nervous.

As for the longer days; what could there be wrong in longer days. Some might say the longer days cause more fatigue because of the added time to do chores, but I can offsett that by a lot of things. Driving in the light instead of the dark, warmer temperatures, blooming flowers and greener grass. Longer days seem like a good think.

We were happy to be in Washington yesterday. All three boys were here and we had a good time with them. That seems to be the main reason we are here, but there are other thing that you may be able to count as positives, too. I will not get into numerating them, but as you may know, when you do something really significant, good or bad or indifferent, it isn't always easy to say if it was a good thing or not. For example, we moved from California many years ago and I can't, to this day, say if it was a good thing or not. That is because I don't know what would have happened if we had stayed in California. Now, the same thing. We are doing just fine, but how would we be fairing if we had stayed in Miles City.

That is about enough thoughtful writing. I have a couple of new books to read. One from Marcy and one from Joe. They think I read a lot. I do. But, I read slowly. I like to reflect as I go along, so I don't get may pages read at a setting. JH

December 23, 2010, 9:23PM PST.
The time is comming for the birth of our lord. There is Mass at 9:00 PM tomorrow evening, but we are going to be at Jamie's house. Then there is going to be Mass at 8:00, 10:00 and 12:00 on Christmas day. It seems plenty of oportunity to worship the new born Son, but worrisome because of the heavey load of holiday activities that have been planned. Norma and I are going to cook a big turkey, some potatos and peas for Christmas dinner with everyone we know around here comming over to eat.

The Christmas action has already begun. We went, today, to the Mall to exchange an item that turned out to be the wrong size. If we can drive 15 miles down I5 in the rain to exchange a purchase the wrong size, we can surely find time to go to Mass on Christmas day. I don't really know if there is a relationship between those two activities, but it seems there ought to be. I gnumerate themuess the relationship is simply the question, "how far will you go to get the right size" compared to "how far will you go to worship the new born Lord"? Or, it's really, "how far would you go to worship the new born Lord"?

We seem to be talking about the weather all the time. I remember just minutes ago typing something about the weather, rain, I believe, but it was on the other web page ,"talk back". But I have to tell you, it dosen't rain all the time here. For instnace, we had two sunny days in the past week. It stopped raing at about 4:30 this afternoon so I went for my walk and it was a lovely evening. Dark but cool and quiet. Well, as quiet as it ever gets with Evergreen Way and I5 near by.

On a little different subject, did you see the lunar eclipse the other night? I looked for it, but as luck would have it there were too many clouds, trees and buildings in the way, so I couldn't find the moon. Or anything that looked like it. I suppose there were plenty of people in Montana and Colorado where the sky was crystal clear so there was some good viewing.

That is enough. Oh, that is not all. I have more thoughts in my head but I'm afraid your eyes are glazed over. JH

December 21, 2010, 10:48PM PST.
Look at the date. The bad news is, it is the first day of winter. The good news is, it can't get any worse. Today was as short as they come. tomorrow will be two seconds longer. Today was a real nice day here. We had a great big sun break. Almost the whole day. Last night we had a moon eclips. I couldn't find the moon. It wasn't real cloudy, but there are so many trees and buildings around you can't get a good look at the sky. This is not the big sky. Big sky means something after six months in Everett, Washington.

That takes care of the weather. Now to the big things. We are going to Jamie's house Friday evening and everyone we know is coming over here on Saturday. Norma and I are cooking the biggest turkey I ever saw. It is in the refrigerator thawing at this very moment. We spent half the afternoon in the grocery store. That is somship      ething I miss about Miles City. The grocery stores weren't so darned big. I didn't even take my walk today. I figured I walked enough in the grocery store. I got to feeling sorry for poor Norma. You know she is 70 years old and had to find a million things in acres of store. I wasn't much help. I am 75.

If you didn't get a Christmas card from us, let me know. We sent a card to everyone we know and have an address for. That is done and I will have to go buy one more little gift. Besides helping cook on Saturday, that should be enough for me.

Mass is at 8:00, 10:00 and 12:00 on Christmas day. With my kitchen helper work to do maybe I can hit the 10:00 Mass. I am going to be a busy guy. It is a good thing I have all that experience as a deli helper at the Town Pump in Miles City. JH

December 15, 2010, 9:00PM PST.
We have had a nice little outing with Jamie and Laura Jo. We had snow peas at the Lana Thai. They serve some sort of Aisian food. It comes with a mixture of vegtables, chicken and rice. So, you can see, we are very well fed.

We are well fed, well rested and nearly well educated. I mention that last thing because there is only one day left in the Company's current series of training sessions. It will be followed up by a couple days of updates at the end of December and then I can go to work. Let's hope the tax payers are ready. I am.

Also, I get to drive my pickup on Friday. Norma will be using the Aztek so I will drive the pickup to school in Mill Creek on Friday, the last day. The insurance has been suspended for the past couple of months to save money, so I had to call the insurance lady for permission to drive it. She told me to go right ahead and there will be no charge for one day of driving.

I had a little telephone visit with Joe ysterday. There was a terrible storm in Seattle and I wnated to find out if he and Tom came through it OK. The report is, that yes, they are fine and the damage in their area was slight. We didn't have any damage either, but it sure was a miserable couple of days of rain and wind. We are pretty soft for weather like that. It usually just sprinkles.

Generally we are getting along pretty well. JH

December 4, 2010, 9:45PM PST.
I have been a busy guy today. Yesterday and the day before that too.

We spent a good day in Seattle with Tom and Joe. We went to the Methodist church to hear Tom play the piano and, of course do some praying. We had coffee with the people of the parish and then met Joe for lunch. Joe and i went to Joe's place for some rest while Norma and Tom went back to the church to play the piano for the lady's tea. Everything got done and we are home safely now.

There isn't much worthy news except another day's work is scheduled for me tomorrow. It is the kind of work I can get used to. We have to sit and listen to a lecture for a couple of hours, drink coffee and discuss the subject for a while. Then i come home for lunch. It beats working in the deli.

As you can see, I am having a hard time makeing my life interesting enough to write about. for    ddMaybe that is a good thing. I am pretty old. I couldn't stand any more excitment. JH

November 29, 2010, 9:09PM PST.
Events are moving fast now.

It is true. I put in a work day of three hours, in, what we call, skills training. We will be doing this three days a week for three weeks.

I attempted to license the car but ran into a couple of bumps so we will have to drive around with a temporary license in the back window for a couple of weeks.

Norma and I went up to north Broadway in Everett to see her doctor this afternoon, and then had a little food at IHOP to complete my day.

Now I am out of energy, time and patients so that is it for now. JH

November 28, 2010, 6:59PM PST.
Norma helped make soap bars at Jamie's this afternoon. We had a good visit and lunch. Jamie cooked his fovorite recipe. Chili. It was real good.

We got home before dark and have done mostly nothing since. I have to take it pretty easy this evening. Tomorrow is going to be a pretty busy day. It is my first day of work and Norma has a doctor's visit in the afternoon. But, the biggest item is going to be buying  the license for the Aztec. No, the biggest job will be writing the check to pay for the license for the Aztec. Hopefully, it will all get done.

My last writing described the end of our winter. It is back to regular now. 35 to 45 degrees with a couple of little showers every day. Of course, that means there is very little sun shine. It dosen't mean there is not a blue spot in the sky now and then.

I couldn't help but notice, there is a pretty good layer of snow at Sumatra. There is still 9 inches on the ground according to the weater reports I am getting. A phone visit with Dan is in order. Maybe tomorrow. I don't want to call him too late. He has a lot of work to do feeding his cows.

Keep checking. I will try to keep you informed as we go along. JH

November 26, 2010, 9:27PM PST.
It looks like winter is over. The snow was gone when I got up this morning and we have had a couple of rain showers during the day.

This is the day after Thanksgiving and I feel pretty good. We had dinner at the home of the only folks we know here in Everett. Jamie's in laws. They are Laura Jo's sister and her family. They very graciously invited Norma and I to come along with Jamie and Laura Jo to their house for dinner. We had a nice time. Everyone was in a good visiting mood, we ate the turkey, played a little cards and got home in time for a nice night's rest. I got a few chores done today, had a nice supper with Norma at a local cafe and now what is for breakfast.

This is a  little interim period between my school days of the past couple of months and going to work on Monday. I am not really going to work on Monday, I am going on the payroll for three weeks of part time training at one of offices. So,her eave to shift my gears for these few days and try to gin up some interest in getting a few domestic duties taken care of.

That is about it for now. JH

November 22, 2010, 3:46PM PST.

We are socked in by winter weather. It feels the same as it does in Montaha. It is 28 degrees and there is a little breeze. I went for an hour's exercise this afternoon for several reasons. I wanted to work off a little energy, use a few calories and get the feel of a nice cold day. I couildn't feel the difference in walking down Montana Avenue to go to work at RT&Co in November 1983 and walking down 18th Avenue W in Everett. The sting on the face was the same. But I didn't have to go to work today.

Speaking of work. I have to go to work on Monday, a week from today. So, what has changed in the past 25 years. Plenty. I don't want to say none. Mohammed Ali said, "if your thinking hasn't changed in 20 years you have wasted 20 years." I don't want that. So, what has changed? Plenty. I am not going to try to tell you what it is. It would make my head ache.

I am keeping any more news for my next writing. JH

November 17, 2010, 9:29PM PST.
It has been a few days since I have done a writing, because it took a while to gin up some news.

The news is, I am employed again. The 75 year old found himself a job when the unemployment rate is 9.6%. That news is good and bad. The bad news is there is some poor soul out there who didn't get hired because I got his job. The good news is I need the pay check. The process was not easy. I called in September. Someone told me I should take the basic tax course and if I did well, they had oportunities for me. Well, lo and behold, that is what happened. Because I have a poor memory I had to study, study and review. But, it worked. It seems the mental effort opened up some of the capilaries in my brain. I think I am a little more alert now that I have had the mental exercise of going through a hard course of study. I can hardly wait until January rolls around so I can start taxing.

Here is some deep thoughtful stuff. Norma and I have bought a niche in a mausoleum. Are you sure you read that correctly? Norma and I have bought a niche in a mausoleum. That is what I thought I saw. We are still considering it. The contract can be canceled in the first 30 days or it can be changed in the first 30 days. As usual we got the cart before the horse. We are doing some research now that should have been done before the contract was signed. But the 30 days are not up yet. I an going to ask that the contract be canceled or changed. The price is too high. It is like a Chevrolet man bought a Cadilac. We have to change that. We have learned a couple of things. The day you were born you took on the high cost of getting rid of your body when you are finished with it. You can burn it or you can bury it. It is going to cost you a bundle. I am tryingto wriggle out of the expense, but there is no wiggle room.

Norma has been feeling pretty good the last few days. She has told me she is cooking a ham dinner on Saturday for the boys. It is always nice to have them show up. It is still a surprise to me after so many years of living a thousand miles away. She is also looking forward to a family reunion with her remaining brother and sisters. They have all gotten together every couple of years to renew there relationships. It is good for them. They don't keep enough contact otherwise. This is the first time we have had a reunion at our place when there is comething for them to do. We are thinking of a host of Northwest Washington things we can do with them. I only hope at least a couple of them are able and rich enough to come all the way out here. We need to gin up a good conversation with them and give them something to look forward to by coming out.

Now that you eyes are glazed over I can tell you about the weather. It has been terrible for the last ten days or so. It has been raining, cloudy, windy and cold. If this is Northwest Washington winter weather, I don't like it. I am staying in the house.

That is about all for now. JH

November 11, 2010, 7:59PM PST.
Whoa! It has been one day since my graduation. I have had nothing to do and already I am in trouble. To offset the trouble, I can't think of anything good that I did today. If you need something good, I can truely say that I got some rest. I don't know if I was really tired or if it was relaxation after a long period of stress. At least, I got a couple of pretty good naps.

The trouble. I had told myself that I would rather be cremated than to lie in a grave six feet under the ground. The more I think of it the more I realize it to be the case. Deap down in my sub-conscience, that is my desire. So, I filled out a card at Mass a couple of weeks ago from a Catholic Cemetary and put it into the collection box. Lo and behold, the cemetary director called me and made an appointment to show us around his place. My oh my it is a nice place. It includes an indoor and outdoor mausoleum for the perminent storage of ashes. The storage niches indoors are glass fronted with pretty urns, pictures and sacramentals. We were completely taken by the thought of ssaw.ding eternity in a place like that. Marbel walls, an alter and tall iron doors. So, what is the trouble here? I have to pay for it. Not later. Now. Or, if not now, over the next five years. That is the trouble.

On the other hand, it isn't that there is an alternative. a guy has to have a place of eternal rest, at some cost. Pay now or pay later.

That is all I have on my mind now. Maybe there will be better news tomorrow. JH

November 10, 2010, 7:43PM PST.
It has been a big day. It was the last day of basic tax school. And that means final exam. It was an exam, and it was final and it was a big one. But, not to worry, I passed it. What a relief. No more studying. Now what can I do. Actually, I am waiting. Waiting for the company to call. I actually expect them to hire me to do tax returns in one of their offices here in Everett. That is a little silly. I am 75 years old. Stranger things have happened.

I do have some things to do. While I was engaged with school some chores have back up around here. I worked on one this afternoon. I looked high and low for my shoes and the ketchen knives we lost in our move from Miles City last summer. I have been living in a pair of sandles for four months. We will have to spring loose from some bucks to buy me a new pair of shoes. I jusausot got my budget under some control and now this.

The other chores don't come to mind just now. And a little dose of these writings goes a long way. JH

November 8, 2010, 9:21PM PST.
There is one more class session left. It will be the final test. Without a break down in my head I will do OK. You will get a report in my next writing on that subject.

Today's project revolved around getting some things for the condo. Mainly, it was curtains for the dinning room and a couple of stools for the kitchen counter. Norma, bless her little heart,  found some really cheap stools advertised at Target. They are a little below her standards, but I wouldn't let her back out of buying them. I assembled one of them this evening, and it is at the counter as we speak. She hasn't seen it assembled, and will probably need a little help in accepting it. I will be there to give that help. To be honest, it is a little skimpy, but adequate. These are not stools that will have to take a lot of use. We don't need them except on some occasions when Thwe have company.

The curtain rod is up, but the curtains will need a little more skill than I can give. We will finish that project tomorrow.

We had a surprise visit from Tommy Sunday afternoon. We drove to Mt Vernon for lunch. We could have had lunch here, but the drive through the contry side was a real treat, expecially with someone else at the wheel. We had a nice visit with Tommy. He is doing his usual things. His work. He dosen't call it work. What a lucky guy. He teaches piano and does accompaniment gigs.

That was the high light of the week so far. And i will let this writing go this far so I can get back to you in a couple of days. JH

November 4, 2010, 12:51PM PDT.
Finally!

Boy, have I been busy. For about a year. It is not a good idea to tell the whole story at once. How about some installments? Last first. LIFO.

It is a few days before the final test in the basic tax course. We have been going to this grueling school for two months and I am getting tired. There are nine hours of class time each week and all the rest of my time, until mental saturation occurs, studying. I have to study this stuff over and over to keep it in my head. Nothing else is getting done around here. Today, though, I have studied a couple of hours this morning so Norma and I are going out for lunch and a little shopping this afternoon. I need a couple of little things for the computer and the house air purifier filter, but she has suggested that I buy a new pair of shoes. I don't want to buy a new pair of shoes. I have a fine pair, buem. As you know, we moved with most of our stuff from Miles City last summer. Some stuff got lost. Our kitchen knives and my shoes and who knows how much other stuff has not turned up so far.

We are surely going out today. It is sunny and about 70 degrees. That is a real treat for us here in the land of cloudy and raining.

This is just the first installment, and not much of the story. But I have to get back to my study, but will get back to this when my head starts to over heat and needs a rest. JH

March 25, 2010, 7:42PM MDT.
This is Thursday, the first of two days off. It seems like I have run out of things to do. Or, I have run out of easy fun things to do. So I will do this. Let's not beleive that. This is easy and fun.

I really have done some things today. First, I baked, from scratch, two loaves of bread. Learned what it is that is causing my terrible baking failures. I had switched from a recipe down loaded from the internet that I wasn't satisfied with to one from the Betty Crocker's Cook Book. The result was, two inch high loaves when I was accustomed to four inch high loaves. It appears, the recipes I have been using in recent weeks use too little yeast. I am going to double the yeast next week. I will report on the result in my next writing.

Project two was a fine lunch. I found some beef ribs at the store I conldn't resist. I boiled them for a while and baked them with Baby Rays's BBQ sauce and baked a couple of Idaho russetts. The result was a treat along with fresh bread. I sound like Grandpa Jone on "He Ha". So be it. I can go without until breakfast now. Now you know what deli helpers do on their day off.

The weather was so nice this afternoon, I had to get out in it for a while. I thought there might be some green stuff comming up out in the grass land. I discovered the crested wheat grass is growing pretty good but there isn't much else up. The weeds are not doing much growing yet. But, it was the first 60 degree day we have had. Don't get the notion I went out to the farm. I just walked over into the weed patch here in town.

It is too bad I have allowed this report to go two months without a fresh posting. What could the reason be? You don't suppose it is a reflection of my dull Miles City life? I need to perk up doing some interesting thing to write about. As it is I have been spending four shifts per week at the gas station. I could write about numerous little events that have taken place there, but fear it might scandalize myself or others. So we will just let that canary lie and talk about the things that have happened around here.

Have you gotten your check from the Turner Oil and Gas Leasing Company yet? Well, neither have I. You don't suppose we have been scammed? I don't mind, so much, being put through the hoop for someone's entertainment, but I sure would appreciate a note of thanks or explanation. I will not explain further what this paragraph is about because most who read this report probably already know. I may pen a note to the Dear Mr Turner asking for information. I have seen his web site, there may be an email address there I can use.

To summarize, it is accurate to say all is well in this house. We have not changed noticably in recent weeks, which is a win for the post 60 crowd. Norma is really still in her 60's at the present time. But close enough to 70 to claim it. Now all we have to do is coast through the 70's, which it looks to me like are easier than the 60's. I don't know, I haven't had that much experience with this aging thing myself.

Well, anyhow, we are looking forward to seeing more folks once the weather warms up. JH

January 22, 2010, 3:14PM MST.
January doldrums. The fact is, it is January. It is cold and cloudy. I havden't writen in six weeks so you have to understand I am a little rusty, but here goes.

We have just about got the Christmas decorations removed. Good heavens. The wreath is still hanging on the door. It has been there for over a month, and the lights are still on the little arificial tree on the front steps. That is my part and I didn't get it done. Actually the front door looked pretty good with a fine wreath from Ohio and the decorated tree it looks like someone lives here. Otherwise, from the front of the house, it is sometimes hard to tell if anyone lives here. We don't use the front door very often. In fact we don't use the back door very often in the winter time. Does it look like a pattern has developed here? Have we become a couple of recluses? I am going to ask Norma if she thinks that has happened. Let me count the times we go in and out in a week. I go to work four times each week out the back, to Mass once, out the front out the back on my way to the store a half dozen times a week, out the front for my weekly walk and, today I went to the barber shop. Norma goes out to the beauty shop a couple times a week, to the store a couple of times, out a couple of times for a visit and once a week she goes out to play cards. No, we aren't reclusive. That is quite a bit of coming and going.

That is an eye glazing paragraph. Now for the good stuff.

We have been to Forsyth to dine with Jerry and Frances and their family a couple of times around Christmas. In fact, we had Christmas dinner at the mortuary there and were at Jerry's on one other occasion. There was a real deal here at New Years. Tom was home and Norma made supper for Him and his friend Rob and Camile. That was a repeat of last year. But, at our age everything is a repeat of something.

Those were great days for me. I was still healthy. Since then I have taken up a severe cold. It has effected every fiber of my mind a body. Like I am in the midst of a long spell of illness, I can only long to feel spry and fine as I did a couple of weeks ago. But, I expect full recovery just around the corner.

Norma and I are expecting a trip to the fine city of Seattle in about June. We can hardly wait. It is going to be great to see, once again, the green trees and the colorful flowers in the great NorthWest. It will include a drive through the Rockies and Cascades. That is always a pleasure after a year in Eastern Montana. We don't suffer a whole lot here because it is Eastern Montana except during the January doldrums. Otherwise, Miles City isn't so bad. We are going to check up on the boys, do the horse races at Emerald Downs, the sights at Paradise Visiter Center on Mount Rainier, ride the ferry, stroll Green Lake Park, visit Silver Lake in Everett, visit the rain forest on the peninncula, and with a little luck walk in the virgin forest if we can find it. It seems there is very little virgin forest, still standing as it was when the white man came, left in Washington. They did to the virgin forests the same thing they did to the buffalo, and I am still pretty darned mad.

If you are still with me, you get a A. JH

December 6, 2009 10:39PM MST.
It has been two months since I have posted a writing. No sweat. I have an excuse. My computer has been down in the software dumps. That means I had a small software problem which became a big one when I tried to fix it. Through several stages I wound up being walked through a windows XP reinitialization by a guy in India who didn't speak plain English. In fact, by the time it was over I wasn't speaking english either. "dinjuberrymuds".

The really big surprise was that I didn't lose every bit and byte on the C drive.

Outside of that castrophy, all is well. No big long eye glazing speels here. I am going to attempt an up load of this file. JH

October 1, 2009 1:07PM MST.
Last night after my 7 hour exile to the deli, I had a snack and sat here at the computer with the idea that I would add to the string of writings. I couldn't do it. It seemed that all the juices had been drained from my mind. So, today after a good night's sleep and a morning of lounging around, let us see if there is a little juice back in the tank.

Looking back at that paragraph, I have to mention my experience of last evening at the deli. I was starting my shift wondering if maybe I am just too darned old to be doing this, when in pops our 77 year old part time maintenance man. He shakes my hand and we said it has been a long time since I have seen you. He was on the end of an eight hour shift and still bouncing. There is no end to when you can use a role model.

Even though not much worth mentioning has happened during the last two weeks I have to relate this. Tuesday evening my 79 year old brother in law walked into the Town Pump and I took a second or two to realize who it was because I sure didn't expect to see him there. It happened that he and Norma's sister had been to Grand Junction, Colorado and were just in the act of returning to Plentywood when they stopped in Miles City to see us and gas up. There you go. Another role model for old guys. We had a nice visit, they stayed with us over night, I made a nice breakfast in the morning and they disappeared behind the ice and snow curtain to the north. We will see them again. At least by spring.

My wish has finally come true. Summer is over. It rained last night, the wind in blowing and it is about 45 degrees. Wonder berries have been harvested and I am about down to rolling up my hose for the winter. This is going to be great.JH

September 16, 2009 12:05PM MST.

This will be quick. I am going to work in a couple of hours and have to do  lunch and my nap first.

This writing is being done mostly to let you know we are still here. In fact we have been here for 48 years. This is the day. We were married in Froid by Father Meers on the 16th of September 1961. I don't mention the year just any place. Some folks are astonished to think that anything that important could have happened that long ago. And remembered to this day. Father Meers has passed away and the church in Froid has been closed for several years already. So, what does that mean. I don't know or don't want to think about it.

What I do want to think about is the wonderful weather today, very much like the 16th of September 1961. I have just been out in the yard getting some water going on the flowers and the grass. I hate to have to say this myself, but this is the best yard we have ever had. Some flowers, the grass is green it is watered and fertilized. I am torn. I don't want to drag the hose around anymore, but I don't want to see it freeze up either. JH

September 7, 2009 9:15PM MST.
I was going to give an account of the burial of Joan's ashes at the cemetery in 
Forsyth, but I see, I gave a preview last writing. Well, here is a post view.

We did meet at the cemetery at 2:00PM on the 3rd of September. We picked that day to avoid the usual freezing cold at the cemetery for these sort of activities. Father Willy read the committal prayers. There was a real nice size group of friends and relatives there, and, as always happens when the country cousins meet, we had an extended visit. We ate the cookies and drank the coffee Frances made. And one important item. Marcy Mullings, Joan's second daughter arrived just in time for the ceremony. We had no idea she was coming, so it was a really big surprise. Marcy stayed here in Miles City at our house overnight on Thursday and went back to Phoenix on Friday. Everything, the entire affair happened without a single mistake. We all had a wonderful time and we all pray for the repose of the soul of our sister Joan. JH

August 27, 2009 10:21PM MST.
This is more like it. It has been only three days since my last writing.

I have been pressing hard to get all my "gobble geek" programming problems cleared up. How can I expect anyone to use this site if an incomprehensible message appears on his monitor for no apparent reason? Can't. So far I have asked myself a question and answered it. So good so far.

The trouble with this posting is that nothing has happened since the last one. But something is about to happen in the next few days. We are prepared to inurn our Sister Joan's ashes in the cemetery at Forsyth. Her ashes are in Forsyth at Stevenson and Sons Mortuary, the date is set, the priest is engaged and a notice is in the Forsyth Independent today. The only thing left is to ask the mortuary to engage Frances to make the coffee and cookies and to make a final telephone check with Frank at the mortuary in Forsyth, I think on Monday. I know. It seems strange to be doing thter 12 years after her death. But better late than never. Art is planning on being there and I will be there. If anyone else shows up that will be all the better.

There is some news. You know something called news is going to be bad. It is. There was a heavy hail storm at the farm. I am afraid to go out to look. Dan said it did some damage to the roof of the house and knocked down the standing vegetation, but not to worry, the land is still there. I suspect there were a few posts for Dan to replace in the coolies, but he hadn't looked when I talked to him.

I have had a pretty good few days. Tomorrow is another day off, so I am staying up past my bed time again tonight. Tomorrow night I go to bed at 9:00PM and get up at 5:00AM on Saturday morning. Same thing on Saturday night. But I get to sleep as late as I want the rest of the week. It puts a little variation in my schedule. Keeps me moving. I have to pay attention all the time. So, tomorrow, Norma and I are going to the Sacred Heart Kids School Mass. Norma is sponsoring a young lady in the first grade and we have been invited to the Friday morning Mass. I had better get to bed. JH

August 24, 2009 5:12PM MST.
We have had a real tough week around here. I lost my FTP, uploading capability. If you can't upload it is a serious situation.

Not to worry. The problem has been corrected. It seems there was something out of order in my computer. Something which I am unaware of even now. It was fixed by my Internet service Provider, Kathy. She remotely got on my computer and reset the switch and now I am up and running.

We have experienced the Easter Montana fair this week. Mostly in the food booth. But, we did see the antique tractor pull. It was a delightful event. John Deeres, Farmalls, Alis Chalmers and Olivers doing their stuff right out in front of the grand stand.

Now I am going to upload this file.JH

August 17, 2009 2:15PM MST.
So much for the summer of 2009. Rip VanWinkle has just woke up. Where have I been. Multitasking is Forsy has done this to me. I have gotten like the old timer computers; I am so busy jumping from job to job I don't get anything done. We called that thrashing.

It is a lovely day here in the big sky. We had a little sprinkle during the night and had some clouds this morning, but now the sun has broken through and it is quite nice. After I get this job done, I want to get my bride out for a little walk in the neighborhood. It can't hurt her and might perk her up a little bit. Perky. That is what I am shooting for. Perky.

You need a little account on what has been happening during the most recent couple of months. We were in Phoenix for a good visit with some of the people who matter most in our lives, for some warm weather and a couple of spring training baseball games. Sence then, we have seen almost everyone we have ever known at the reunion in Forsyth and on a trip to Seattle. I have some pictures of the reunion to be put on my web site for easy viewing. One of my back logged jobs. We were in Seattle for about 10 days to get reaquainted with our boys, Joe, Tom and Jamie again. We made them do a few things with us so they would be glad when we left and they could get back to the usual routine. We really had a fine time while we were there. We saw an Aquasox baseball game in Everett, the races at Emerald downs and got to do a ferry ride to and a tour of Widbey Island. Getting there and back is always half the fun. It's no different for us. We drove the Aztec over the mountains and back for that part. And it is always so good to get out of the house for a few days from time to time. The next time we are going to see the ocean and Mount Reainier close up. We didn't want to do everything. You have to leave something for the next time.

We saw Norma's 90 year old aunt in Spokane on our way to Seattle. She is in fine spirits but has to go around in a wheel chair because she broke her hip a couple of years ago. She dosen't write because she says she dosen't do anything to write about and dosen't want to write about the weather. Ooops! I broke that rule already. No more about the weather.

I have to get out of here for some fresh air. When I get back I will work on some more "gobble geek" problems. JH

June 21, 2009 10:33PM MST.
I am up way past my bed time.
 
Some progress has been made in the ongoing effort to keep body and soul together. The bills paid and the grass green.

I visited the farm a couple of days ago and, I am happy to report it is still there pretty  much as it has been in recent times. It seemed to be a good idea to make sure anyone who might visit it next weed end would not be dismayed at the condition. Well, maybe dismayed is not the word. Probably to see it as it is is to be dismayed. But if you want to see the house the Hecker boys built may years ago, there it is. I did notice a "no unouthorized people" sign on the front door, but if you are a relative that dosen't apply.

Although I have done nothing to promote the reunion next week, I will be there with my knife and fork. As I explained the other day, I am running in overdrive and the gas in the tank is getting pretty low. I don't think you are going to see  
f do much more than I have been doing. Earlier in this writing, I explained  keeping body and soul together is about a full time job for a guy like me. Anyhow, we will see you there on the 26th along with some lovelies from Pheonix and Mariland. That would be Marty and Margy. They are going to stay in Miles City and visit Forsyth every day during the week end. We will make sure to take a trip to the farm at least once making plenty of time for walking around poking into everything there. I will get some pictures and post them on my web site, Jimhecker.com -  mainmenu - reunion2009. so, If you don't get to see everyone there, they may pop up on a picture or two.

It is way past my bed time now. I will post this tomorrow.JH

May 31, 2009 9:54PM DST.
We are into Day light saving time, the last day of May and I have been found out. You've got me. I have bit off more than I can chew. I'm a busy guy. I only spend a few hours in constructive activity each day, but, you have to remember, I have to spend two or three times that much time resting up. Why do you suppose that is? Well, I just don't know.

There are a whole bunch of activities coming up. I may be like the little kid coming way behind hollering, "wait for me".

We are going to have a visit from Marty, a visit from Art and a bunch of relatives here for the family reunion in Forsyth at the end of next month. I have nothing to do with the administration or execution of the event, but, living next door, I suppose I will get to interact with everyone, and that is going to take time and energy. So, I will clear the deck of unnecessary stuff ahead of time, like, work at the gas station, household chores. I will be ready and restee.

Already, this yea k keeping r, we have had a whole bunch of socializing with kin. As most of you know, Art and I and most of our families visited Arizona in March. It was a fine time, including a couple of feasts, a couple of spring training baseball games and a golf outing. I am sorry to say, I didn't get to golf, but I got to drive the cart. The real big thing about it was the change in scenery and the weather. It was almost like breaking out of hell and finding heaven. When we got off the plane, there were the palm trees, the green grass and the warm air. Only hours before we were in ten below temperatures range at the Billings air port.

Now I am sitting here wondering what all the fuss was about. It was 75 today, the grass is green and the cottonwoods have sprung with new green leaves in the last couple of weeks. It is so easy to forget the pain of winter when the sun shines. At any rate, it was wonderful to spend a week in the warm Arizona sun in March. March was a miserable cuss in Miles City.

Looking back at what has been going on lately, I don't think the problem is that I am 'sooo' busy, but that there are so many little projects, like some of my computer development, that I would like to do and make user friendly, that it seems like time is short and energy is used up. JH

January 19, 2009 2:50PM MST.
My last writing was two months ago. I know that sounds a little like something you would say in the confessional. It is not a sin. A sin is an "utterance, a deed or a desire contrary to the eternal law". Chatholic Catechism paragraph 1849. I won't try to explain.

It has been an exiting time since the 23rd of November. I can't remember what we did on thanksgiving, but on Christmas we had some company and feasted on Norma's cooking. We played a little Penochle and had a fine time. At New Years, low and behold we had more company. Tom came from Seattle for a visit. We feasted again on Norma's cooking. Tom's friends Rob and Camile had dinner with us on the 31st of December for a real good visit. We went out for a birthday dinner at the Cattle-ac last week, so it has been really jumping around here.

I have to sandwich in my work time between these social even ands. It is getti.. ,,,dng to be pretty tight.
                  
Today, I am here all alone. Norma drove her friend, Lil, to Billings for some medical work. I don't know when they will be home, so I will have to keep entertaining myself for now. So far I have had a pretty good day. I worked at the McJob for four hours and had to rest for about four hours to recover from that. Since then I have been able to get a few kinks out of my ixwebhosting web site so it can be a little better understood by my users. Or is it user? Anyhow, you can not only get to this writing from there, you can get to Talk Back and to Farm Picture Box. See there. You can find three entertaining activities from my new web site, jimhecker.com.

There has been some snigering about the weather here in Miles City this winter. But no more. We are having a nice January thaw. It is 43 degrees and the sun is shining like an Arizona afternoon in August.

That remindes me. We are going to Arizona in March. We are going to see a couple of major league spring training baseball games, drink cerveca, and eat Mesican food with our Arizona, Seattle and Ohio relatives. I don't know how many will be there. But I expect most who have not passed over the great divide will make it. It may turn out to be such a wonderful success some may want to do it again some day. I don't know.

It feels like time for a 'sieste'. JH

November 23, 2008 6:25PM MST.
In a couple of days it will be time to eat the turkey.

I once knew a guy who was confined to the VA nursing home. Had been there for many years as the result of an accident. He didn't like turkey, so his wife cooked him a goose on thanksgiving. If you didn't like turkey do you think you could get your wife to cook you a goose, or would she cook your goose?

Well, there you go. Nonsense already. The weather is not even a serious subject this year. It has been mild for November. I have not liked November weather in the past because it is the first taste of winter. This year, we have had pretty even cool but not to cool weather the entire month. I will be rethinking my opinion on the month of November.

Not much here so far. I will mention my new web site, jimhecker.com. As you see this is a one way street. You can't object to anything I may write. Go to jimhecker.com > mainmenu > Talkrrmas     back and you will find an oportunity to put your own thoughts on the web. It is acutally a text file that will accept additions and display the entire file. There are no restrictions, except, I didn't use any metatags, so it is not available on search engines. That should keep it virtually secret except for those few special friends and relatives its location has been revealed to.

Some knews should show up here eventually. Here it is. We are going to Forsyth on Thursday for some home cooking. That will be nice. We got a call from Tom today. He told his mother he would be seeing us on New Years. That will be exciting. We can hardly wait. Any other knews has to do with such humdrum things I will not mention them here. JH

November 11, 2008 9:53MST.
Happy day all you veterans.

There are about four hundred pictures of veterans in the news paper this evening. I recognised about four of them. What does that mean. I don't know. I guess it means I don't get around much anymore.
But, it did remind me of my own military career. I don't describe my life in the army in detail anymore. I got some negative commments, like, "what a worthless soldier", or "how could you do that! I am glad I did it. Smoked all those cigars and drank all that beer. I sure can't do it now. But I can remember. It is just not the same though.

I can still do my work at my Mc Job. I did it this evening again. It took me two hours in the recliner to rest enough to turn on the computer. I am going to do it again tomorrow evening and then I get two days off. Man, that will be nice. I'll do what ever I want for two whole days. I don't know if I like my job because it makes resting feel so good or because I like hanging out with the guys at the gas station. They all do treat me very well. I don't know if it is because they see a feeble old geezer or because of my bright personality. Might as well enjoy it while I can. It won't last for ever.

A wonderful thing about being 73 is that you know that anything you are doing is not going to last very much longer. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I can't exactly see it from here, but I know it is there.

Is that enough philosophy? In this case, it is just filler because there is really not much to report. We went to a funeral today for a native and member of Sacred Heart Parish. It brought many of the long time members together for a nice visit. I am not a very good visitor but Norma is, so she had a wonderful time at the lunch following. I had to excuse myself early to prepare for my evening at the Mc Job. Which is just as well. I can usually visit for about 10 minutes, but Morma is that bright personality mentioned a couple of paragraphs up. She can visit well and people enjoy visiting with her. She got home sometime in the middle of the afternoon.

Then Tommy called and visited with her by phone for quit a while. From the little information I could pull from Norma, Tommy is just fine. He was calling between lessons. He appearantly had a cancellation so he had a little extra time. He is a pretty busy guy. The last several times I have talked with him it was while he was driving on I-5 from one lesson to another.

I talked with Joe on the the phone last week. He called from work. Probably a slow day. He is just fine and holding. I talked with Jamie on Sunday. He had just hosted a birthday dinner and was in a good mood. I like to have people call me rather than for me to call them. They are ussually in a better mood.

I am in a good mood right now because I am about to hit the sack for about nine hours of sleep so I can do all over what ever I did today. JH

October 27, 2008 4:55PM MDST.
We did go to the farm. They were out of buffalo burger at the Jersey Lilly. Bummer. Jamie had a regular hamburger and I had beans. They serve them in a cooking pot boiling hot for a family of four. I didn't know that. They were about as good as Jersey Lilly beans get. From there, we went directly to the farm. It was pretty pale out there but we inspected everything anyhow. All the old machinery, and iron parts in the grass laying around. I have thought of hauling that stuff in and selling it, but it is worth so much more as artifacts; reminders of the generation that left it there. Jamie found a couple objects of art for his yard in Everett. Those objects will be right at home there. It won't hurt them at all to be in the constant drizzle of Everett, Washington. They are already as rusty as iron can get. We tried to remove the seat from a couple of the impliments, but there was no way in the world for an ordinary wrench to turn the rusted on nuts from the bolts that held them on. Anyhow, it was a good opertunity for Jamie and I to go out and do something together that we both enjoyed.

I worked at the gas station this morning. The afternoon has not been a real productive time for me. but I did get a couple of things done and it is getting late in the afternoon or early in the evening. About that time when, no matter what I had for lunch, I start thinking about a little something for my evening meal. I am going to have to go out and bring in food because Norma is suffering from yet another bout of Paracarditis. This one is not as painful as her previous episodes. She is taking her anti inflamatory meds as soon as she feels the beginning of the pain. We are living in hope that these spells will gradually disappear as the doctor said they would.

I got a good look at all of my in-laws in Texas, but I haven't heard anything recently from my own relatives. Except for Jamie. We commuicate frequently, even when we don't have much to report. Like now. We have heard nothing from Frances and Jerry since they have returned from back East or from Art since he and Judy's last trip. That would have been the trip after the Oregon trip. We have no knews from Joe and Tom, but they generate knews pretty slowly.

I am going to Taco John's and get a big bag of tacos. JH

October 5, 2008 8:05PM MDST.
All is well that ends well. And here we are. Back home after a long meandering route from there to here.

First, we went through all the pain and suffering of surgery and a kidney stone and are now enjoying fine health. I know this is the truth, because when we arrived in Billings on the first of October, Norma grabbed one of the bags by the handle and walked non-stop from the baggage pickup to the far end of the long term parking lot. If that isn't enough, she hot footed it from gate c13 to gate g3, about a mile and a half, in the Minneapolis air port on the same day.

Another thing I need to mention is the long planning process, and the actual execution of the travel to Austin, TX and back. No small feat for two lightly traveled people from Miles City. But, it all turned out fine and now we have accomplished it and are safely back in the house at 604 N Montana.

We had a fine time in the hill countrexas with Norma's brothers and sisters. We enjoyed the warm summer weather, the excursions to LBJ's ranch and the boat ride on Lake Buchannan as well as all of the good eating.

Now we are into a whole new phase of activities. Jamie and Laura Jo are here for a few days, so we have new people to keep company with. Jamie helped me collect money for the Sacred Heart birthday calendars this evening and tomorrow we are going out to tour the farm. Of course we will time our trip so we can stop for lunch of buffalo burgers and beans at the Jersy Lilly in Ingomar on the way. We are going to take pictures of every thing and take a walk into the CRP to assess the grass cover. It should be pretty good but dry by now.

The plan for after our company returns to Everett, is to paint the frame around the front door and front windows on the house. That will require a nice warm day when I have time off and am well rested. Then, when time permits I have to build framming on the inside of the front door and paint the wall around it. That will get us up to about March. Then we can start all over with a new season of activities. As you can see, I like to space my activities out so there is plenty of recliner time between them.

That is plenty of information for now. JH

September 19, 2008 8:08PM MDST.
Everything I wrote about last time has worked out just fine. Norma has recovered and the front door is in. Norma had two short hospital stays here in Miles City and received multiple infusions of pain killers and healing drugs. A week ago last Tuesday, we were in Billings to see her cardiologist. He took some of her drugs away from her and told her she will get well soon. The Paracarditis she had was a common complication of heart surgery and it was self limiting. The idea she would not have to swallow any more of those big pills and the kind words of the cardiologist perked her up right away. Her chest pain is gone and she is her old self once again.

The front door is beautiful. It has a frosted, nine pane, half light window with four small clear diamond shaped panels to peak through. The carpenter did a nice job, but hae left framing the inside and painting to me. That was not a good idea. I have no idea when I will get it done. For sure, it will have to waite until we get back from Texas.

On Thursday the 25th we are going to Texas. We will be gone the 25th through the 1st of October. So, we can only be reached by cell phone, 406-951-9014. Maybe not even there. I need to buy more minutes before we leave and do a strange procedure to get it to roam properly. Let's see if I remember how to do it.

While in Texas we are going to see all of Norma's remaining brothers and sisters and some of her neices and nephews. We are going to do the Johnson Ranch, the Johnson Library and maybe the Austin City Lights. I don't know. I am not in charge.

That pretty well covers the wonderful things that have happened around here and I don't even need to mention the bad. But, I had a cold this week that darned near killed me for a couple of days, but now I am pretty well over it. No thanks to the medical community. I was at the clinic with Norma and checked with the nurse to see if they could do something for me, during one of those day when it was darned near killing me, and she said no.

The weather is nice and we hope it stays that way for a long time. JH

September 4, 2008 3:15PM MDST.
We might as well discuss health right off the bat. That has been the main activity lately. It turned out that Norma has dresslers syndrome. What is that? It is a case of the immune system going too far in a person who has had a heart attack or surgery. It causes symptoms similar to a heart attack. It actually causes inflamation around the person's heart. It is treated with anti inflamatory drugs and antibiotics. Norma has been under going IV input of drugs for the past couple of days and, I am glad to report, she is feeling much better today. Her white count has droped and her pain has lessened. She thinks she will get to come home in a day or two.

Our front door is still not finished. It would be real nice to have a nice big window in that door. If you can remember, we have a windowless steel door in the front of our house. There is no light in the entry way so it we let the door open when thFor sure, it wille weather permits. why can't we have a nice new door with a window in it? Why do I think I can get this old door to work properly? Well, I haven't been able to convince myself that I can, so we are going to kill two birds with one stone. We have purchased a new door and have a carpenter comming to install it soon. We can hardly wait.

Those are the big news items. From here it is all down hill.

We had a visit from Jerry and Frances on Sunday. They are just fine. We had a visit with Tom and Kari last week in Billings and they are just fine.

So far, a pretty good report. One thing more. We are still planning to go to Texas on the 25th of Sept. and return on the first of October. JH

August 1, 2008 12:01PM MDST.
We have taken a couple of trips to Billings in the past couple of weeks. Norma had a kidney stone get stuck in her water works. We made a couple of trips to the Holy Rosary Hospital emergency room and she had to spend a week end in the hospital. We went to Billings on Monday, about 10 days ago now, and she had extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy to distroy the stone. As all medical procedures go, it was not without its uncomfortable side effects. A stent was left in place to insure proper drainage and the kidney bled for a few days, but we went back to the clinic Monday the 28th and the stent was taken out. The bleeding has stopped and she is feeling wonderful.

We had a good time this morning shopping the garage sales. That is an indication of how good she feels now. So, all is well.

The summer is slipping away on me. I wanted to go out to the farm while the sweet clover was still in bloom, but didn't make it. I am a busy guy. I like to insert a few naps in my day. With the job, ample rest and all the duties I have around the house, I am busy right here. I think I will call Dan for an update on the place instead of a personal visit.

On top of all that I got stupid one day and took the front door out. It has been sticking for 30 years, and it seemed about time to fix it. Since I put the door in, I thought I know what was wrong with it, but nothing in there looked familiar to me anymore. It still sticks, but I have studied the problem and I, again, think I can fix it. It is too hot today.

We are going to hang around the house for the next few weeks, but a grand time is planed for the last week in September in Texas. Norma's sister his hosing a family reunion at her place in Marble Falls. We are flying from Billings to Austin on the 25th. We got tickets on for a pretty good price. I was more than surprised. I expect we will be surprised by a few other things when we go; like luggage check in fees, security measures and getting out of the Ausin air port.JH

July 17, 2008 3;22PM MDST.
I have been having fun. "Time goes fast when you're having fun". Time is going fast, so I am having fun.

I had fun cutting the grass this morning. Monday I took the front door out and put it back in to get rid of the sticking. It still sticks, so we are shopping for a new door with a window in it. I can't buy one right now. I have a bad case of sticker shock.

Tom and Joe did, indeed, spend some time with us last week. We didn't get to the farm but had a nice time with them right here at home. We had the company of Art, Judy, Brett, Kristen and Ella as well. In case you don't know who Ella is, she is Art's grand daughter.

Norma was doing cardiac rehab until her therapist sent her to the doctor because she looked sick. She had pneumonia and is on two weeks of anibiotics for it. She is going back to the doctor at the end of the two week medication to see if her pneumonia is gone. I suppose she will go on with her therapy then.

The o tjobvfarm with Joe and Tom fell through, but I have had a report that the sweet clover is real good this year. I would really like to go out to see it, but with all the things I have to do around here, it might not get done for a while yet. I work five day each week, cut the grass and help out around the house. When you add in recliner time to recover from all that and there just isn't time to go to the farm. It takes a day and $100.00 worth of gas. It might be a good idea to ask my farm partners if they would pay the gas bill for an inspection trip. They may not let me stop in Ingamar. That would make it an excursion.

Otherwise, we are just fine. I will get more timely information on this page from now on. JH

June 27, 2008 4:07PM MDST.

Norma has continued to healing during the last ten days. She is now in cardiac rehab at Holy Rosary Hospital. She is going three times per week to rebuild her muscles after six weeks of semi disuse because of the tenderness of surgery.

Norma's rehab is just in time. I need her help rehabing the house before we get our company. We have to make the beds upstairs before Joe and Tom arrive in a few days. I got the air conditioners in the windows to keep them cool and she has to do the dusting. I don't do that.

I am looking forward to a trip to the farm with Joe and Tom. I haven't been there for about a year. We will give it a good looking over but there won't be any work done. This is not going to be a work day. I will save that for later. Ooops! I forgot. It may become a work day after all. Art is coming and may want to do some work out at the farm. He will surely want to go along. I don't know about the work. Don't think so. Anyhow, we are all going out and review the operation and maybe, discuss its future. There is a lot of scrap iron, or is it artifacts, out there and I have heard the price of iron is pretty high. There could be a summer's work for an old guy to tow a trailer out there and haul iron in for sale. We will see. First, someone should go to Pacific Hide and Fur to see what they are paying.

Did you see the picture on my new web site, www.jimhecker.com? I got it out there and I will put more up when I get something of interest. I don't have anything recent on my camera or on the computer to put up. But, I am sure I will after we get back from the farm.

I hadn't thought much about going to the farm until Joe mentioned it on the phone the other day. Now I am really ready to go. It is going to be a site, with all the rain we have had out there this past six weeks the alfalfa and native grass we planted on the CRP will be up to our knees. If I see some patches of tall headed western wheat grass waving in the wind I will be over joyed. Actually, we didn't get much native grass to grow, but those patches that did really show up after spring rains like we had this year. I believe we had some timely rain last year that caused some of those patches to pop up.

Timely rain is pretty much what we have had here this spring. I have watered my lawn a couple of times in the last couple of weeks since summer temperatures have arrived. That would be moderate summer temperatures. It is getting into the low 80's, not the high 90's like it can at this time of year. We even had 29 hundreths a couple days ago. That is enough for me. It will keep my lawn green for a few more days. Save some on the June water bill.

I have told you pretty much all of my business. That will have to do for a few days. I do have other business to tend to. I have to put in five grueling days of work at the gas station and a visit from the boys in the next week so I won't have time or energy to add to this report for a few days.JH

June 17, 2008 8:54PM MDST.
The main thing I have to report is our big weekend in Billings.

We went for a 50th wedding anniversary dinner for Verona and Lenard Bubak. Verona is one of the Boger girls from Froid Norma played with as a little child. Norma has seen the Boger girls on only a few occasions in the last 50 years, but they had a fine visit as if they had been together just yesterday.

We went on Saturday for the dinner on Saturday evening and a chicken lunch at the Bubak's on Sunday. We had to hurry back for a pizza party at the Air Port Inn in Miles City on Sunday afternoon.

That is the news for now, but I will try to put a picture of Norma as she looks after four weeks on my web site, www.jimhecker.com.  JH

June 9, 2008 1:27AM MDST.
Let's get the weather out of the way right off the bat. It isn't even worth while to mention the weather, but it is so unusual, I have to. It is, what I think, Irish weather is like. We are having intermittant sun and rain showers. That is what makes the grass so green in Ireland. Emerald, I think. The native grasses are already about as tall as they can get. I don't know what they are going to do if we continue to get more rain and sun shine. I have to get out to the farm to see what it looks like.

I would do it this week, but it is too cold and wet. first, I would be chilly and second, I would get stuck in the mud. Those of us who live in town with all the cement and asphalt can hardly remember how muddy the farm land and dirt roads can be. And they are going to stay that way for a while with all the rain we have had. It is going to be fun to go out there. The hills will be green.

I can't not mention our convalesing lady, Norma. She is comming along just fine. Not every day is better than the last, but she is getting better. She did some house work yesterday. Didn't feel as good today, but still made lunch and walked and shopped at Wal Mart. I hope she didn't over do. She has been sleeping on the recliner since we got back from Wal Mart. I have to mention as well, She went to Mass on Saturday evening, out to supper after Mass and seemed to feel fine. Her incision is looking pretty good and she feels no pain.

We are going to Billings this week end so she can have some fun. Her Froid neighbor and school friend is having a 50th wedding anniversary. We are going to that Saturday evening and stay over night in Billings. We did stay out of town in Colorado several nights, but she didn't have any fun there. We are hoping this will be more fun for her. JH

June 3, 2008 11:30AM MDST.
Now that this page can be viewed from my new web site, its is more important to keep it updated.

This will be a little review on things here is Miles City, as if that wasn't always the case. We are, once again living in a lush paradise. The May rains came on schedule and did a fine job watering everything for us. As you may already know, we had .62 inches of rain from the first of October until the first or May or April. I don't remember exactly which month it was. But it has changed everything. You can imagine going from a virtual desert to a virtual lush paradise inside of three weeks. It just proves once again the truth of the theory. Why go south in the winter or north in the summer when you can stay in Miles City and experience all of the weather extremes without moveing one inch. There is just one thing. We do not experience floods, tornadoes or hurricans. Maybe some time after global warming gets going a little better, but not now.

You probably know, we have a medical case in our house. Norma under went open heart surgery in Aurora, CO on the 17th of May. The purpose of the surgery was to fix a leak between her atrial heart chambers. An attempt was made on the 16th to place a mesh disc on either side of the septum to block the leakage of blood from one chamber to the other, but it turned out to be impossible to get the patch to fit properly. So, the doctor withdrew the device and a surgical team came to the hospital on Saturday the 17th to do the open heart procedure. The reason the first proceedure didn't work, was that she had a large oddly shaped annurisim as well as the hole. The annurisim was cut out and the hole patched so we are having much more efficient heart action and I can't help but believe a much healthier woman.

We have much respect for the surgion and his team who worked on Saturday to do this job for us. It could not be done in Billings and, if they had not been so generous with their time, we would have had to go back to Aurora at a later time to get it done.

I have to eat a little lunch and go to work, so this needs to be uploaded along with it's spelling errors. I will check them out tomorrow.JH

May 26, 2008 8:07PM MDST.
Well, here it is, May 26th. Right, May 26th is just another day, but it is over a month since my last writing. Where does the time go. I must have been having fun.

I know someone who has not been having much fun. Norma. She has had open heart surgery in the past month. On the 17th of May to be exact. That is one of the reasons I have been so busy.

Her surgery was performed in Denver, or to be more accurate, Aurora, Colorado at the University of Colorado Hospital. She has expienced some suffering, but is healing nicely and we expect her health to take a great leap forward in the weeks to come.

Now it is my turn to do some suffering. I have been living an easy life since we left Miles City on the 12th of May and today is my last day of vacation. Tomorrow I will be going back to work cooking corn dogs and burritos. And, it i g. The barrel is almost empty.

There is one other item I need to mention. I have paid a year's rent to a web hosting company to make my web building much easier. It has turned out to be harder than I would like it to be. These writings can be found there as well as a few pictures. It is found at URL www.jimhecker.com. That is simple. And, it really does make web sites easier to build. It just takes practice and experience to make that sort of thing work well. You just can't find all the answere in the instructions or help files. Nor, can you find them in deduction. They always hide plenty of surprises.  JH

April 20,2008, 2008 7:00PM MST.
I had a visit with Tom a few days ago. In that conversation he told me he had not viewed this web site in a year but intended to shortly. As you can see I haven't written anything since March 10th, and that was an aborted attempt. Like any optional activity, this writing requires a little stimulant. Either I have something worth writing or someone provides an outside course of stimulation.

Tom reports that all is well with him. He has a large number of private piano students as well as some piano performance jobs. His mother and I are pleased that he has been able to get into this line of work.

We have also had a personal visit from Jerry and Frances and Art and Judy. It was on Thursday week before last. We spent the evening visiting drinking beer and eating brats. You can hardly do anything better than that, but we did. We loaded the lawn tractor onto Jerry's new trailer. He bought the tractor and will be using it in his new lawn care business in Forsyth. So, it was an evening of pleasure and business.

More knewspThrsday and Friday painting the bathroom. Those who have never painted a bathroom don't know what that means. I didn't either. It means, prepping the room. That includes removeing all the items. That could be two hundred or more. It means scrapping off the chipped paint, filling the holes in the wall and wipping the dust and dirt off all the surfaces to be painted. Tired? That took Thursday, and I hadn't even opened the paint can. I opened the paint can on Friday and painted the whole thing. I knew, toward the end of the day, that I should quit and go sit in my chair, because fatique was starting to set in and that is when mistakes are made. A mistake was made. It looked great to my tired old eyes, but the next day, after a night's sleep, I could see there were some places that didn't get covered. It still is not finished. I had to work at the gas station yesterday and today, but tomorrow afternoon, God willing, I can go back in and put a second coat on part of it. I am not putting a second coat on the ceiling. Maybe, by Thursday, I can move the stuff back in. That will be an entire week.

A man I greatly admire, once said in the company of several neighbors, that when he and his wife bought an older home, it took him four years to get the outside painted. Now, I suppose you understand what painting the bathroom means.

Health. How is our health? I had my visit with the oncologist last week and he has made an appointment for another visit in four months. That is good news to a guy in my shape. Norma is waiting for a call form a Denver surgeon to set an appointment for a repair of a hole in her heart between the upper chambers. It seems to me, the hole has been there all of her life because it is a natural opening up until birth. Her's didn't seem to properly close at birth. This procedure can be done without opening her chest, so she thinks it will be worth while.

It seems there is something important I could write, but there is also a lot of trivia that I could write. It is probably just as well that I quit now. JH

March 10, 2008 4:10PM MST.
I have bad news and good news. It is 61 and the sun is shining.

Now, the bad news. I have a sore throat and a couph. There is hope. I went to the Doctor for the second time today. I got another anibiotic. I hope this one works better.

Feruary 23, 2008 4:26PM MDT.
I will start right out with the bad news. I am suffering from the worst cold in the world. My throat got sore on Monday, five days ago, and it hasn't gotten any better. The doctor tried to get me to say my throat was better yesterday, but I wouldn't do it, so she prescribed an antibiotic and some couph syrup for me.I am taking about five medications, doing some recliner rest and I have taken the week end off from work. I think I can handle this misery as long as I can sit in my reclinere      but I don't think I could have done it while at work. I did that on Tuesday and Wednesday evening last week.

Now that you are pretty well depressed about my health, I will get to the good news. The sun is shinning, as it can only shine in Miles City, the temperature is 36 and rising. And our snow is on the run. Is that cheerful news or what.

Norma is going to a birthday dinner this evening. Our friend Verlin is cooking a birthday dinner for his wife Bernadette. I called to let them know I am not able to come and, lo and behold, Bernadette said she would send something home with Norma for me.

You can see, my weekend is all balled up. It has been decided, that if I can't go to dinner I can't go to Mass either.

We had a nice visit from Jerry and Franceos yesterday. I hope they don't get a cold. Jerry is making toys so they can go to a market when the weather gets nice. He is recently retired so he can go full time on the toy manufacture.

How did your valentines day turn out? Mine was just fine. Norma had a doctor's appointment in Billings, how do you suppose that came about, so we went to Billings, stayed over night and had a nice Italian dinner.

We are back in the friendly streets of Miles City and my time at the key board has tired me. Back to the recliner.JH

Feruary 9, 2008 4:26PM MDT.

We are having a real old fashioned winter day. It is about zero and snowing. It has been at it all day and I need to get my shovel out pretty soon.

Usually, when someone speaks he speaks about what is on his mind. That doesn't mean there has been nothing on my mind since January 20th. It just means, what you read here is some of what is on my mind. It won't be all. I wouldn't dare put it all in writing.

What is on my mind though, is, of course the weather, which I have already mentioned, my health, your health, what is for supper, today's schedule, and a whole host of things that could be of no interest to anyone but me.

Let's choose my health. It is fine as far as I can tell. I feel fine and I have been able to do what I want. There is a little kink in this thinking though. Am I really doing what I want? I want to paint the bathroom, shovel the snow, go skying and play basketball. The kink is, I do want to do all of these things, but I want to sit in my recliner even more. There is a reason for this, but I don't know what it is.

As for your health, I hope you feel fine and are able to do what your want.

I stopped on my way home from work and picked up a little something to eat for supper and it was a chore because of the weather. But after a little discussion with Norma, it was decided that we should put this stuff in the refrigerator for tomorrow, go to Mass this evening, then go to the cafe for our supper afterward.

There you have some of the things I am currently thinking about. But, as I have already said that is not all. I need to keep back something for the next writing. JH

January 20, 2008 4:20PM MDT.
It takes me a couple of hours to recover from my McJob. I got home at about 2:20 so I am about to get going on something. Something is limited to writing this little bit, doing something with my Visual Basic hobby, getting supper ready with Norma, keeping an eye on the football playoffs, I know that New England has won already, and keeping my eye on the political news. The political news will probably be a little more quiet today after the great flurry of yesterday and the fact that it is Sunday. All the "more religious than thou" folks we have running for president have to go to church today. It wouldn't look good if they didn't. In fact, I think Huckabee is preaching at two mega-churches in Florida today. You can vote for a Catholic, a Mormon, a Baptise, a Presbiterian and mybe even a secular humanist. I guess that would be someone who dosen't go to cThe inkk. I am going to stop this line of thought. I don't know what a secular humanist is and I can't spell Presbiterian.

Now, I will tell you something I do know. It is pretty cold. Yesterday morning it was twelve below, this morning it was 13 above and now it is down to about 5. It will surely get colder in a couple of hours after the sun goes down. Where was the sun? I didn't see it all day. We need sun. This is why some go south for the winter.

This weather hasn't been here long. I haven't adjusted yet. I almost slid through a stop intersection again today. I am walking real carefully though.

I really don't mind winter time. It has its problems, as we have just seen, but it frees me up from that incessant water hose draging and grass cutting I have to do in the warmer parts of the year. When I first saw the grass turning brown last fall, I said "great, just stay that way until I am ready to resume my yard toil next spring", then when I saw this resent layer of snow, I was glad to have it cover up that brown grass. It does make the brown hills around here look much better when a thin layer of snow covers them. I am not going out of town to see them though, I have enough white right here.

I am going to disturb my cook. I want her to help me get the leftover chicken out of the refrigerater. It has been long time since lunch. JH

January 7, 2008 7:44PM MDT.
It seems just the other day we worried about the Y2K problem. It has been eight short years and you and I are still here. We must have done something right. The only thing I can think of is that we have lived just one day at a time.

I am doing my mini weekend. I get off at 12:00 on Mondays and go back to work at 2:00 on Tuesday. It feels so good to get this little rest period. I am not concerned about going to work tomorrow, just enjoying sitting here in this chair. Living one day at a time. Today.

When you have very little to report you go to philosophy and the weather. That is all the philosophy I know, so now for the weather.

It is nice. We are getting into the 40's in the day time and to about 20 at night. This is not normal. It is welcome, but a little unusual. We will take every warm day we can get, because th brouathe t will be one less day for old man winter to freeze us.

So much for philosophy and the weather. That leaves us with my health. It has been fine. I feel good, but my doctor wants me to get an MRI of my head and neck. He wants to examine my head. I had a PET scan in August where he saw something that indicated I needed my head examined. So, we are going to do that at 10:00 in the morning. I told one of my co-workers at the store today, "it costs more to keep old people alive than it does to raise kids". That is a real brave thing to say. But I stand by it until proven wrong. His eyes glazed over. I know he didn't believe me. Not everyone believes everything I say anyhow. Thank goodness. Otherwise the responsibility to be correct would be too great.

We are still unraveling after our great adventure to Seattle last month. Norma has the unpacking done, and her washing pretty well caught up but it has left her a little too unraveled. That is probably not right. It is a fact that her medications have been changed and she is still adjusting to that as well. We are trying to simmer down and get up some interest worked up for another adventure later this year. These adventures must be done responsibly, with financial as well as travel plans all worked out well in advance. I had a little trouble with the arrangements I made for the last adventure. I had to change the train schedule to the tune of about and additional $90.00 and I am still awaiting a credit for the cancellation and rebooking I did of the motel reservation. This is an exciting business.

It is exciting that I started out with nothing to report and wound up with a writing like this. I hope you are all well. JH

December 31, 2007 3:57PM MDT.
I would have gotten at this sooner, but I have been resting for the past four hours. Now, let me tell you why I needed four hours rest before I could take on this task.

Up until noon today, I had worked three shifts at the store. Day shifts on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We spent nine days, before that, going to, going around and coming back from Seattle. The gas tank was empty. We visited four malls, three sons, a museum, Our Lady of Perpetual Help and too many restaurants and bars to mention. We spent two of those days on the train, we drove to Wolf Point and back and we saw it rain. We saw snow and we saw clouds. Everything you come to miss in Miles City. What a wonderfull experience it was. What a wonderful break from the doldrums of winter in Eastern Montana. Now that we have gotten this far, we have come to a rest period from noon today until two to pmphilosophy and the weatherorrow afternoon. My body knew that and went into an automatic rest cycle. But, now I am fine.

We are going to go to a card party tonight. I don't know what the game is, but hope it is comething I am good at. Not gridge.

Since the most recent season has been Christmas and we just saw the boys, I suppose I could relate something about them. Their jobs, family and friends, but nothing has changed much so just recall what I said the last time on that subject. Joe is living in his condo which he has decorated himself, and it looks pretty good. Tom is teaching little kids to play the piano and accompanying. Jamie is commuting from Everett. They gave us great respect and consideration on our visit with them. We enjoyed our visit with them very much.

We picked  up our mail today for the first time in eleven days, we were gone, and discovered numerous cards and letters. So we are better informed on the activities of many friends and relatives. Sorry to say, we didn't sent very many messages ourselves. As you can see, we have been pretty darned busy to do any writing. Anyone who really wants to know what is going on in our lives need only ready this writing and apply a little of his own imagination.

Just one more note about the party tonight. Norma just got the turkey out of the oven. A turkey which I won by working at Town Pump for the entire year. We are going to let it cool off for a while then slice it up for tonight's sandwiches. I am pretty sure I will get to help with that. I am pretty good with a knife and I want to see what it tasts like.

That is enough nonsence for now. I am going out and wait for the turkey to cool so I can help cut it up. I don't want to miss that. JH

November 17, 2007 3:56PM MDT.
Here we are, in the midst of the November doldrums. I hate November. You don't have to do as I do. There are many reasons to like November. It has Thanksgiving in it, it comes just before December with Christmas in it and it is not yet in the midst of winter. But it is cloudy, almost four PM and darned near dark. Besides that, it is a little bit chilly. I am staying in the house until the sun comes out.

Norma, bless her heart, has been out this afternoon working at St Vincent DePaul. She is an especially good worker there because she knows a lot about clothes and how to display them for the store.

As you can tell, we are both fine. She has worked today and I have been at work at the store 30 hours in the past five days. Today, though, I have off. I enjoy these days off. It is something like the relief you would feel when you stop poking yourself w tin the eye.

We are tentatively scheduled to go to Seattle at Christmas time, but no firm plans have been made yet. I don't know what we will do there, but I don't know, yet, what a 72 year old is expected to do. I guess you have to learn how to contuct yourself at the various tages of life and I haven't gotten this 72 year old stage figured out yet. I didn't get the 21 year old stage figured out until I was 40 and the 40 year old stage figured out until I was 60 so it shouldn't come as a surprise.

If I wrote any more, I'd be making it up so let's keep this writing short and I will try to get back to you soon. JH

October 29, 2007 8:02PM MDST.
I have received a couple of mentions of the fact that my web site has been updated so it must be important that it be kept updated more often. So, here goes.

First, you have to understand that not much happens in the life of a 67 year old and a 72 year old in the course of just a couple of weeks. That period of time is like an eye blink to us. But let's leave that alone and get on with the real news.

Poor Norma has been subjected to some painful examinations of her gastroenteric system. Mostly she is fine, but has some ulcers in her stomach. She is using Prilosec and discontinued her daily baby asprin. I cooked a steak with Franco American Spegetti and cole slaw for her super and she is feeling much better now. I believe a stomach is ment to have food in it, so I am doing my part to help her recover, by keeping her fed.

lyhe 70's with plenty of sun today. That is why we had a steak cooked on the barbicue in the back yard. It would be a shame to miss a day like that without some time out doors.

I got into the out doors a while this afternoon to pick up the fallen leaves. I learned one thing in my yard maintenance work a few years ago. Don't let your leaves pile up. Go out and pick them up several times during the leaf drop season. The lawn mower sucks them up pretty well if there aren't too many.

One other thing. I have had to take a couple of long rest periods today. After they worked me for four and a half hours at the gas station and I worked myself for an hour or so in the yard, I was a tired cuss. Not to mention the effort to cook that steak in the back yard.

Even though the world series is over, there is still some thing of interest on the TV. Dancing with the stars in on tonight. There are a  couple of things I might say about that. I like the costuming, but where do they get those judges. They get it wrong every time. You can see, not much has happened around here when my writing gets to this point. JH

October 15, 2007 1:27PM MDST.
Thank you Richard for your latest e-mail. You have awakened me to my lethargy. I knew it had been a long time since I had written, but three months is more than I realized.

Of course, there has been a lot of water under the bridge in the last three months. I can't tell all that has happened. I can't remember it all. But, Tom and Joe were here in August. We didn't do anything much, but had a nice visit with them in a relaxed and unhurried way. We like to see them frequently so that we can maintain our relation with them. Some day we will need someone to inheret the estate. We are going to return the visit this winter. Probably at Christmas time unless I can get it scheduled in about the middle of January when everyone is a little more relaxed. That may also cut down on the January doldrums.

We had a visit from Art and Judy at the end of August and the beginning of September. It included a visit to the farm and the Jersey Lilly with Art and Judy and their very close friends from Ohio, the Andoewf a fewrsons. They came for a Larsen reunion at Rosebud and a trip to Montana's parks. I don't think a visit to the farm and the Jersey Lilly was a good beginning for the trip. It may have been better to use that day as a tapering off of the visit, but that is the way it happened. They got back to Ohio. I know that, but I have no other information from them. Something I look forward to very much.

It is about time to head south for the winter. Some of our snow birds are getting ready to fly. I would like to do that, once or twice, but not just now. It would be a hard job to make arrangements for the travel, a place to stay and provide for the cost. I haven't estimated the potential cost of a winter in Arizona, and don't think I will. Not right now. We will stay here and enjoy the arctic weather when it comes and the desert weather when it comes and we won't have to move an inch. But, on the other hand, a late winter visit, in February and March to take in some spring training games might be fun. I am going to chech out some accomodations for that just in case.

I will not dwell on the weather because it is pretty ordinary, but I will write a few lines about my health maintenance. As you know, I have been seeing an Oncologist every three months for eight years. I was afraid I was wearing him out. Sure. He retired last summer. Now I have a new guy. My first impression of him is that he is a super doctor. I could tell he had done his home work. He knew my case well and had decided what he wanted to do before he saw me. He ordered a PET scan in August. He found that "Mr Non-Hodgkins" is letting me alone and as long as he does that I will let him alone. 
I am feeling fine and doing what I want. I have said, in the past, "as long as that is true I will behave, but if not I can't promise a thing."

I have received information from Jerry about Vincent and from Carrie about Tom and now about Diane. I am pulling for you all. Who would have ever thought I would have three cusins with cancer at the same time. It is mind boggling. But that is the way it is and we have to just keep on doing the best we can with what we have got.

One last item. The reason I haven't kept up with my writings, is that I bought Visual Basic Studio 2005 and I have been too absorbed in trying to get a program built with it to notice the passing of time. I haven't even gotten one program done yet but I have learned some stuff and had a pretty good time of it. JH

July 15, 2007 4:46PM MDST.

We have  a case of the middle of July doldrums here. The weather is dull. It is so hot everything has come to a stop. It seems just the other day I wrote about the January doldrums. It may be there are no doldrums at all, it just seems that way. Anyhow, we are going to stike back. We are going to the Cattl-ac this evening for a salad and a little wine. Or wine and a little salad. I'll order a bottle of wine and a menu. On second thought hold the menu.

Until then, I am watering the grass. I am always watering the grass. The grass isn't doing too well, but the birds sure like it. I must be growing a fine crop of worms under there.

My day hasn't really gone all that bad. I arrived at work at the gas station at 7:00AM when the weather was almost perfect. The kitchen stayed fairly cool with the fan sucking cool air in around the door. My legs responded real well today. I felt pretty darned good for a fellow my age and condition. Then at 2:00PM when they let me out, I jumped into the car and turned the air conditioner on. I have stayed in the house since then except for a few quick trips out to move the sprinkler. Now I am having this wonderful experience of typing this writing. Which will probably go down hill from here.

We have some good things coming up next month. Joe and Tom are coming in August. We won't be doing anything unusual while they are here, but it will give them a chance to see us in our usual habitat. We will look pretty good. Norma keeps the clothes washed and I clean the bathroom and vacuum the carpets once in a while. I will even take a couple of days off work while they are here. That should be pretty impressive. Speaking of taking days off, the boss told me I have 160 or so hours of vacation time coming. I guess I have been taking unpaid vacation all this time and didn't know it. That can happen to independently wealthy employees. So beside spending at least one day at Ingomar and pokeing around the farm we will spend some time looking at the stuff in the basement so I can get their go ahead to through some of the stuff away. Old stuff like thirty year old hockey sticks and bats that may be down there. You have to careful about discarding old stuff. We took an old stero to Jamie last month and he is getting a big kick out of getting it to work again. I am looking forward to a visit with him later on this afternoon. Undoubtedly it will be one of the subjects of our conversation. I am obviously looking forward to the boy's visit.

And, Art and Judy are coming on the 30th of August. We are also looking forward to that visit. We are going to tour the farm and generally show off Eastern Montana. This tall green grass will be good and dry by then so you can see the place better. It dosen't look right with the heavey growth of grass we have had these last few months. I might take some vacation hours then too. Or I could cash them in and add the balance to my 401K? Knowing that a guy my age must draw down his IRA balance, I wonder if the same thing is true of a 401K? I am going to ask my tax man.

Looking back over this writing, I can see that it has really gone down hill ever since the beginnging where I wrote about my time at the gas station. JH

June 28, 2007 8:51AM MDST.
Don't think for one minute that I just got out of bed. I have been up for a couple of hours reading the paper and drinking coffee. That was my rocking chair time for this morning.

There are a couple of very interesting things happen in the past couple of months since my last writing.

The first was our visit to the bucking horse sale in the middle of May. Sitting there in the grandstand on a nice sunny afternoon, I decided, boy, I have to write about this. But, it has been a long time and I can't remember the details now. I do recall we were there for three horse races. The highlight of the afternoon. I bet on all three and won twice. Not to get too excited. I only bet two bucks on each race and the wins only paid about three.

We didn't see any horses auctioned, but we did see the calcutta. It seems to me it was a matter of auctionfelt prety some cowboys to the highest bidder. The cowboy's score on subsequent rides was to be used to determining which buyers were to receive a share of the money paid for the cowboys. The bids for these cowboys went pretty high, like $3000 bucks, so the buyer of the winner was in for a pretty good pay day. I am not bidding until I have a better understanding of how it works, and I have an extra 3000 bucks laying around.

It was about the most exiting sporting event I have seen since the hockey game in Ohio last winter.

Norma and I have been out of state again. We were in Lynnwood, Seattle and Everett Washington for a week in June. We went to see Camron graduate and to see Jamie, Joey and Tommy in thier own habitat. It pleases me to report the graduation was a lovely event and our three boys are just fine. We reaquainted ourselves with the boys and with the weather in Western Washingto. It was cool and sometimes a little damp. This was not a sight seeing trip, but a visitation, so I don't have any wonders to report.

We stayed at a place we have been before. In Lynnwood. It is not too fancy but we are beginnging to feel right at home there. In a week, the roar of the traffic seemed almost normal. It wasn't until we got home to the quiet of North Montana Ave that I noticed the vast difference. If one in normal the other can't be normal. Which is it?

For such a big event, I didn't write much, but I don't want to glaze your eyes over with the details, so let it go at that.

Maybe an even bigger event was the recent visitation by Art and Judy of Ohio. We visited, with them, the farm, the Jersey Lilly, the Long Horn Soloon and a couple of Miles City's best eateries. The most memorable was the buffalo burger and beans at the Jersey Lilly. The cook got the beans just right on that day. Not to hot not too bland. The farm was a feast for your eyes. The house is just as we left it last year and the fields are green with the grass of a rare wet summer. I was very please with the way the place looks.

Art and Judy left for Ohio a couple of days ago, but will be back at the end of August for more of the same. As for me, I am staying home for some time to catch up on my rocking chair time.JH

May 15, 2007 11:32AM MDST.

If I haven't writen since April 6, I guess that is alright. No one has called to check if I had died yet.

Our corner of the world has changed a great deal since April 6th. I have had to cut the grass three times, the trees are leafed out and Norma has her flowers all planted. We have gone green. A few months ago I was bemoaning the fact it was totally brown here and delighted that we got to go to Las Vegas for a few days in February to see a little green. That really was a wonderful treat. But, now, the folks in Las Vegas may find it a wonderful treat to come to Miles City to see the green. It looks like the green will continue for a while yet. We just had .49 inches of rain night before last in a series of thunderstorms. Some damage occured from the wind and the little bit of hail we had, but over all it was a blessing. We are coming into the time of year when any rain is a blessing.

I just saw my oncologist this morning. All is well for another three months. You have heard of living one day at a time? Well, I am up to three months at a time. That is the amount of time between my visits to the oncologist. Will green bananas ripen in three months? I guess so.

Did I mention my new hobby in my last writing. Well, I found Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition was free from Microsoft. The down load was a little lenghty, but I got it done and have spent great amounts of time trying to get a program written an the means to do so understood. But, all I have in the way of documentation is the help feature and it is so vast and unhelpful I have finally given up and ordered a book on the subject of mastering Visual Basic. Why, you may ask would someone do that? Well, I have been in my rocking chair with the TV channell changer going full speed for an hour without watching a darned thing. I thought this may be a step up, and it is. I can't wait until my book comes.

I could better occupy my time. But, they all involve paint, picking up sticks in the yard, cleaning the bathroom or vacumming the carpets, and I don't want to do any of those things. Norma and I do have a project planned for June. It will take us a couple of weeks. We are going to drive to Seattle to visit the boys, and go to Cameron's graduation. You, know, we have no grand children, so every once in a while we like to pretend. This will be one of those occasions. We will go and make a big fuss over Cameron and it will make us all feel better. Cameron is Laura Jo's son. They are Jamie's family in Everett. While we are there we will enjoy the green and see some places we have probably seen before and do some things we have probably done before, but that will be alright. You can't see too many Mariners ball games or ride the Washington State Fairy too many times.

I haven't been to the farm yet. I have no excuse. The weather is fine, the pickup is running fine, but I just don't like to give up the rocking chair time. JH

April 6, 2007 4:07AM MDST.
I couldn't set my alarm clock to daylight saving time so I set the alarm ahead one hour. That worked just fine intil last Sunday when it jumped ahead one hour and sent me to work an hour early. Not being one to waste anything, I clocked in and went right to work as if nothing was out of the ordinary. So, all is well that ends well.

I got an e-mail from Arthur today. He has been getting around quite a bit. He reported that eveyone in Phoenix is well. He has more trips planned to the East and I look forward to a report on all of you back there. Or, you can report to me yourself, if you would prefer.

Good old spring time is here. As I have said before, we live in a wonderful neighborhood. We have old people, that is me, middle aged people and kids. I just now heard a kid outside hollering, I hope in play.

We said goodby to Jamie and his family yesterday. They were here for a few day taking care of business. So, we got to spend some time with Jamie. He is just fine a?? Well
 Laura Jo and the kids are too. We are going to Everett in June for a graduation. It is not going to be one of our marathon stays, can't afford many of those, but should be a pleasurable experience. We are looking forward to seeing Joe and Tom as well. We haven't seen them sence last year in May. It hasn't been discussed with Norma yet, but I would like for her to drive out while I tilt the seat back and watch the trees go by between naps.

The realy big thing about today is, that it is Good Friday. while out for a little walk a while ago, I noticed a large group of cars at the church. It probably indicated the stations of the cross were being said at that time. I should have stopped in and joined, but kept going. I guess the devil made me do it. But, I have been reading Mother Angelica's book. She has good advice on the subject of holiness, prayer and being in the presence of the Lord. You don't suppose I could do some of those things instead of the liturgy of the stations? They were probably almost finished by the time I went by anyhow.

What ever the case, she says, Mother Angelica, that not to worry about the past, God gives us a new blank peice of paper to write on every day. So, I am going to Mass tomorrow evening for my Easter worship and all will be well. I suppose it will be the Vigil Mass with all the pomp and pagentry, baptism and confirmations. That will more than make up for walking past the church while the stations were in progress.

Complain, complain complain. At least, I haven't mentioned the break down of any of my physical organs. Isn't that nice? But, none of them have broken down lately. Just waite.JH

March 22, 2007 11:37AM MDST.
Day light saving time is here. It is giving me trouble. I had to go to work early the first morning. Then, we have an alarm clock that is set by a big clock in the sky somewhere that sends a signal through a satalite to our alarm clock. It hasn't gotten it yet. It still shows standard time, so I have to extrapolate when I set the alarm and any time I look at the clock.

Spring came yesterday or today. Which, ever: it is real spring like. If the temperature goes up a few more degrees, it will be summer like. The tulips are about 8 inches high and I can see my winter onions emerging. I haven't been out in the yard to take a good look yet, but it is till early. The bad news is, the grass is starting to turn green. The mower is all rusted under the tree and I am rusted in here.

Just six weeks ago I was delighted to go to Las Ve egas to see some green grass, now I am appalled to see it on my own yard. But, I can handle it when the time comes.

We are havning a fine day. I have the day off and the city has shut off the water while the system is undergoing some repair in our heighborhood. That means I can't do anything in the house, because it almost always requires water and I can't do anything outside because the grass isn't quite ready yet. So, I will just sit here and wait until this evening when we are going to drive to Rosebud to feast at the Long Branch Soloon with Jerry and Frances.

We finally got Jerry and Frances's phone number. If you need it call, I have it on my PDA.

We also feasted at the Montana Wheat in Billings with Tom and Kari. They are just fine. I took special note of Kari. She has perked up, slimmed up and is happy with her work with the handicaped folks at her group home. Tom is still working two jobs. He is the chaplin at a hospice and at the Lutheran Home. And no less of a bundle of energy then ever. We need to thank the Lord for the grace he has given them to overcome Tom's illness.

I'll be going to the farm in a few weeks with my camera. So, look forward to some pictures of the green pastures after the big fire of last summer. But, you will have to wait for a day I have off, the weather is just right and I feel like a drive out there and back. JH

March 2, 2007 7:40PM MST.
After reading my last writing, some may think I am crazy. I am not crazy. That sudden end in the middle of a word was caused by a software glitch. I am using some free software which sometimes glitches. I will not glaze your eyes over with a detailed explanation. Just take my word for it.

We have gone from the January doldrums, to the February doldrums to the Lenten doldrums. Thank the Lord in Heaven for the wonderful trip to Las Vegas from the 8th to the 12th of February. Were it not for breaking out into the sun shine and tropical greenery for that little time I would be crazy. We have just one more day of winter until Saturday when the weather man has promised sun shine and forty degrees. It is going to keep getting warmer from there on.

We do have something going on here in Miles City. The K.C.'s are cooking fish every Friday allalled to see itduring lent. And it is just accross the street from our house.

I am still going to work five days each week. It is not a full time job though. I work about 33 hours each week. It is a little more than I would like. Walking around in the store for seven hours at a time takes all the energy out of me, but it does some good. Strangely, I feel better wearing myself out in the store than I do sitting hear in a chair. At least I know why I am tired. Otherwise I would have to blame it on my thin blood. I am worried though. Sometimes I find myself looking forward to going to the gas station to make corn dogs. Is my life that dull?

I want to go the farm at the first oportunity. That will be the first warm day I have off from work with a temperature of at least 70 and sun shine. It is no fun going out there when the weather is bad. I want to see the burned area, the fences and the house. I also would like to get those ridges smoothed off where the county road grader plowed the fire guards to stop the fire. It may be possible to get the job done by the county, if I pay. There must be a couple of miles of fire guard. I don't think it is necessary to reseed to get the grass to grow on them. The crested wheat grass will take care of that. I don't think there is a machine that could smooth those ridges like a road grader.

We will have to leave it at that. I have to keep something to write the next time. JH

February 15, 2007 9:11PM MST.

This is really heck. We just got through the January doldrums and got the February doldrums. At least it has been dull for the last three days. We got home from Las Vegas at 2:30AM on Tuesday morning to find the snow up to the hub caps and the temperature around zero. And, it hasn't improved a bit. In fact the wind is supposed to come up to 35 to 50 MPH tonight and continue tomorrow with some chance of  more snow. Oh, isn't that going to be nice. I just got the walk shoveled this afternoon and now this.

On the bright side, we just had a lovely time in Las Vegas. It was around 65 most of the time, the grass was green, the palm trees were swaying and the shrubbery was green. Everyone was there. There can't be that many more people in the world. We were tucked into every nook and cranny. There were crowds in the casino, the airport and on Las Vegas Blvd. I guess it must be the warm weather. We don't have t.at trouble here. We did some things while we w
  
OOPS!  Software failure. I will try to put a new message on in the next day or two.JH

February 1, 2007 2:33PM MST.
It is not January anymore, but the doldrums are hanging on. I learned the term January doldrums from the owner of a small Miles City retail store many years ago. I understand the significance to him, but what is the significance to me? For one thing, it is less than 10 degrees above zero out doors today. That can keep me in the house for the entire day. But it is a good time for rest, reflection and reading. The three R's. Seeing that in print makes me think this could be a wonderful day. I have books, a recliner and a memory. I had better get busy.

To anyone who may be interested, the bull show has been postponed for one week. It is too darned cold for the bull owners to stand around on main street and talk about their bulls. It would have been incorrect to say "shooting the bull." Anyhow, it will be held on the following Tuesday.

We had a nice visit with Jerry and Frances on Sunday. They told us all about teerhe trip to D. C. to visit Vincent. The train ride, Vincent's condition, the whole works. We, of course, are very conserned about Vincent and hope he has been able to go home by now.

We are going to Las Vegas next week. In fact we are going to leave one week from today. We will be staying at the Excalibur from the 8th through the 11th of February and come home on the 12th. This is all to honor the 75th birthday of Norma's oldest brother Dick. Norma has spoken to his wife Pat about this, but not to Dick. I think he knows about the plan. I sure hope so. It could stop a 75 year old's heart to discover a big to do about his birthday at the last minute. We are going to tour the strip and I am going to tour Hoover Dam if I can get there. It looks like a heck of a deal. It is open everyday and is only 30 miles from Las Vegas. It would be a sham to miss seeing the turbines while that close.

How, you may ask, can a poor man in Miles City, afford to go on four out of state trips in just over three months? I don't know.

This is the first of two days I get off every week. I had a little trouble getting started this morning, but now I think I am alright. I can keep myself intertained for the rest of today and tomorrow. I will check the community college schedule. There may be a game in town tonight. Or, there might be a decent show the the theater. JH

December 29, 2006 11:50AM MST.
Finally. It snowed. The town was getting so ugly. The trees are nothing but sticks and the lawns got to be a greenish brown color. Now, all is white. Many times I have gone through the Eastern Montana country side after a snow and could not realize that just under that nice white layer is still the same old brown. I don't care. It is pretty now.

This is my second day off and I am getting cabin fever. Maybe, I can roust someone out to go with me for a bowl of soup and a sandwich this afternoon. I am getting tired of left over turkey.

So far I have said I am tired of the ugliness of Miles City without snow, tired of left over turkey and as I look around my play room at all the play things I have in here from a computer to a toy John Deere tractor, the conclusion must be "my soul is restless until it rests in thee." But, I have done something useful today. I shoveled the snow off thvvevivisitsit  sidewalk and mailed a Christmas card.

I think I will go have a bowl of soup and take a nap. JH

December 16, 2006 7:15PM MST.
I just got back from Mass. I am on my normal schedule. Mass on Saturday evening because I have to be at work at 7:00AM on Sunday. It works out ok. The script is the same.

We have been out of state twice since my last writing. Norma's brother Bob died shortly after thanksgiving. We went out for his funeral and came back on about the fifth of December. Bob had lived in Glenview, Il. for about half of his life. He was Norma's second oldest brother. He was 72. We went by train this time and rented a car. All worked out well. We had people with us who had lived there and knew the way around. But, we had to drive to Wiliston, ND to catch the train. There was a lot of sitting on upholstered furniture, so my butt got a little bit achey. It came out of it pretty well as soon as I got to walking around in the store.

However, I experienced a little butt ach again this week wdd a Chhen I sat on the plane for a few hours. I have gotten over that too. We went to Ohio for Kari's wedding on the 9th of December. That was a real good time. I can not relate to you all of the activities, but here are a few. Art and Judy hosted a lovely buffet at their home a couple of times. Once, on the evening of the 7th and again in the morning of the 10th of 
December. We were not only treated to fine food but a tour of their lovely home.

On the 8th we attended the rehearsal dinner at what seemed like an endless wine cellar. It was an informal stand up sit down walk around and meet and greet all of the friends and relatives of Kari and Ryan kind of dinner. Probably the best kind.

The 9th was the big event. The wedding was presided over by a deacon in a nice new church with floweres and everything. The guests and the wedding party behaved especially well. There was dinner and dancing at the Westin Great Souther hotel grand ball room. It was equally lovely, but the behavior didn't hold up quite as well.

On Sunday there was the brunch at the Hecker home and in the evening a hockey game at the Colombus Blue Jackets stadium. We didn't sit among the unwashed masses. We inhabited a private both with snack bar and a real bar. I, personlly, was very impressed with the whole thing. It was with some surprise that I found hockey to be the most entertaining sport I have ever seen, with the possible exception of the bull fights in Spain. Of course, I was much younger then and more easily impressed. So, it probably is the most entertaining sport I have ever seen.

That pretty well covers the Ohio vist, but for one thing. We stayed at the Emabassy Suites. Suites means suites. This was no motel room. The breakfasts were fantastic. I never ate better sausage.

The letdown from the travel schedule has been bad, but we have taken a vow to stay home for quite a long time to recover, physically, mentally and fincancially. JH

November 18, 2006 7:53PM MST.
I know, it has been a long time since my last writing. There a a couple of reasons for that. The older you get the faster time passes and I am a terrible computer operator. I carefully typed a writing last night but I accidentally downloaded instead of upload. That overlayed my current writing with the previous writing from the ISP. So, I will try again tonight.

We have been to Chicagoland and we have had company from Everett, WA during the past month. So, it seems we have been busy. Not to busy to write, but busy.

We went to Glenview, Ill. to see Norma's brother Bob. He has not been well lately. Norma's brothers from Las Vegas and New Orleans as well as her sister from Plentywood were there. That made it a sort of family reunion. I don't know if the visit did Bob any good, but the rest of us had a fine time. We stay at Darin's place and visited Kristal at her house as well. It seemed we did a lot of traveling from place to place. When we left, Bob seemed to be feeling better than when we arrived.

Jamie and Laura Jo were here last week. They came mainly to see Laura Jo's mother. Her father passed away a couple of months ago. But, we got to have them for company several times. It was a joy to see them again. We got all the news from Seattle, but we always try to keep in frequent contact with the boys.

I am going to updoad this before I lose it. JH

October 7, 2006 4:50PM MDST.
We got into fall. I have not seen one frozen plant up till now. It is predicted to get pretty close to freezing in the next few nights. I always hate to see that happen, but it is a certainty sooner or later.

The birthday and anniversary have passed. Norma and I were married in 1961. I will let you do the math. I was born in 1935. There is a tougher problem. The results of these problems used to be for the previous generation. I guess we have arrived. I always knew we would. I just didn't thing it would be so soon.

We live in a good neighborhood. We have a variety of people here. I can watch the kids play from my favorite chair. We have about 10 of the little buggers within about a block. For my entertainment, they play on the sidwalk and the yards up and down Montana Avenue. Don't get me wrong. I am not a dirty old man, just a lazy one who prefers to watch kids vvvvvvvving fr around rather than to do it myself.

I am an avid news reader, so I had to add the last two centences so no one would think I am a congressman. The news is the big thing that keeps me busy every day. We get two newspapers, the economist, newsweek and the TV. The constant stream of wild and crazy events that are reported gets more amazing every day.

I called Sumatra the other day. The grass is growing on the burned pasture since it has rained. I want to drive up and see it. If I do I will post a picture.

Gota go. It is time for Mass. JH

September 11, 2006 7:20PM MDST.
I really have no reason to do this writing. Nothing has happened that anyone who reads this would be interested in. But, I want to let you know we are still here and well. I guess that is reason enough.

There is always the old fall back subject. The weather. It has cooled down into the 80's. That will continue for a couple of more days, then, according to the weather report, it will get rainny and cool into the 60's. Won't that be nice. I will put the watering hose away for a while. We had a thunder storm last light. It seems to have gone on for quite awhile, but gave very little rain.

I have a CD with pictures and music from the 2003 and 2006 reunions. I got it from Judy. It is very good. I hope you got one too.

The summer has been wonderful. Beginning in April and all the way through July. Since then it has been quere, which is just fine by me. I could        use all the rest I can get. I think I will take a nap.JH

August 25, 2006 8:39PM MDST.

That is right. It is the 25th of August. What is your problem, you may ask. Well, I just didn't feel like using my head to write. I haven't been using it for much else either. I have been pretty busy and a little tired after my other activities. Maybe, it has been too darned hot.

Speaking of hot. Boy, was it hot out at the farm. We had a 1930 acre grass fire that burned more than half of the grass on the farm. Not to mention the fences. I have been out twice. Once to see how the fences looked and once to take some posts out to Dan. I am happy to report, the fences are fine. Our neighbors and renters fixed them. All that is left to fix is about a half mile between the east and west halves of section 1. Dan is going to use the posts for that.

I have some pictures on this site at link "fire 2006". These are raw pictures just as they came from the camera. No croping or editing. Some scrolling will be needed if you want to see the whole picture. They are way to big for a 17 inch monitor. I did it this way because it was easier and because, to crop them would have taken the subject out of its context. They better show the vastness, the beauty and the starkness of the contryside this way. I hope no one is using old fashioned dial up for down loading. I loaded four out of about 18. They aren't the best ones, just those I loaded.JH

July 15, 2006 3:57PM MDST.

I have reviewed the last writing. It is a pretty good summary of our social life but there isn't much detail. I will try to do some of the details without causing your eyes to glaze over.

I have had a blood draw at the clinic in preparation for my oncologist's visit on Tuesday the 18th of July. I am not concerned about  any recently developed lumps except the large one that I have over my belt. Now, I will work back from there to see what we have done recently.

We had a week long visit from Jamie and Cameron of Everett, Wa. I spent the entire week with Jamie and Norma was able to see him for about three days in Plentywood. Jamie and I were in Plentywood until the 2nd of July. I told Norma she could stay in Plentywood with her brothers and sisters as long as she pleased. Boy, did she take that seriously. We didn't see her again until at l h of July. She had a lovely time there and so did we. We, Jamie and I, got to spend some time with our nieces from Pheonix, Margie, Molly and Marty and their children and husbands. It was another chance to get to know them better, and a fine group of folks they are. No, I didn't go to the farm. I had to work on the fourth of July, which is the day they visited the farm, and I haven't had time to go on my own. I said I am a busy guy, but there is a problem with the pump that I have to take care of soon.

Our company had a fine time. They took in most of the Hecker Schleder reunion in Forsyth, we had a nice picnic in our back yard with Art and Judy, they went to the farm, shot fireworks at Jamie's in law's place in the evening of the fourth and left for home on the fifth. As far as I can tell, their visit was at least up to their expectations.I got to know them better and they got to know me better, which may have been the down side. I was trying to keep that secret.

So that is the big deal. That is what all the fuss was about. Socializing with so many folks. Scheduling, trying to not be in two places at the same time. Well, it all turned out fine. The Lord was willing and everyone was understanding.

Our Bishop has resigned for age and health reasons, and I heard a nasty rumor that out pastor had a bad momment during Mass last Sunday. I am going to Saturday evening Mass in about an hour. I will see for myself how Fr Gill is feeling. Without him we have no priest. No confessions. No sins. No fun. JH

June 23, 2006 12:43PM MDST.
I must be full of life today. I am writing.

There is no question about it. My McJob and all the little chores I do around here are using all the gas. But, I am feeling good this afternoon.

I haven't been that busy, outside of what I just mentioned, but Norma has been. Our neighbor places a lot of trust in her so when she became ill, she called on Norma to help her out. Norma has provided her with rides to the doctor and now that she has been hospitalized she visits every day. "As often as you clothed the naked, fed the hungry and visited the sick, you did it to me". So, you can see that Norma is on a straight trajectory to heaven. Besides that, she has to take care of me.

I have some things coming up that need to be taken care of. A trip to the farm for one. Referring back to the second paragraph, there is plenty of gas in the pickup, but not in the driver. I have gotten a report that there is a problem with the water suply system so it will be required to go out soon. At least, I will be going out with the Mullins girls. I have also gotten a report that the grass is doing just fine. I can't wait to take a long walk in the CRP just to look, probably in vain, for a little western wheat grass in the crested.

That is plenty to keep me accupied, but there is more. I am going to Plentywood with Jamie on Thursday, the 29th or the 30th for the Becker family reunion. Norma is going up on the 28th or the 29th to help her sister prepare. I don't know when they are coming back, but I have to be back at 6:00AM on the 3rd of July for work. I have to pay for the large living we did in Washington last month. But, there will be plenty going on right here is Miles City when we get back. The Mullinses are coming. We are going to the farm, we are going to play cribbage, we are going to the fireworks show and we are going to eat hot dogs. The girls are coming on the first to Ingomar and leaving on the 5th. So, if anyone wants to have fun here in Miles City, there is your chance.

You can see, this is going to be a summer I will remember for a long time. The month of May turned out just fine, and, God willing, so will July. I know there is the reunion in Forsyth, and I am sure I will regret missing most of it, but it could be, that I will get to see a few of the great guests who will be there. Let us hope so. JH

June 6, 2006 6:45PM DST.
Even more water has run under the bridge since my last writing. The providence of God has been at work. We planned the past six weeks, God willing. And He was willing. Every little thing we had planned from gassing up the car on the 20th of April to working my first day back at Town Pump today went exactly as we had planned.

I suppose a short summary of out activities is in order.

We left on the 20th of April, visited Norma's aunt at Spokane and checked into our extended stay room on the 22nd. We had numerous visits and activities with Jamie, Joe and Tom. Barbeques at Jamie's, concerts with Tom and a vist to the race track with Joe among many other things. Last, but not least, I made all of my appointments at the Providence Hospital at Everett.

The result was that we were there for so long we felt the trafic was normal and I no longe g goning going r have a tumor under my right ear.

I do feel guilty for having ignored everyone and everything for so long. I will try to get my head together about the summer right now. JH

April 14, 2006 7:53PM DST.
There has been a lot of water under the brige since that last writing. I will mention a little of it.

Summer has come. It was in the high 70's today. I cut the grass. We have had about three inches of rain, so all is well with the weather.

The really big news is that Norma and I have made extensive plans to flee the joint for a while. Five weeks. Boy, is that going to be a nice rest. It is not only that we want to go somewhere, it is also that we want to get away from here for a while. Actually, I may be speaking out of turn. I want to get away for a while. I don't know if Norma does. I didn't think to ask. Some might say, "isn't that just like a man." I guess it is.

Someone told the boys we would go out to Washington for a visit at Christmas time. I didn't have the means and didn't feel like I had the will to do so at the time so I wo

B ing foBut Seattle on Thursday the 20th and will not be back until almost the end of May. I knew, before Christmas that I had a new tumor growing under my right ear and would need out of town treatment because the cancer center in Miles City closed last fall. That may have had something to do with my reluctance to go to Seattle at Christmas time. So, at my March visit with the oncologist, he decided that the tumor needed radiation therapy now and  I asked for a referral to a hospital in Everett, WA to get the job done. Now we have a place to stay, an appointment with the oncologist at the Providence Hospital in Everett, the gas tank is full and the tires are aired up. Oh, I also got time off from work. The boss wanted to know when I will be back so I guess I still have a job. It is a good thing. I am going to need it.

This is an account of spring plans. There are still the summer activities to deal with. I had experienced some anxious thoughts about how the summer of reunions would play out until I got involved in the details of planning this spring thing. I have forgotten to worry about the summer activities for now. So, let's put them asside until June, shall we? My plate is full for now.

I haven't been to the farm in a long time. I need to get out there before the Fourth of July. I will sweep the floor. The place might have company during the reunion. When I spoke of reunions in the previous paragraph it wasn't a mistake. The Beckers are having a reunion on about the fourth of July too. That may be why I had the anxious thoughts. I can't be two places at one time.  JH

March 29, 2006 10:36AM MST.

No, .tif didn't work. But I have the home page picture fixed now.

I just finished my house work for this week. There is sweat all over me. Not because of the difficulty of the work but because of the temperature in here. Two old people sitting in chairs watching TV need a lot of heat, but when you start moving around it gets hot. So, now it is hot.

Speaking of the temperature indoors, we spent a fortune keeping it warm last winter. I have done some conservation things, but it still got expensive. I covered some of the water heaters in some of the rooms to keep them a little cooler and redirect the heat to the areas where we needed it, but as a result, the overall heat radiation in the house was reduced and even the rooms where the radiators were not covered got a lettle cooler. I think, from the leakage of cool air from the rooms I had cooled off. In the end, I think I gained a little bit on the heat bill.

Our neighbor is putting in a wood stove. I don't think we will do that.

It was sixty seven degrees yesterday. The tulips are a couple of inches high and it is spring. I see it coming with mixed feelings. As much as we grumble about the cost of winter living in Miles City, it is a stressless time. No outdoor work. And, now that I have my emergency gasoline generator, what have I to worry about in the winter time. Or, in the summer time. If the power goes off, I can hook it up to the air conditioner.

Just like ham radio operators used to do, I would like to talk about my equipment for just a little bit. As you know, I have this brand new Dimiension E310 Dell computer. In the last few days I have managed to download some free software to update this writing and to upload it to the internet service provider's computer. I can update the file and upload from the same program. It dosen't have a spell checker, but it was free.

Let's try the upload. JH

March 23, 2006 7:21PM MST.
I don't suppose you are too pleased with the picture I put up last week. It is a picture of my office space. I wish my office space was really that big. I have reduced it to one fourth the size. For some reason the program I used to reduce the size, changed the suffix to .tif. It is supposed to be .jpg. I don't know if .tif will work, but we will find out.

We have just finished a big week. Norma saw the doctor twice and is better than she thought. That is a sign of a good doctor. One who tells you you are in better shape than you ever thought you were. Anyway, she is fine and I saw my oncologist as well. He was pleased with my lab inquire report. Not too many asterisks on it. But when I told him I wanted to go to Everett, Wa to get rid of my malignant lymph note, he was not as pleased. It really is not something for him to leasosen't ed about, it just causes him a little extra work. His office is tuutting o call me when he gets the referal made and the ball will roll from there. So, you might say, the plan is in the works. If everyone does his part, Norma and I will be on our way to Everett in a few weeks.

We are going to make a little vacation out of it. Kill two birds with one stone. Get the biggest bang for our bucks. We were going to go to Seattle and Everett to visit the boys this spring anyway and we had to go somewhere for radiation therapy, so we are going to do it all in one big trip. My supervisor at work has been very gracious so far. At this time, I believe my job will be there when I get back, but I am not going to Iraq with the National Guard. Those rules don't apply.

I walked accross the pasture to the store this afternoon and noticed that the crested is making a real effort to get growing. You can't see it yet with the naked eye, but if you get down on your hands and knees, the green is there. And, of course, those little early weeds are trying to survive these chilly nights too. A couple of nights without frost and we are going to have spring.

My, what an upbeat writing! It must be that I just read Phillipians 4.8. JH

March 17, 2006 1:45PM MST.
Oh, look at that. It is St Patrick's Day. I think there are some Irish in town, but they keep their heads down pretty well. I don't know of more than one or two. This is not Butte.

The one thing I like about St Patrick's day is that the Catholic Bishops of Montana let us eat meat if it falls on Friday in Lent. That is the case this year. I wouldn't have known about it if it hadn't been pointed out to me in the newspaper. So, I got to enjoy a couple of wee chunks of sausage for breakfast. I try to obey the rules but I don't make them up.

Norma is going to Hysham with some of her girl friends for a feed at a new place down there. I don't know anything about it. Wasn't invited to go along. As for me, I am going to enjoy a little more meat, watch a little TV, if I can find anything fit for a good Catholic boy to look at and then I am going to bed early. Tomorrow is the first of five days of arduous labor at the gas station for me. It will be intersperced by some other activities like a visit to the Oncologist on Tuesday. I also have a visit scheduled with the nose, throat and ear specialist on the 31st. I have three responsibilities, visiting the doctor, working at the gas station and updating this site. Thank goodness for those things. I wouldn't have anything to do.

That is the difficult thing about retirement. 
Entertaining yourself, or , heaven forbid, doing something useful. I do have a couple of optional, entertaining things I intend to do this afternoon. I am going to walk a couple of letters to the post office and clean out the little basement closet. I went to great pains and a lot of work to fix it up and to paint it. Now it needs to be organized with the stuff that belongs in it.

Outside of that, and the fact that we are having a perfectly sunny day, there is nothing that comes to mind. JH

March 7, 2006 6:58AM MST.
I sat here with writer's block for a while, but how can I have writer's block? That is what fiction writers have. This is not fiction.

Yesterday and today is my mini weekend. I get off work at 10:00 AM on Monday and go back to work at 2:00PM on Tuesday. Thank goodness for this time. It gives me a little break to recover in the middle of my work week. It may not be necessary for a young person, but for a person of my advanced age and condition it is almost a requirement of the job. Anyhow, I did a little work at home this morning, actually it is 10:30, my writer's block lasted quite a while, and in a few hours I am going to the gas station to cook corn dogs and other delicacies.

The work I do around here is a combination of little things. As is the case in some old houses that have been occupied by the poor or lazy for decades, we have a few spots that we don't notice but are eye sores because they weren't been finished in the first place or have been busted over the years. A little patch here and there and a little paint here and there can make a big difference. But only to the person with a diserning eye, which I have not always had. It seems to come down to a case of, what are your standards?

Otherwise we seem to be about the same. I have been taking some over the counter stuff, recommended by my two doctors, the ear, nose and throat specialist and the nurse practitioner. It has cut down on my post nasal drip and the resulting cough, but they are still there. But all is not lost, I have an appointment with the oncologist on the 20th and one with the ear, nose and throat guy on the 31st. Do you suppose medicare would like a break? Do you have your medicare plan D yet?

I should be conserned about the effect I am having on the deficit, but I heard it's being financed by the, what, me worry, Japanese and Chinese bond purchasers.

We had fish a the Longbranch Soloon in Rosebud on Friday with Frances and Jerry. Jerry seem pretty good and is improving. He is coming to Miles City three times each week for Cardio Therapy, I suppose, controled exercise. This procedure will go on for some time yet, and he will be going back to work on the first of April, God willing. He was pleased that he had had only three days of sick time in 14 years at the school and they were to attend funerals. So, he has sick pay coming in. That is a good thing. Bills don't stop just because you are sick.

Now for the good news. The high temperature each day is around 50. I am going to check the lilacs for expanding buds. I like to cut off a couple of little branches to keep in the house for green house plants for a few days in the spring. They aren't real pretty, but it is a reminder of soon to come spring. I don't know why I am anxious for spring. It only means the grass will grow and I will have to dedicate one day each week for grass cutting. And a day to get my lawn tractor ready to go and buy a new battery. But, there are other things nice about spring. Too numerous to mention in this short writing.

I will not let so much time pass between writings in the future as I have this past month. But, as you can see, I am a busy guy. I can't sit down here and type out a document just any old time. I have to get my required activites done first. JH

March 6, 2006 10:12PM MST.
This is a bum deal. I thought I had updated this page. I would do it now, but there is nothing in my head. I have been stairing at the TV for most of the evening. I will stair at it a little more then go to bed. The morning may bring some clear thinking and then I can creat a good interesting writing. JH

February 12, 2006 5:07PM MST.
It is Lincoln's Birthday. Ten more days and it will be Washington's birthday and two more and it will be Vallentines Day. I can remember everything I learned as a child but nothing I have learned since. Or, I just seems that way.

The winter cold and cabin fever is taking its toll on me. I had to go to the doctor, or more accurately, the Nurse Practitioner. She prescribed Musinex, an over the counter medicine to dry up my head. It does that pretty well and I do feel better. But, I saw her in church last night praying. Maybe that will help too. It might help if I prayed a little more. But, I am not very good at it. It has something to do with mental dicipline, I think.

On the brighter side, Norma has had the bedroom and the living room painted. The bedroom is tan and the living room is onion skin. She also had crown molding put in the living room. It looks fine. I didn't personaly do the painting as you can tell by the previous sentence. I didn't think the job was necessary and she didn't think I had the muscle. As you can tell from the previous paragraph. So, she hired a young woman to do the work. She was right, I didn't, honestly, feel up to doing any painting and still don't. But when the bill came, I suddenly felt energized. I can do that. For this price. It is too late now, I will have to pay.

That isn't much news, but the remainder will have to be saved for the next time. That will be within about a week. Because, we had a nice afternoon dinner and now, I am going to upload this and see if Norma will go to the Dairy Queen for desert. JH

January 26, 2006 1:42PM MST.
I just got the programs for updating the site moved to the XP. But now, I am going to take my bride for a little outing. More later this afternoon. Maybe. JH

January 26, 2006 4:10PM MST.
We're Back. It was a real nice day. The temperature is around 50 but the wind is pretty strong. Norma didn't like the wind.

Everything is on the Dell now. The HTML editor to input these little writings and the file transfer protocol program to upload them to the web provider.

I was a radio teletype operator in the army, and thought, with my new found skill I would become a ham radio hobbiest when I got out. But, you can see what would have been transmitted if I had. In fact, I listened in to some ham radio guys and that is all they had to talk about. Their equipment.

To avoid anymore talk about my equipment, I will fill you in on our recent visit with Frances and Jerry. We had lunch with them here in Miles City a couple of days ago. Just as equipment operators would talk to you about their machinery, Jerry talked of his recent experiences with the medical community. His 11 day hospital stay his tests, his schedule and, I think, he said he was glad to be at home. But, as you may suspect, he got special treatment because his son-in-law is a nurse in that very hospital and Jeri Lynn is a trained practical nurse. I don't know, if for this reason or some other, he said he was glad he was able to turn himself in for treatment in Billings. He appears to have gotten first rate treatment and the outcome has been good.

My own life has been topsy turvy the last week. We had a painter come in and paint the bed room. The closets had to be emptied, the curtains taken down and some of the furniture removed from the room. All of that stuff had to go somewhere. Like the utility room the living room and the back porch. Now it has to go back. I don't mind the effort to do it, but the disruption of my regular routine is killing me. Norma, though, is delighted with her accomplishment.

You also, probably know I lost my second job. The office here was sold to a couple of folks from Glendive who took it upon themselves to hire a different staff than was here. I am a little bit cranky about it. Especially after I read the article with pictures in the paper last night. But, I am glad not to work on my days off. Also, I did a return already this year at home. I did one for the painter.

Before I get any crabbier, I will stop. JH

January 12, 2006 10:19AM MST.
I looked back at my last writing and see that it was a pretty complete run down of all the activity up until that time. Darned little has happened since then to write about. After all we are in the January doldrums. Nothing is supposed to happen. But it has.

It is almost spring. It was 52 yesterday and will be 42 today. No grass is growing because it gets pretty cool at night. All this, and we are not to the January thaw yet.

As you can see, I am on my week end from my McJob. They worked me six days straight. That is why I am so glad to get these two days off.

I usually try to do something to give me that warm fussy feeling of accomplishment on my days off. Like paint the baseboards in the bedroom or line the walls in stairs to the basement. Sometimes, though, these activities leave me more tired and beat up that when the days off began. So, this week end, I am going to make this writing my accomplishment. But, I do have a ton of high tech stuff to do. Norma and I gifted ourselves with a Cannon 5.0 Mega Pixcel camera and a Cannon Sephy photo printer for Christmany crabbier.  It comes with a couple of software disks and a half dozen manuals. I have taken a couple of pictures and printed eatmente                       
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ea couple, but that dosen't an education make. I also downloaded TaxCut.

They invite me to do tax returns this year. I didn't want to do it, but I hate to miss the entire season. I didn't exactly get fired. The franchise changed hands and the new owner die recruiting and, I suppose, found plenty of willing hands that are not 70 years old and already employed at a McJob. So, I still have to do our own tax return and a guy at work wants me to do his. That will be my tax season.

Norma is at the beauty shop this morning. She is playing cards every week and does some work at Saint V's.

The big item I almost forgot is surgery for Jerry. He got sick a couple of weeks ago and checked in at the clinic at Billings. Low and behold, they found that he had a plugged artery in his heart that needed to be fixed. A stent repair wasn't possible so he had to under go surgery. I have not seen him or spoken to him since, but Norma was in Billings a few days ago and said he looked fine. I expect he is recoverying in Forsyth by now. I, for one, have found this news to be shocking. I have not seen or heard of Jerry being sick in my entire life up until now.

When I started this writing it seemed there was nothing to say, but look at that bunch of stuff. We must be leading more event filled lives than at first appears. JH

December 24, 2005, 4:26PM MST.
This is my second try at a writing in two days. Last night I was almost done when my computer did an unexpected shut down and reboot. It wasn't my new machine. I have three computers. I have this job on the oldest one. I was given a brand new Dell for Christmas. And I have a machine that runs windows 98. But, the Dell has 144 gigabytes of disc, 1 gig of memory and a processor that runs at 3 ghz. There is no faster or bigger machine than that, but I am so busy I don't have time to get any of these jobs onto it. That is why I am using this old fella for a few more days.

I have been busy researching and enrolling in medicare part d, some of you will know what a chore that can be, I altered my furnace power line to make it easy to connect my emergency gasoline generator to it. I will skip the description of the emergency gasoline generator. That has already been done. Norma and I gifted ourselves with a digital camera and photo printer for Christmas. That had to be studied enough to print pictures. Not a real easy task. Looking back at this paragraph; if that is all I have been doing, why couldn't I have written sooner? Of course, there is the McJob. That takes 30 hours each week and a little recovery time.

Speaking of recovery time. I have some good news and some bad news. My Hemoglobin on my last lab report was 14.1. The first time in a long time, at least a year or probably more, that I have not been anemic. I went out for a little walk yesterday to see how it felt to do a little exercise without my usual hadicap. The bad news is, my doctor found a lump below my ear he thinks may be a malignant lymphnode. It probably is. The worst news is that the cancer center in Miles City has closed due to lack of business. Not that lack of business to treat cancer is bad, but I have gone over there a hundred times for radiation and it took about a half hour each time. Now what? I guess, we are going to have to go out of town for treatments. But, no tratments have been prescribed yet and, the Good Lord willing, won't be needed.

I will mention the weather to make this writing complete without you're turning glassy eyed. We have had our winter through most of the month of December, but now it has gotten warm. The snow is almost all gone. There is nothing like a blast from the arctic to make a 45 degree day feel warm.JH

December 1, 2005, 7:46PM MST.
This is it. The worst of all situations. Sitting here surounded by snow, one degree, the days are so short they can be missed if you sleep in and Christmas is coming. Or, I suppose it would be better to say, thank God I don't have to cut the grass and Merry Christmas. It is the Lord's birthday. Thank God for that.

The big event I need to report on is Thanksgiving. We drove to Plentywood, 200 miles each way for our dinner. The drive up to the north east has always been an interesting thing for me. The geography starts to change as you leave Gendive and gets real northern by the time you get to Plentywood. By north, I mean the hills are not as pointy and jabbed the valleys are wide and have no rivers, the trees are short and far between, there is some shrubbery in the coolies, and the grass is huge. Where the grass grows well, they say, so does wheat. Oh yes, it gets cold. It wasn't bad when we were there. In fact it wasn't any colder than it was here.

That may not be the biggest thing I have to report. I may have already reported that I bought an emergency gasoline powered generator. It is not that we have an untrustworthy power company, it is just that things can happen. For instance, the power could go out on a cold night and our pipes could freeze before it comes back on. Wouldn't that be a miserable fix? I have started it up for a test run. It passed fine. I still don't have a plugin on my furnace, which is the only appliance we need on a cold night and I haven't tested it's starting ability in the cold. I can't do anything about the electrician but I can do something about testing it for cold weather starting. It is supposed to be zero in the morning, so I am going to go out and pull the rope. I will report on the test the next time. 
  
I notice the item I just discussed shows up on the November 22nd writing. I am writing too often or not doing enough to write about.

So, I will mention just one more item before your eyes glaze over. I don't think I wrote about this in my last writing. I checked for it, but didn't read every word. My eyes started to glaze over. But, we are invited to the Hecker Christmas dinner in Forsyth on the 10th. That will be a wonderful dinner, because it will be prepared by Frances herself. She has recently retire from her job as cook at the Forsyth school so we are looking forward to some fine fare.
 
That gave me an idea. When I retire as a deli helper, I may host a corn dog and burritto dinner right here in Miles City. Maybe not.

Maybe I will stop and try to upload this with one of my old computers. JH

November 22, 2005, 10:51AM MST.
I am still here. I haven't gone anywhere. As you can see, it has been a lone time since I have had anything to say, or since I have had the time and inclination to say it. Actually, things have been going along pretty well. I have been working my McJob, making decisions, gathering information, receiving guests and doing many other things. I can report too that Norma is fine and enjoying her activities, and in some cases, rest time too.

An old man is like the only insane man in the room. He appears to be lazy, doing nothing, but in fact he is the busiest one there, thinking over and over his insane thoughts. You may think that is an original idea from my own mind, but I really got it from G. K. Chesterton's writings. I don't remember which book it was. I don't say that an old man is an insane man, but only is like an insane man.

The old man has so many decisions to make, like, which medicare drug plan to buy, should he buy life insurance, should he buy rest home insurance, and the most important, should he buy an emergency gasoline generator.

I did buy an emergency gasoline generator for the home. All is in readiness for the power outage on a cold night except a small electrical modification to be done by a professional electrician. I bought a Coleman Powermate with a Briggs 6 hp engine that has been tested and is sitting in the carport waiting for a emergency as I write. I have often wonder what we would do for heat if we had a power outage on a cold winter night. In a telephone converstion with Tommy the other day he remembered just such and occassion here in Miles City. I was surprised he remembered, but it did occur in November several years ago. The house got pretty cold before the power was restored. I don't want to imagine what a mess we would have if it got cold enough to freeze all the water pipes we have in this house. From now on, I will sleep more soundly on cold winter nights.

As with the emergency power source, all the other decisions an old man has to make present so many options it makes my head ach. The worst is the 40 or so options offered for medicare plan D drug coverage. Every insurance company on the earth has gotten into the act with its version of the best plan for us.

In addition to the stuff just mentioned we have seen a few movies lately, visited Tom and Carrie in Billings, visited Jerry and Frances, although I can't remember when that was, had a visit from the Overlands from Plentywood, gone to a couple og Junior College basketball games and done our part keeping the cafes in Miles City in business. We intend to take in a Thanksgiving dinner in Plentywood on Thursday and get back here in time to cook corn dogs on Saturday morning.

Speaking of basketball in Miles City. I know now where some of the refugees from Louisiana have gone. They are here in Miles City and Glendive. And are they ever good ball players. We could beat the Grizzlies and the Bobcats this season. I am gong to the next Glendive, Miles City junior college ball game. It should be a barn burner.

Before I end, I had better mention the weather. Nice. JH

October 24, 2005, 12:07PM MDT.
They made me work at the gas station from 6:00AM to 10:00AM this morning, but after a nice breakfast and an hour in my recliner, I am fine.

We are going to the clinic for flu shots and I want to go to Wal Mart to purchase a large plastic container with a lid for some of my heirlooms. I am going to fill the box and take them to the farm where they belong. I need the space in my basement.

I have spent some time in my basement in the last few weeks trying to clean it up and rearange stuff. Rearanging only helps a little, so I have gotten some stuff out of there and now, this stuff is going back to the farm. That might be what it needs. Not the farm, the basement.

It is time to report on the wedding that took place on the 15th of October. As you know, Art and Judy's Nephew was married so Art and Judy and their kids were here. We saw them several times. We ate with them at the Longbranch in Rosebud, at the Air Port Inn in Miles City and at the wedding in Miles City. We didn't do much, but we did eat a lot. Art and I did go out to the farm for a brief visit. We found everything pretty much as it has always been, except for the out buildings. Dad's temporary sturctures are proving to be just that. They have mostly colapsed except for the graineries. The shop is on its way down and the others have already fallen. Dan had done a good job of disposing of the debris after they fall. He has gotten rid of the garage, the barn, the shed and the chicken coupe. The house and everything in it as well as the old machinery is still in good shape, so we had plenty of stuff to inspect.

That is the news except for the weather. It has cooled, the trees are dropping their leaves and I am picking them up. The bright sunny weather of October is here and it can stay as long as it likes. I think it is great. JH

September 29, 2005, 8:05PM MDT.
Since my last writing there has been a big day to remember. Don't know what it was? Well, it was the big 7 0 for me. Didn't think I would make it? Neither did I. But, here we are after the big blow out at the Air Port Inn. Norma, invited everyone we know, and we had a fine time.

The weather is way out of line. It was 80 today and will be 85 tomorrow. Will this summer never end? I would like to put away the lawn mower and the garden hose.

I have been left alone again this evening. Norma is at a wine and cheese party. I watched the Mariners win a rare baseball game. There are only a few games left. Just like the lawn mower and garden hose, I can't wait until it is over.

The main events of summer are over, but I have news of a realy important event coming up in October. There will be out of town guests. I hope to go and participate to some degree; probably drink a bottle of beer to the bride and groom before I cash in for the night. I won't mention any names here in public, but I have reason to believe it will be a good time.

Other than that it has been pretty much Ho Hum here in Miles City. I hope to report again with more lively news in the next week or two. JH

September 19, 2005, 9:20PM MDT.
It has been almost a month since my last writing. Something must have happened worth writing about in that time.

It seems to be Norma's health. She has been through extensive examination here in Miles City. The last word has been from a cardiologist from Billings who visits us periodicaly. He examined her and read her file and concluded that, although she has a little leak from her right atrial chamber to the left, it is not contrubuting to her problem. Before I go further, I should mention what her problem is. She gets light headed when she gets up on her feet. The solution is to not get up on your feet. That is not what the doctor ordered. It seems she is taking a combination of medicines that have lowered her blood pressure too much. She has lowered her use of one of them and she confesses to me that she feels better already, in just three days. We have taken up a little walking for exercise and look for greater improvement in her health in the days to come.

Outside of that we haven't done anything worth telling. We haven't been out of Miles City, but we have been paying our bills and trying to keep the house tidy. Which makes me think we aught to get in the car and get out of town for a while. But, right now the car is in the shop and the pickup takes too much gas. Let's hope either the price of gas comes down or the car gets out of the shop.

Fat chance the price of gas will come down. There is another storm headed into the gulf so the price of crude went up today in anticipation. Should I ask my boss for a raise in anticipation of higher natural gas prices this winter? Probably not. Oh, the gas price is going to go up, but I don't think it would help to ask the boss for an anticipitory raise.

I expect something more interesting will happen in the next few days, even if I have to stir it up myself, so I will have something to write about. You will know I stired something up if I write to you from the Custer County Jail. Nah, I won't go that far. Boredom is better than that.  JH

August 25, 2005, 6:07PM MDT.
The fair is here. Norma and I went out for lunch. It is sign in day, the first day, and we were there in the early afternoon so it wasn't really humming yet, which was just fine. We walked around and saw what sights there were and had a nice hamburger at the Sacred Heart food booth. There is a rodeo this evening, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band tomorrow night, a rodeo again on Saturday evening and a roaring demolition derby on Sunday afternoon to wind the whole thing up. Sound like a dandy? Well, I didn't mention everything. There is a lot more.

The Relay for Life was a good one. Maybe better than the fair. The weather was perfect and the crowd large. I got to walk with the survivors and eat brats.

We are going to have an esophageal ultra sound examination of the heart on Monday. No, it is not my esophagus they will be using, it will be Norma's. That is why I can write about it. If it were mine, I would be in a state of complete collapse. She had an ultra sound examination a couple of weeks ago and they found some reason to believe she has a leak between the upper chambers of her heart and some indication of an aneurysm in about the same place. The examination on Monday is to determine exactly what is there and what action to take to correct it. The doctor has explained that a leak can be fixed without surgury but he didn't say what it would take to correct an aneurysm if one exists. Anyhow, she has experienced some feintness when she gets up from a sitting possition at times. That is why the examination process was begun.

Outside of that I have no other health news to report, except that I am feeling fine. I am still earning big bucks at the gas station. You would think so, considering the price of our product. We just raised it six cents again yesterday. Remember the days when it was raised by three cents? My last trip to the farm cost me dearly. I have a 12 1/2 mile per gallon pickup. Figuring in the reapir cost over the last month, I am broke.

For a little good news. We received some pictures from Joe taken at a celebration of his 40th birthday party last month. That could be good or bad news, depending on how you are looking at it. To have a second son turn 40 may not be real good news but on the other hand, we were happy to see that the boys were able to get together with a few friends to celebrate his birthday. And, there is no alternative to turning 40 if you are already 39. Anyhow, we are pleased all of our boys are living in the same area so they can get together once in awhile to console and encourge one another.

We visited the boys in May, which was only three months ago, but already there has been some talk about another journey. It has taken these three long months to pay the bills from the last trip and I don't know how long it will take to accumulate a little cash for the next one.

All these thoughts about jouneys, saving cash and medical examinations has made me tired. JH

August 18, 2005, 4:49PM MDT.
Thank you, thank you Father in Heaven. We have cool weather. It hasn't been real hot this summer, we are just wimps. But, I must say, this is a fine day. The temperature is in the 60's, it is overcast and there is no wind. I am going to go sit on the porch to enjoy the nice weather while I can. As soon as I get this writting done. This writting may be short.Thank you, thank you Father in Heaven.

We are going to do the relay for life tomorrow evening. In the beginning, I was on the committee, but didn't think my presence was required because there seemed to me to be an abundance of enthusiastic folks already there. And, I don't do well on committees anyhow. So, now we go to do the survivor's walk and buy some luminaries in honor of a few who have been taken by cancer. Miles City has a real good relay. It raises a lot of money and we have a good time.

Our neighborhood has quieted down a little in the last few weeks. I think it has to do with summer fatigue in the children. They were playing like it was their job for the first weeks of freedom, but now they don't have as much enthusiasm. I wouldn't either if I had to ride a bycicle up and down the sidewalk in the heat.

Now, besides the relay for life, we are waiting for the fair. However, we have a busy evening ahead. I have to go out and get some corn on the cob in the kettle so we can have supper before watching Alexander, the movie. There are two DVD disks. Who knows how long it will run. And I want to get this writting up loaded. That is going to be a chore with my equipment. JH

August 8, 2005, 8:49PM MDT.
On reading my last writting, I found that it is all about trouble with gadgets. Listen to this; in the last few days the kitchen sink faucet broke, the refrigerator freezer quit and the pump jack on the farm wore out. We have too many machines to keep them all running all the time and I don't think our house is any worse than your's.

Well, I have parts for the kitchen sink on the way from the Moen internet site, the refrigerator man is comming in the morning and Dan has a new pump jack installed at the farm. You have to get today's break downs fixed before tomorrow's occur. You have to keep moving or this thing could snow ball into an overwhelming case of break downs when nothing works.

If you are a news junky like I am, you already know that the Russian sub has been rescued with all alive and well, but the space craft is still circling the earth waiting for the weather to clear up at the landing site. There you go again. More gadgets, and untrustworthy ones at that. What are they thinking to entrust themselves to a bunch of man made iron. It is one thing to put a machine in your kitchen to keep the groceries cold, but don't put your body in a machine to send it to the moon. Oh well, I do put my body in a car and drive it down the road at 75 mph. Now that I am on the subject, I am going to get a Saint Christopher medal for the car.

I don't know what the price of gas is. It keeps changing. Usually up. I drove to Sumatra with the pickup last week and got 12 1/2 miles per gallon. You can do the math. It is too much. I am staying home for a while. We have undiminished business at the gas station as far as I can tell. The travelers and truckers are paying the price and have a little left for burritos and corn dogs. Thank you. That is keeping me employed.

Speaking of employment, I am in the middle of my work week. I have done my early shifts and have a couple of late ones to go before my days off. Those days would be Thursday and Friday. I feel a little like a full time employee or working man, which I don't want to be. I just want to work a little bit. That is what I always wanted to do. But, we all have to take what we can get. Not always what we want. It took me 70 years to learn that. Slow learner, I guess.

I just got an e-mail from Art. He and Judy have been to Alaska, Jerry and Frances have been to Alaska, Dick and Diane have been to Alaska, and lastly, Norma and I have been to Alaska. If we ever get in the same room at one time, we will certainly have plenty to talk about. I have wonderful memories of the sea breeze on the deck of the Norwegean Star while I am here in the pit of the summer in Miles City. But, I detect a slight cooling of the day time temperatures.  JH

July 29, 2005, 9:00AM MDT.
Hello, It is good to be back.

Where have I been? Right here. I just haven't been able to upload my writtings. The old computer is on the blink. I tried to get it to run with a network card in it. That didn't work so I took the card out and now it won't go on the internet. What a frustration.

The internet service provider sent a guy over to fix it yesterday but he couldn't get it to work either so I had to down load WS_FTP, a program to upload files to the IPS computer, onto my windows 98. Now the procedure is to do the writting on the windows 95 machine, copy the file onto a floppy, put the floppy into the windows 98 machine and up load it from there.

You have doubtless heard of the January doldrums; well, we are having the July doldrums. Every day is the same. Hot. Not really hot, just a little more than luke warm. In the 90's. I guess it depends on what you are used to. Another contributer to the doldrums is that there is not much to do in Miles City right now. As I mentioned, last time, the summer excitment is about over and we are waiting now for the fair. However, there was something last week. Crazy Days. I missed it, but then I am not very good at shopping. And, that is what it is all about.

I am enjoying a couple of days off. Yesterday I got some stuff done and today I am going to set in my chair and watch the leaves wiggle on the trees accross the street. At least for a while. Tomorrow I am going to work again, and that will come soon enough so it is to the chair for now. JH

July 20, 2005, 10:07AM MDT.
I have almost turned this into a monthly writting. After all it is summer time. That time when I spend so much effort dragging hoses to water the grass. Not a good reason. Lack of inspiration. It has been aufully hot. But, the hoses have to be dragged and it gets aufully hot every summer. There must be another reason which I can't put my finger on right now. Other things have been demanding my attention.

Like a vist from Margie and her family. We had a good visit with them. They are a fine family. We saw the fire works on the 4th with them and took a drive to the farm. They stayed overnight with us for two nights so we got to know them fairly well. And we liked them very much.

So that just about wraps up the big events for the summer for us. We had a cruising adventure and met Margie's family. It does leave the fair. That comes up in about a month. Until then it will be just working and replentishing the savings account. Cruising is hard on a person's savings account.

Speaking of cruising; we visited Frances and Jerry Monday evening in Forsyth. They had a cruising adventure a couple of weeks ago we wanted to hear all about. Frances, bless her, has already built a memory book with pictures and other memorabilia. That is a little reminder to the rest of us that we should do something with all the stuff from the cruise. After all we paid dearly for it. I have ours in a loose leaf binder, some picture envelopes and a CD. That is a good winter project for a part time retiree. But, it was obvious they had a good time on the Alaska trip.

No writting would be complete without my gushing over the wet spring and early summer resulting in overgrown vegitation around here. You can hardly walk around at the farm with out the weeds and crested tangling around your ankles. I can remember weeds growing like that when I lived on the farm. But it seems it was that way every year. Obviously a false memory. As an adult I find the opposite is true. A summer like this is the exception, not the rule. It sure is nice to have lots of green vegetable matter hiding the brown earth for a change.

I have to work this evening and then I get two days off. But, I have to spend tomorrow alone, because Norma is going to accompany her friend to Billings for a doctor's visit. It looks like a good time to get some deep thinking done. While I am cooking this evening or while I am alone tomorrow? There is actually not any terribly urgent business to take care of, so maybe I can. Or, maybe I can just sit in my chair and watch the leaves wiggle on the trees accross the street. Or, I may go get an album and make a bood of memorabilia like Frances did. We will have to wait and see what happens.
JH

June 25, 2005, 3:23PM MDT.
Boy, am I tired. That is alright. I know why I am tired. But, I sure hate to be tired when I don't know why. Today, I put in seven grueling hours in the kitchen at the gas station.I cooked Saturday lunch for a lot of people and tomorrow I am going to cook Sunday dinner. Dosen't it makes you feel good to be so needed by so many? I know it is a huge responsibility, but someone has to do it.

Our activities here or lack of them would seem pretty dull if it weren't for the frenzied pace of those three weeks we spent away last month. Traveling away from home is fine, exiting and good for us but we can't sustain the sensory overload for a long. What I am saying is that is good to have a time like this afternoon to do a few simple things without a deadline or traffic to contend with. And what I am doing right now is about a simple as it gets.

The remaining part of the summer is not going to be a bust. There will be plenty of exciting times. The highlight of which will be a visit from Margie and her family in a couple of weeks. They are going to spend a couple of days here so we can visit the farm and get to know her husband and kids. For instance, how are they going to react to complete silence or being out of sight of all things civilized? It may not be possible to leave civilization cold turkey. I don't know. Maybe we should take along an antidote. A Picnic lunch might do it.  
  
We had a visit from Jerry and Frances last week. They are going to Alaska them selves in August. I hope we didn't reveal the end of the story and spoil it for them. But, each voyage is a little bit different so they will enjoy it very much anyhow.

Since my last writting, I have had a visit with my oncologist. The lab report was nearly a carbon copy of the one from March so he has me pretty much on cruise control. We have another date in September for more of the same, I hope. Of course, these visits and lab reports are more stressful for me than they are for him. I am the one with lymphoma. So, as long as I feel good and can do what I want, I can't complain. But, boy am I ever going to complain if the day comes when I can't do what I want.

Norma is at the store choosing an item for supper. Even she, I think, has become a little tired of eating out. Anyhow, we are going to Mass at 6:00PM and probably have a tasty delight after that. But, first, I am taking a nap. JH

June 8, 2005, 10:27AM MDT.
We arrived back in Miles City on Tuesday of last week. I have waited until now to write in order to collect my thoughts, or because I was too tired and disorganized until now. I have had some rest, worked a couple of shifts, it is 10:00AM and I got a pretty good night's sleep, so here goes.

We just spent two weeks in the rainiest place on God's green earth without much rain. But, now that we are back in sunniest place on God's green earht it is raining nearly every day. That dosen't mean that we wasted a ton of cash on this adventure. There were many other reasons it was a success. Successes are not always recognized as such at the time, but with a little passage of time they can be seen more clearly. That is just what has happened. After getting nearly back into the hum drum of life here, the trip to the Nortwest takes on far more importance than it seemed to have at the time.

For instance, we saw the boys every day for a week, stayed at the ExtendedStay America where we had a kitchen for making breakfast every morning, traveled in the fast lane with the best of Washington's drivers, enjoyed a different kind of scenery than we are accustomed to here, revisited our haunts of 2002 in Everett, visited some friends from our tax office days in Everett in 2002, and still met our ship at pier 66 on time.

And that was just the preliminary to a week in the splendor of the Norwegean Star. I can't discribe the ship in a short writting, other than to say that the opulence was beyond my expectation. And, it provided all the comforts.

I couldn't help to recall the Eskimoes of old as we cruised the ocean blue. You know how they put the old folks into a canoe and sent it out into the Arctic Sea never to return? That was a cruel and bad thing to do. So, a better way has been found. The old folks are sent on a cruise.

A cruise is more than a ride in a nice boat. There are plenty of activities on shore. The glaciers were the biggest attraction on the Alaskan cruise. We saw glacier bay, the Mendenhall Glacier and took a train ride up to White Pass at Skagway. We toured the fish hatchery, or fish ranch at Juneau and the totem park and eagle feeding area at Ketchikan. It would not be correct to skip the fact that these shore excursions are all extra cost items. There are other extra cost items. Any canned or bottle beverage bought on board, drinks bought on board, merchandice from the ship store and anything bought on land at the tourist shops there.

It was a great experience. We got through it without any damage to ourselves or the car. I can't say that for the savings account. But it will heal. JH

May Friday the 13th, 2005,  4:17PM MST.
We will be gone until the 5th of June, so don't look for any updates until then.

Only one item that needs mentioning. The weather. We have had a foot of snow this week and two or three inches of rain last week end. It was snowing yesterday and the cotton is flying today. The snow is almost gone.

Be back in about three weeks. JH

May 4 or 5, 2005,  8:06PM MST.

I am pretty much ashamed of my tardines in writing. But, here comes the excuse. I have been doing too darned many other things. True, I haven't done a tax return in about three weeks, but they are still working me four and a half days per week at the gas station and I have to catch up on all of the pent up chores that didn't get done while I was working both of my McJobs. Now, I have to do my summer work. That is what made me so darned tired today. I cut the grass this afternoon and started the lawn watering. Dug and cleaned some winter onions too. Boy, are they good.

The really big activity today was Norma's. She has a new doctor and he wants to reexamine her inside and out to get all the facts right. So, she had a thorough scoping this morning. Her inner parts were found to be just fine, but the medications required to do the procedure have left her exhausted. So, I am also doing the cooking today besides the lawn mowing and watering. I am also exhausted.

It seems to be a little early to start watering the lawn. It looks green, as it should this time of year, but the dirt is dry and the grass is showing some signs of stress. So, here we go for another summer of hose dragging. It has already started.

The really big item is the up coming cruise to Alaska. We have tickets, driving instructions to get to the terminal and an upgraded room with a window on the ship. That worked out fine, but we still need a place to park the car and a place to park ourselves during the days we figure on being in Seattle before the boat leaves. When I get done with this, I am going on line to reinvestigate a couple of places to see if I can find something to hang a decision on. Decisions, decisions, decisions. It is tough, but half the fun of going is in the planning.

We are going to spend those days before the cruise visiting our boys and seeing some of the sights of Seattle. We have been there several times, but it has so many places to see, we will be busy. How about an afternoon at Emerald Downs or an evening at Safeco Field? Then there is Mount Saint Helens. It is a ways away, but I think it is possible to go there and back in a day. Not to mention the sights on Mount Rainier. The biggest problem in a place like that is getting there and back. I will need to print a bunch of maps from Mapquest before we go. We even like to go to Everett Mall because I worked there the winter of 2001 and 2002. Another big event will be a shopping spree for me. I have nothing to wear. I will have my shopping assistant, Norma, help me out. She will surely enjoy that. It looks like a pretty full schedule. But, first we have to get there.

It has been a long time since I have witten, but I don't have to spill all of my guts at once. JH

April 11, 2005,  8:06PM MST.
Last week I attempted to write, but didn't get far. I must have been distracted.

I am sitting here with a Norwegian Star Alaska cruise packet in front of me. I have to keep my eye on it. It cost $2000. But it is true, Norma and I are going on a cruise to Alaska next month. We are leaving Seattle on the 22nd and coming back on the 29th. Of course we are going to make a visit to our boys while we are there. So, you can see, it will be an extended vacation. I have asked for three weeks off from work. That would be my truck stop work. I have only one day left to work at the office. As you can see, it took me four days to write this one paragraph. I started on the 11th and here it is the 14th. Where does the time go?

What I really need is some rest. If I can just make it one more month I can sit on a deck chair for eight days. In the sun. Sure. It dosen't rain in Alaska in May. Rain or shine, I am sure it will be an experience that will blow our socks off.

We have things happening right here in Mile City. We had the lawn fertilized last week, it rained a little and now the grass is going crazy. Fortunately, I have the lawn tractor ready to go. On one nice afternoon last week I changed the oil and tested it out. It runs fine. The shrubs and some of the trees are turning green. That is always a good thing after a winter of black sticks instead of nice green trees.

I sure need some time off. Jamie sent me some blue seed potatos that need to be planted. I have picked a spot, but haven't told Norma where it is yet. Last year I put them in her flower beds, so she should be pleased that I have found a better spot this year. But, those things all take time; cutting the grass and planting potatos. Maybe Saturday afternoon I can squeese it in between my McJob and Mass.

By this time you may think I am a whirling dervish, but any health young fellow could do it on one foot. As my friend Jack once said, "I work part time but it takes me all day to do it." JH

April 2, 2005,  8:24PM MST.
I didn't write yesterday because you might have thought it to be a hoax.

I usually start with the weather, but John Paul II died today and that deserves to be mentioned first. However, if you have watched any TV today there is nothing I can add, so we will let it go at that.

This writting is a week old and unfinished. Let's start over. JH

March 18, 2005,  10:47AM MST.
It is still winter. It snowed again last night to a depth of at least one half inch. It is mostly gone now and the temperature is above 32. Not bad for a winter day. We even had a little sun shine already this morning.

Norma is back from her adventure in Seattle and, unfortunately, brought back some Northwest germs. She is greatly distressed by a sore throat and a cough. She is recovering with the help of some antibiotics and rest. I expect a complete recover in a few days. I have cooked enough.

I am not doing so well. The roofing story I thought had ended is still on going. My roofer failed me. He went through the motions, but didn't fix what I wanted fixed. So, I spent most of yesterday up there doing what needs to be done. And there is still a couple of hours of work left. I can't go up there when there is snow on the roof so I am taking today off. Boy, it feels good. This will be the end. When I finish the last couple of hours work up there it will never be mentioned again.

You have Norma's health report, now for mine. My oncologist had half a smile when I left the hospital on Tuesday. He was pleased with my lab raport but I have a new tumor that needs to be radiated or excised. He prefers radiation, so next Tuesday I will be at the cancer center getting prepared for a series of radiation treatments. This will make the forth time I have had radiation. And, maybe not the last.

To the untrained eye, this writting may look a little depressing, but, if you will notice, it is filled with hope. Hope for better weather, better health and for long life. All the things that we pray for.

One more thing. We are looking forward to a visit from Art and Judy. We don't know the exact day they will show up, but it can't be far from now. JH

March 14, 2005,  9:27PM MST.
We are getting a little winter here in the middle of March. It is chilly, windy and we are having a few snow showers. The snow hasn't built up and probably won't. It isn't even white. We have the same old brown. The snow seems to disappear after it falls. That is alright with me. I don't like to walk around in it.

I have my bride back with me again. She was gone for a couple of weeks to the great state of Washington. She had a nice visit with the boys and got to see the new digs Joe has purchased. She is pleased that Joe and Tom have a nice place. And so am I.

She stayed with them for a few days and went to Everett to stay at Jamie's for a few days. Jamie has a family at his place so she had fun with them. Especially the girls. They did some hair fixing and face make up. And, as you know, that is one of Norma's favorite things. Laura Jo has become a Mary Kay sales lady, so there was a lot of makeup there. She also got to go to a high school music concert at the Everett high school. I have been to one of those. It is amazing how similar those events are all over. It could be in Miles City. It wouldn't be any diferent.

Everone does things pretty much the same way. Wether it is on Miles City, Texas, California or Everett. The most unique places I have been are Sumatra and Ingomar.

My cooking didn't get any better while she was gone.

Got your tax return in yet? I have mine right here. It has been run, but as usual I missed an income item and I want to reduce my taxes to the withholding so I don't have to write a check. There is only one way to do that besides fraud as far as I know. You can contibute to an IRA up to the 15th of April and count it on last year's return. If you have any money to contribute. It dosen't make much difference. It just delays paying the taxes on the amount contributed. That is the lesson on taxes for today.

I think we are going to see Art and Judy in a few days. I have no last minute news about their Montana trip, but I think I will call tomorrow. They should be home when I call. They are retired.

We also have reason to expect Margy and her family this summer. It will be a big kick to see her for the first time in almost ten years and to see her family for the first time ever. She has a husband and two sons we have never met. Wait until they see the farm. Won't they be surprised. I will send some pictures so they will believe it really is the farm when the see it and not a hokes. That is really the way it looks.

If some interesting things happener around her I would write more often, but that may be too big a burden on me. I am lazy, you know. JH

March 6, 2005,  8:12PM MST.
We might as well start with the weather again. Our warm period continued through yesterday. It was 62 and still was pretty warm today. It was 54, but real darned windy. It looks like it will cool down a little for the next few days, but not to worry. Spring is just a few days away.

The roof story is, I hope, at an end. My Miles City roofer installed some patching up there that he assures me will stop all of our leaks. I had him come over to give me a lesson on roof patching and why it won't leak, so now I know, but do I believe.

I spent an hour on the phone with my nearest and dearest in Seattle and Everett, WA this evening. The reason is I have been left here all alone for, probably, two weeks. It is not that I am lonely or anything like that, it is that I didn't think they could have a good time without me. It is true. Norma is spending some time in Seattle and Everett with the boys. She did it as a good deed. Her friend needed a traveling companion for a drive to Seattle, and, of course, Norma was glad to volunteer. From the phone visits I have had with her, she is having a wonderful time. She also has a friend there from our stay in 2001 and 2002. They are going to get together for a reunion on Wednesday.

Not all is bleak in Miles City. Jerry and Frances took me to the southern C divisional tournament games on Friday evening. The Melstone Broncs were playing a semi-final game. Unfortunately the Broncs lost, but we got to see the Warriors from Pryor. They can do things on the basketball court no one else can. It was an amazing display of razzle dazzle basketball. I am betting on them to win the state.

I have covered sports, weather, roofing and travel. You couln't get that much information from your Sunday newpaper. JH

Feruary 24, 2005,  8:07PM MST.
We hit 60 degrees today.

There isn't much news. I had to start out with the weather. That is actually a pretty big item. How often does it get to 60 in February around here? I don't know.

That question was rhetorical. It dosen't need an answer.

The tax season is progressing nicely. We seem to be over the peak and on a downward slope. My own experience has been the best yet. Few blunders and no extreme puzzles up to now. But, boy, am I getting tired of working seven days per week. So, I am going in late tomorrow and coming home as early as I can, then maybe, next week I can even take a day off. These seven day weeks were not my intention. I took it on only because I didn't want to miss a tax season or give up my other McJob. Well, I guess I just wanted to have it all.

It is too bad these outfits I am working for don't pay a living wage. If it isn't a living wage, what is it? A dying wage? Well, what else have I got to do? There I go again. Some more rhetoical questions.

About all I am going to get done in the remainder of today is to say my prayers. eat my bed time snack and go to bed. Conserning my bed time prayers, which I am not very good at, I had no idea the world is such a sick place until I started to think of the people and things that need to be prayed for. Now, the Pope is sick. What next? I can't pray for all these people. OK, I will try. JH

Feruary 11, 2005,  8:27PM MST.
We have been busy people. Norma saw her doctor in Billings today. Seeing the doctor only takes a few minutes but the getting there and back takes about five hours. She didn't see friends or relatives while she was there. The trip was all business.

I was all business today myself. I did several tax returns. Not much else, but several tax returns keeps me busy all day.

We are experiencing a February heat wave. It has been in the 50's the last couple of days and below 30 at night. I am all for global warming. We already have cactus and yucka but there may be some more desert plants in our future. There is nothing more pleasant than a walk in the desert in the evening.

It hasn't rained or snowed enough to wet the dust this winter. Suppose our renters will keep paying if the grass dosen't grow on the ranch? Well, if not, I can go out and take evening walks among the saguaro and prickly pear.

We had a nice visit with Jerry and Frances on Sunday. Jerry made a nice board to mount the new toilet paper dispenser on in our bathroom. His service includes deliver, so we enjoyed a few hours of their company.

I really don't have much to write about. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Now, I understand that. I have been working my two McJobs for a couple of weeks, which prevents me from doing anything interesting to write about. It also keeps me from obsessing about my issues. Somehow, working for a few dollars causes enough concentration to focus my otherwise undiciplined mind. So, when anyone questions my motive for working low pay jobs in my old age, you can see, I get more than the money from them. I am a calmer and happier man for it. Not to mention wealthier.

I have to go to bed so I can get up early and cook corn dogs in the morning.JH

Feruary 1, 2005,  8:16PM MST.
Now that the election is over we can see more of the Jackson trial.

I have been a newspaper reader for a long time, but lately the news is so bad it is depressing me. Has the news changed or have I?

We have a new out of state trip coming up. Not for sure, but probably. Not I, but Norma may go to Seattle with one of her friends. I think it is a fine idea, but a little too taxing for me right now. They are sucking all the energy out of me at the gas station and at the office. It may seem foolhardy for a tired old man to work at two part time jobs, but I don't want a tax season to go by without me. I must find some excitement in it or I couldn't stand the stress. I think it is because I get a big kick out of successfully completeing each return.

I guess winter is over. After a two week cold spell the temperature is bumping up against 50 every day. My winter onions may be starting to grow. After all they are winter onions.

Norma worked today too. She and Marcia made popcorn at the Hospital. They do that every Tuesday afternoon at 2:00. Tomorrow is card day for her. She is going to the home of one of her friends to play this week.

We have company coming this summer. Margy and her family from Maryland will be here in July. That will be an exciting time. We haven't seen her family and we haven't seem Margy in several years. I will have to ware my name tag when she come, because I know she wont recognize me. I have trouble some times myself.

We had a nice visit with Jamie last Sunday. He reported on a visit with Laura Jo, Joe and Tom to an Ethiopian restaurant. The report was that they all had a good time and the boys were found in a jolly mood.

One reason Norma and I are looking forward to her visit to Seattle is to see Joe's Seattle property. He has done some decorating and is proud of it. He wants to show it to her. He knows she appreciates those kind of things. I don't appreciate those kind of this so much, so maybe that is the reason I haven't been invited to go along. Anyhow, I will have a good time right here in Miles City doing my Mc Jobs.

Brefore I write everything I know I will stop. JH

January 21, 2005,  8:21PM MST.
I am going to write about two lines and try to up load this message so you will know I have not died and gone to heaven. Then I will do a more complete writting tomorrow.

I have had a couple of days off. I suppose I made pretty good use of them. I did a couple of pracitce returns at the office so I can be near to competent if I get to do any for real. It looks like I may. I am going to stop in at the office on Monday. There may be some work there for me to do. Also, I got the partnership return done for the farm. I need to do that pretty early so I can let Art and Dick know how much money they need to pay taxes on.

I have to go to work early in the morning so it is early to bed for me tonight. Let's see if I can get this file up loaded first. JH

January 10, 2005,  12:55PM MST.
It is 15 degrees. The good thing is that it is quiet and the sun is shinning. I feel lucky. Most seem to be having snow up to the neck or a flood.

The really lucky thing is, I have the remainder of the day off. The boss made me work from 6:00AM until 10. I didn't feel so lucky at 6:00 this morning. Tomorrow, I have to go to work at 6:00 and stay until 2:00PM. I don't know if I can do it. We will see.

We are going to see Norma's doctor in a little while. This is a special visit. The first. Her old doctor left town and this is the first visit to the new one. We have a core group of a few doctors who live here and several who come and go in a few years. I don't pretend to know the reason for that, but it is the way it is. So, we have to learn to live with it. Norma has been just fine, but she needs someone to renew her prescriptions for her. I am going along because the weather is a little nicer than it has been for a few days and I don't want to spend the afternoon alone. As you know, I had to spend most of last week alone while Norma was in Las Vegas.

I had a CT scan last week. The radiologist's report was clean, but we want to know what the oncologist sees. It has happened before that the radiologist saw nothing but the oncologist did. I am scheduled for a blood draw tomorrow in preparation for a visit from the oncologist next week.

You may be lead to believe, we do nothing but look after our health. That is silly. We don't have much of it left to look after.

I am going to activate call forwarding and go on line to up load this writting. The reason to activate call forwarding is to transfer all incoming calls to the cell phone. That way I can stay on line as long as I want without interfering with telephone communications. That was an added bonus I hadn't thought of when I gave Norma the cell phone for Christmas.JH

January 5, 2005, 2004, 9:44AM MST.
My batching is over. Norma spent a week in Las Vegas and is back in Miles City now. It was her winter vacation. She had a good time there and got away from me for a while. I don't know all she did there. But she is happy with it.

Winter is here. I have just learned from the newspaper that there is a rare weather pattern developing in the US. Warm moist air is coming up from the Gulf of Mexico in to the Ohio River valley region, the Pineapple Express in coming in from the Pacific to the southwest desert and California causing rain and the Arctic Express is coming down out of the Arctic cooling the Northwest. When these three weather systems meet there will be a large explosion leaving nothing between Montana and Ohio but a large hole in the ground. Well, the Northwest stretches to North Dakota, so we will be getting more cold weather for another week. As long as a person stays in the house, it is fine. The sun is shining and the snow is just laying there. But don't go outside. It gets just barely above zero at the warmest, or least cold, part of the day. But, the furnace is taking a beating, not to mention my budget when the MDU bill arrives. For an old cheap skate, that is the klinker. "How much is this going to cost me"?

We are two days into the bi-annual legislative session and already the politicians are spending more effort fighting each other than in doing good for the great state of Montana. Is democracy really that good? If you ran any other outfit like that it would fall apart right away. I suppose there are some outfits that run like that. Families, the church, the school, and maybe even the business. Can't we all just get along? I don't know.

They are giving me heck in the next couple of weeks in the health department. I am 9 doses into a 25 dose series of radiation treatments for a couple of tumors in my skin, tomorrow I get a CT to look for tumors in my torso, then a blood draw in about a week and a visit with my oncologist in a couple of weeks. There will be news about the state of my body after all these things come to pass.

Speaking of cancer, our relative and neighbor, Bob Franzel passed away about a week ago. I went to his funeral on the 3rd of January in Forsyth. As you would expect, in a small community, everyone came from the Muselshell River to the Yellowstone. It was a good visit with them and Bob's family most of whom came from Colorado.

Now, I am going to make an egg sandwich, watch the news, take a nap and, at 2:00, go to the gas station to perform my assigned duties. JH  
December 24, 2004, 10:47AM SDT.
It really is the 24th. Sorry about that last writting. It didn't it get sent. I am in a better mood today. If not today, when. After all, this is the day before Christmas.

I have not sent a single Christmas card. I have gotten many. So, I feel guilty. To anyone who sent me a Christmas card and didn't get one and for all of you who didn't: Merry Christmas. There, I feel better. One note on that is that I read that the Christmas card tradition is wanning. I don't know if it is being made up by e-mailings or just being ignored.

The weather has gotten cold and now it is getting warm again. It got 12 below zero one night, and snowed a little last night but now the cold snap seems to be over. If we can get though a few more weeks and the January thaw then we will be well on our way to spring. Come on spring. Bring it on.

I am satisfied with my Christmas shopping. I made some purchases on line. Some turned out fine, one turned to mud, but all together, I think they were good. I got Norma a cell phone. The gift that keeps on giving. It has no contract, but I have to keep paying for at least 15.00 worth of time each month. The mud happened when I bought an ATT phone with a great deal; 10.00 per quarter, but that one turned to mud when I found out ATT does not cover Montana. How can that be? Don't we count? If anyone can use an ATT cell phone I will let it go real cheap.
With the new technology, she can forward calls from out house phone to her cell so she will never be isolated from her friends. Or me.

I also got: an electonic webster dictionary so thin, it can be used as a book mark for an avid reader and a harmonica with instruction book for a teenager. You can see, that gift buying does not require a lot of money, but it does require a lot of imagination and creativity.

Tonight we are going to Lilly's house for supper. And, tomorrow to God's house for Mass. That will be about it.

I think the biggest problem some of us have with Christmas is that we don't know exactly what is to be expected of it. So, encapsulated in this writting is pretty much it. JH

December 18, 2004, 5:00PM SDT.
I try to wait until I am in a good mood to do these writtings. It has been nine days since I was in a good mood. But, sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

I should be in a good mood. I have seven hours of work behind me and a nice evening ahead. My old body was a little achey this morning until about 10:00 when I took a couple of extra strenght Tylenol. That perked me up pretty good and I really got cooking the remainder of my shift.

If I didn't know I was in Miles City, I would think I was in ST George, UT or at least Cedar City. Probably not Pheonix or Las Vegas. It isn't that warm but it is warm. There is no snow and hasn't been any all fall. The other reason I know I am in Miles City is that we got our utility bill. The gas price has gone from $5 per decaleter to $9 per decaleter and the total bill has gone from fall to winter without a cold day in months. What can we expect in January.

The bad news is the University lost the national championship football game in Tennessee last night. We watched the first part of it on ESPN2. I sure thought the Grizzlies were going to win. I was sorely disapointed. Now, I am afraid to ask. Did Carroll College win today? I couldn't stand "no" so I am not going there.

We have, in the family, a Seattle property owner. Joe bought a condo in Seattle. Even better, I have a report that Joe is happy. If Joe is happy, I am happy. Or, I am in a good mood and didn't know it.

Now that I am in a good mood, let's finish this.

I got a turkey from the boss today. Everyone got a turkey from the boss today. That makes four turkeys in the freezer. They should go to the food bank, but let's wait until all the Christmas giving is over.

Big delay. You won't believe this, but it is the 24th today. I got sidetracked. JH

December 9, 2004, 3:00PM SDT.
The most wonderfull thing about living here in Miles City is that you can live in the arctic for half of the year and in the desert the other half without moving one inch. We are not actually in either right now. We are in transition. But, that is not all bad. We are having a lovely fall. It is still fall. The ground is bare and the temperatures are fine.

It has been a long time since I have written because I have been waiting until I am in a good mood. If I am not in a good mood now, when will I be. I am in the middle of my two days off, just got back from a nice walk in the wind, we had a visit from Phil and Irene Messer a couple of hours ago and Norma has some pork shops thawing in the kitchen.

Got your Christmas shopping done? I got mine done on line. The shipping and handling charges got real expensive but a lazy guy can overlook that for the convenience. Not only is the shopping done, but the out of town gifts are in the mail. I am having a wonderfull Christmas already. From here on it will be smooth sailing. Nothing more to do but lean back and wait for Christmas dinner. Even that is, as far as I am aware right now, going to be cooked for us.

About those Christmas cards, would it be sufficient for me to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year right here instead of mailing a bunch of cards? I sure hope so. As you know, I am a busy guy and may not have time to send Christmas Cards. JH

November 25, 2004, 12:34PM SDT.
Gotcha! It has been so long since I have done a writting you thought I had died and gone to heaven. Not to worry. I have just been too busy.

I can't remember what it was that kept me so busy. Besides my work, four or five days a week, I don't know what it could have been. Could it have been laziness. No. It is probably lack of anything to say.

There is a movement affoot to plan a trip to Medjugorje. That has caused some stress in my mind. Besides the outragious cost, what could we do in a poor village in Europe for 9 days? There is a retreat for three days and Mass in english with visits with the visionaries for three days, climbing of the hill of apparitions and cross mountain for the stations of the cross. You can see it would take a complete reversal of my mind set to participate in and to benifit from these spritual activities. After all, I have lived, for 69 years, a secular life. The first thing I think about in the morning is the price of gas and the stock market. So, you can see, this is not a matter to be taken lightly.

To put a thing like that into writting makes it look a little different. Just this one item alone makes it worth your while to check back in about a week to see what happened.

It has rained a little this morning. The Father in heaven sent it to test my roof. It hasn't leaked. That is all I have to say about that. I have noticed eyes glazing over when I relate this story.

Norma and I are going to meet some friends at the Cattle Ac for a Thanksgiving feast at 2:00PM so I need to upload this. There is no telling how long it will take me on my windows 95 computer.JH

November 11, 2004, 11:52AM SDT.
Since my last writting we have passed into standard time. So, it is nearly dark at five minutes to five in the afternoon. Not to worry, we are comming into that wonderful time of year when the lawn takes care of itself. Not to mention all of the holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years. No, they don't take care of themselves.

We had an eclipse of the moon a few days ago. I don't know how it looked where you live, but it was a fine sight from Miles City.

We are back to the roof again. But I am going to refrain from a detailed account of the latest news on that subject. I have noticed eyes glaze over when I discuss this issue.

We had some excitment yesterday. I got to drive to Forsyth to pickup Norma and her friend. They had been to Billings, but the car they were driving, quit. But all is well. They found alternate transportation and are back home safe and sound.

Ooops! Worry. Some parts in the engine came appart and busted some more parts until the repair bill is in the hundreds of dollars. All they wanted to do was go for a little drive to Billings.

On the brighter side, I got an e-mail from Margy. We may get to see the Simpson family next summer. The oldest boy is 11 and Norma and I have never seen him. Or his little brother. Won't that be great.
We will have a picnic at the farm with fried chicken and water mellon. We will rent or borrow an RV. We will get the tires full of cactus. Anyhow, I am excited about the visit already. We will do some of the stuff we did when our kids were little. We had a Honda 50 that fit in the station wagon that made a few trips to the farm. One night we roasted weiners out in the yard when the power went out and we all were reminded of what dark is. Nor stars, no moon and no electric lights.

It is a really fine day. Norma and I are going to the 4B's for some lunch in a few minutes. JH

October 28, 2004, 7:22PM MDT.
It is a good time to do this week's writting as long as I am still in a good mood.

The reason for the good mood is that so many things worked out today. They all came together. They jelled.

First of all, I got my weekly house work done this morning. The roofer called and let me know he would be here next week to fix the deficiencies in the shingling job. I got the last of the roof patches done, because it is going to rain during the next couple of days. He needs a couple squares of shingles to fix the roof. They hadn't gone obsolete or out of stock so I got them and I got to go to a meeting at the gas station on my day off. It is not all that great when you see it in print. Well, anyhow, I feel good and I feel tired. I don't mind being tired if I know why. An hour on the roof always makes me tired. The meeting had something to do with it too I suppose.

Norma has had a busy week. She played cards on Wednesday and made popcorn at the hospital on Tuesday and has had many calls in her job on the prayer chain. She also went to Billings with a couple of her friends one day during the week. That was probably her best day.

Asside from what you have just read, it has been pretty ordinary here. I will work four days this week, but to my horror, I found my schedule includes five days of work at the gas station next week. It just has to be a test. How much work can this old guy stand? Well, I guess, it will be interesting for me as well as the boss to find out. JH

October 22, 2004, 6:04PM MDT.
There has been a lot of water under the bridge since I last wrote. As of Wednesday I worked six consecutive days. I am pretty sure it was a test to see how much it will take to kill the old guy. Well, I am alive and kicking.

What did nearly kill me though was three and a half hours on the roof yesterday. As you are well aware by now, we are having a terrible time with the quality of the job our roofers did. I discovered another leak. One leak is bad. When you need an entire summer to find out where the leak is, it is worse. But when you find there is a second leak, give me a break. I temporarily patched the new spot yesterday, went back up and did an inspection to assure myself it was done right and found the other side of the front dormer is dry today. Also, I called the roofing company's repairman and he told me he would call early on Monday. Of course, I don't bank heavely on that, but never the less, calm has come. I will sleep tonight. Even if it rains.

It is necessary to mention my visit with the oncologist on Tuesday. Becuse I mentioned some time ago that my numbers, from the lab, were dropping, it seems appropriate to let you know that they have improved. I am still anemic, hemogobin is 12.7 up from 11.6 in August and my LDH is 161. I don't remember what it was in August, but this is a big improvement. I feel better than I did in August too.

I have been left alone this afternoon. My bride went out visiting and shopping and there is no one here to feed me. I will be alright. I have a sack of candy in the kitchen. JH

October 15, 2004, 3:39PM MDT.
The chimney is done. That pretty much seems to be the end of that issue, but remember when I said the shingling is done. Well, that was just the beginning of that issue. We are still waiting for the roofer to show up. I do have some more information on that. He didn't show up last week because there was a death in the family. I would make light of that but I think it is true. So, we are waiting until next week. He is going to fix the leaky spot, and I am going to ask him to inspect the rest of the roof for potential leaky spots. After all, as my old boss used to say, "if you made this mistake, how many more are there?" I suppose you were wondering where grumpy old men come from. Now you know.

We had a pretend rain here for a couple of days. Now the big fluffy after rain clouds are passing by. We get a sun break every once in a while, but it's mainly cloudy. This is not the way it is supposed to be in Miles City. We expect sunshine.

Christmas is comming. I have found a new way to shop. The internet. I have shopped Cabelas, and Wal Mart on line and I think I may try Kmart and Sears. I have found some pretty good stuff without getting out of my chair. You can buy a gift and have it shipped to the lucky receiver without even touching it. A version of "untouched by human hands". It does touch the credit card, so be careful not to get adicted.

I can take buying a few gifts on line, but how about the Christmas cards. I have tried, over the years, to find a quick and easy way to handle the Christmas card problem, but there doesn't seem to be one. I need some suggestions on this subject otherwise I may have to give up.
 
To put, at least, a little value into this, otherwise usless verbage, I will mention my health, or am I a hypochondriac? What makes for a hypochondriac? Fear of death? Chronic illness? All of the above? Good heavens, I have created a multiple choice question. I guess, after reading all of this, you won't believe me if I tell you I am fine. But I do feel fine. I have an appointment with the oncologist on Tuesday when we will find out if I am fine. JH

October 8, 2004, 7:43PM MDT.
The presidential debate is on so I am in the computer room with the door closed. I can't stand arguments.

Now for the good news. I made it through seven days of work in the first eight days we were home from New Orleans. But, this is bad, she has scheduled me for five days next week. I don't mind working while in retirement, but full time is too much. I noticed one of the days I will work next week is when the deli manager is gone, so she may get me on a three or four day per week schedule after next week. But, I still have to survive next week.

I have talked with old guys around Miles City for a long time, and one thing that I have noticed is that they almost always bring up the subject that is uppermost in their minds or the thing they are currently obsessing over. Well, I am currently obsessing. My roofer has not showed up yet. He was supposed to be here at about the middle of this week. Here it is Friday evening and no roofer. No problem, I have the leak stopped for now with a pretty good self installed patch. But, I had a local roofer examine the roof and he has found some pretty serious flaws. I can't wait to bring these to the attention of my roofer, at least, to get a second opinion. Second opinions are important in medicine, but not nearly as important as this.

Speaking of rooves. We have a guy comming next week to rebuild the chimney. We might have two workmen up there at the same time. That might drive me nuts. Not to mention to the poor house.

I will stop complaining about the schedule at work. I have to make some money to pay those guys on the roof.

I will end with a little bit about the weather. It has been lovely. I used the lawn tractor to get the leaves and cotton wood twigs off the lawn this afternoon. The weather was so nice I almost enjoyed it. But, on the day after tomorrow it is going to cool off. It is going to be 86 tomorrow and about 65 on Sunday. 65 will be a little more like normal. We can take it. JH

October 2, 2004, 5:15PM MDT.
Now summer is over. It froze night before last. It didn't do me any good. The flowers survived and Norma tells me the lawn is hard. That means it needs some water. And, that means I have a couple more days of hose draging to do. On the other hand, the weather is real nice.

In my last writting I mentioned we had been away for several days to New Orleans. That was all very nice, but now I have to pay for it at work. They, and I know who they are, have assigned me to work seven of the first eight days since our vacation. I have three knocked down and have four to go. I don't know if I will make it, but will try.

Norma has been working at the church and has a big day planed tomorrow helping with the harvest dinner. She also did a shift at St V's since we have been back.

I have some volunteer work to do selling the Sacred Heart School Calendars right away. I am behind already. It will have to wait until tomorrow, but I sure hate it when they call me for getting behind in my work. I haven't gotten that call yet this year.

The roofer is comming, the roofer is comming. I think, by now, we are all aware of our roof problem. I have been promised a roofer within the next week to fix the leak at no cost to us. So far so good. It isn't over till it is over.

Ishiro, the right fielder for the Mariners, has finally gotten more hits in a season than anyone in history. Last night, the Mariners, celler dweller in the American League west, had a big crowd to witness Ishiro's feat and to wittness Edgar Martinez second to last game. Thank goodness for those extra attractions, the team sure has not been very inspiring this season. But, is Ishiro's record really a record? Sisler hit 254 times in 154 games. Ishiro hit more than 254 in 160 games. I guess there are two records. The most hits in 154 games and the most hits in a season. JH

September 28, 2004, 9:37PM MDT.
I am not sure what day this is. I think it is the 28th and I know it is Tuesday. That is not mental deterioration it is lazyness. I could go look at the calendar, but I am not.

Norma and I just returned from an adventure to New Orleans. We had a Becker family reunion at her brother Dan's house. Dan grew up in Montana and has lived in New Orleans for about 30 years. It seems a little odd that a guy from Montana could live in the sourth. Five feet above sea level. Acutally, he dosen't live in New Orleans, he lives in a suburb. New Orleans is 10 feet below sea level. I thought it was a fine place until I found out about that. What if the pumps failed. I guess it is alright. The Dutch lived below sea level for a long time using wind power to pump the water out. Scary.

We had a nice time there. We visited a plantation in the rural sugar cane growing area. That is a one crop region. I saw no crop except sugar cane. It is hard to believe, some old guy wouldn't have the urge to plant barley. Don't remember seeing any farm steads. I don't know where the farmers live. But the plantation was a pretty thing. The master's home is about all that has survived, but the place has a large grove of live oaks. Three hundred years old. They are an amazing sight to a boy from eastern Montana. The only disappointment was that the out buildings and the slave quarters are gone. I guess they went to rot in the damp weather.

How about that weather? Conserning the weather in the south, we were spared any inconvenience by the hurricanes. I found the south a lovely place and I wouldn't mind living there, but I am not going to do it as long as they have hurricanes. You don't have to evacuate a blizzard. And, we came home to some lovely weather right here in the big sky country. Also, I found the architectural style in the New Orleans suburbs to be low walled with hip roofs to better withstand the hurricanes. I guess that is no big thing. They put steep rooves on houses in the mountains to let the snow slide off.

While on the subject of rooves, we have had a leak in ours. But, tomorrow is going to be a red letter day. I am going to get to talk to the roofer who put the singles on and I think he is going to fix it. I am not going to give you all the details, but it has been a long miserable process which is about to be closed. The Lord willing.

As far as my health is conserned, I am still upright and feel about the same as I did a month ago. I will have a blood draw and see the doctor on the third Tuesday of October. I will be better informed then. JH

September 20, 2004, 1:32PM MDT.
This is a break through day. For several reasons, a couple of which I will list. It is the first of about a ten day vacation from the gas station. In spite of it being a wonderful job, I look forward to a break from it just like the permanentally employed. Now for the big one. The roof has passed its rain test. It is raining and the upstairs ceiling is dry. I have been on the roof several time in recent weeks patching. I finally got it right. Now for the next big item. The roofer was here this morning with his proposal for a permanent fix for our problem. I faxed his proposal to the company, the low bidder, that put the shingles on and now, I am waiting for a reply from them. They, I believe, will pay for the repairs.

You may want to know why I am taking a vacation at this time. Well, Norma and I are going to New Orleans for a visit with her brothers and sisters and their families. You might say, a reunion. We are going to Billings tomorrow, flying from there early on Wednesday morning and getting back to Miles City on the 28th of September.

Art and Judy are here in the Great State as I speak. They were in Rosebud's Long Branch Soloon last night for supper with Norma and me.  It was nice to see them since they have retired. I didn't notice a whole lot of change in their behavior, but I suppose that will come in time. They are going back to Ohio later this week but we expect, with retirement, we will see more of them soon.

The weather has changed. We have had more rain in the last couple of weeks than in the last couple of months. That is why I got the work out on the roof. Anyhow, we are thankful for the rain, but hope this spell gets overwith without freezing our flowers. Or freezing the leaves on the trees. This town, as you probably can tell, gets ugly in the winter time. Unlike some of our friends and relatives we don't have the means to go south for the winter. We will stay here and slip slide aroung on the ice.

Inspite of what has been written here, we are fine, and I will report on the New Orleans trip as soon as we get back. JH

September 9, 2004, 7:32PM MDT.
I wrote my last writting on the 30th of August but was unable to get it uploaded for several days because this computer wouldn't go on line. I am going to copy this writting to a floppy disc to get it transferred to my windows 98 machine where I have downloaded some free software I can use for 30 days to upload to the isp. Might work, might not.

I just completed four days of work. They made me work eight hours each day, so I came home a little tired. But a little rest with a cat nap in the recliner and I am ready to go again. I have to work again on Saturday but I have Sunday off to do my christian duties.

I just received some disturbing news from Big Timber. It seems the bishop has decided to remove a man, who happens to be ill, from his job. To tolerate chemo therapy is tough enough, but now this. I don't know the details in this dastardly deed, but right now, my sense of justice is sorely injured. I better not put anymore of my thoughts on this subject in writting.

I pray that my computer is healed. JH

August 30, 2004, 8:03PM MDT.
I cut the grass this morning, painted this afternoon and shredded some personal business documents this evening. Until my little shredder quit. I hope it is just hot. It does have a safty switch to shut if off when it gets too hot. It might be worn out. I only paid $18.84, I can afford a new one.

We are going to Fahrenheit 9/11 at 9:10 this evening. There are a couple of things I can say about that. First, I will be up a little later than usual and there will probably be only two of us in the theater. This is Miles City, center of arch conservancy. I will report on the out come the next time.

As you have already noticed, today and tomorrow are a couple of days off for me. Today was fairly productive but tomorrow is going to be even better. I have an obligation to call the parish priest to discuss the budget, he thinks I have special knowledge, I have an appointment with the doctor at the Miles City Cancer Center and I have to help Norma make popcorn at the hospital for free. I would like to be paid a little bit.

I am going to try to upload this before I get ready for the movie. JH

August 23, 2004, 3:34PM MDT.
Well, there you are. Two weeks have gotten away from me. But, a busy two weeks they were.

We attended a couple of anniversaries. One of 45 years and one of 50 years. Those are long periods of time and the participants showed some wear and tear. Probably no more than you would expect, in fact, they are in pretty good shape. These affairs were both out of town. In fact, one was in Plentywood. That is in the far north of the great state. It is so far north, the main worry was that frost might strike the green spring wheat before it has time to ripen. So far the temperature has gone into the 30's but not to 32, officially. It may have frozen in a low spot here and there, but not generally. Probably not what we would call a killing frost.

I dosen't seem it makes any difference what I intend to write here, I always wind up talking about the weather.

On another subject, my brother Art informs me he has retired. He has taken a bunch of cash and is not going to work anymore. I asked him if he had enough money to retire and he said yes, so I told him to go ahead and retire. Do you think I influenced his dicision? I don't think so. Anyhow, that means we will be seeing him and his beautiful wife Judy soon.

Speaking of retirement, I put in six hours on my retirement job just this morning. It is, what most people would consider, a pretty poor job but it fits my needs. It makes my time not working so much more pleasant and it provides a little cash for my needs. I work a little bit and they pay me a little bit. Can you beat that? It is like taking your finger out of your eye. It feels so good.

Norma is working her retirement job this afternoon. She sells St V's merchainse, but they don't pay her a little bit. I guess she gets her pay from the satisfaction of doing good.

I guess this writting would not be complete without a little about my health. I have had three chemo treatments and two radiation treatments and my doctor tells me he has run out of treatments. I guess that pretty well lets me twisting in the wind, but I am feeling just fine now. My last blood test was poor. I have developed anemia. My red blood count was 11.6 when it should be 14. The doctor says that is not bad, but there is nothing he can do about the cause. He did suggest prednisone if it gets low enough. It seems that the long time that I have had cancer in my system has weakened the blood making ability of my bone marrow. The up side is, we don't know of any tumors, so as for me, I am going to keep going. They would miss me at the gas station.

I am going to quit here, because it may take me the remainder of the afternoon to get this up loaded. My old computer is in worse shape than I am. JH

August 8, 2004, 8:19PM MDT.
I am a busy man. That is the only excuse I can think of for two weeks to pass between writtings.

Busy doing what? Number one. They make me work three or four days each week at the gas station. Number two. I have spent lots of hours painting the trim around the windows on the house. Number three. And this is the most tiresome and difficult one of all. The roof has been leaking. Our roofers weren't as good as I thought they were. A crew of three guys came in on November 20, 2002 and reshingled our house in three days. Not so fast. They didn't finish their work. I have found out they left the flashing loose along one of the dormers. The flashing wasn't nailed to the wall nor was it cawlked. I don't know how to do it, so it took several attempts to get it right. I sure hope I have it right now. We tested this afternoon. I took the hose up there and ran water over the roof while Norma watched the ceiling for leaks. We didn't see any. Finally.

From now on, I am a man of some leisure. Norma is gong to help me with the painting and the roof is done. That just leaves the grass to water and cut. Boy, will I be glad when winter comes. Some of you didn't know why we live so far north, I suppose. Well, that is the time to get some rest.

I haven't mentioned my health for some time. That is because I have been feeling good. It will continue that way for a while, the Lord willing.

I have to get up at 5:00AM. Good night.JH

July 23, 2004, 5:44PM MDT.
This will just me a short writting so you won't think I have died and gone to heaven.

I have had two day off. Yesterday I put on an painted the last piece of trim and painted the eves on the south side of the west dormer. Now I am waiting for the cawlk to dry on the front of the west dormer so I can paint it. That will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon after I get home from work. I am too tired and it is too late to do it today. You should never work in high places when you are tired.

I have one week's radiation treatments left to go. My oncologist didn't have much to say on Tuesday. I guess there isn't much for him to say at this stage. My tumor appears to be gone for now. I am feeling good, except, as you can see, I have very little endurance when it comes to manual labor. That is not new, I have always been wimpy.

Tomorrow I have a big day. There is the seven hours of hard labor in the deli kitchen, eves painting at the top of a tall ladder and Mass at six. But, don't take all this complaining about all the work I have to do too seriously. It is the source of any little bit of satisfaction I may experience. After all, I can't drink or smoke.

Norma is fine, and all is well. That is about all I have tried to say in this writting, so. JH

July 11, 2004, 2:14PM MDT.
It has only been four days since my last writting, so don't expect too much. I do have a new picture on the home page. Those are blue potatoes. They may be "Peruvian Purples". Jamie and I call them blue potatos, but I heard of something called Peruvian Purples one day and wondered if that is what we have. If you noticed, they are huge tall vines with blue blossoms on the top. Unfortunately, they have taken over Norma's flower garden. She warned me before I planted them that would happen. I wanted a place to plant them so bad I assured her that it would not. I can see that I was wrong. She has not confronted me with the evidence yet, and I am not sure what I will do when she does. Maybe she won't notice.

I begain a project last week to improve the appearance of the old house. So far I have painted part of the eves on the east side dormer and I put in a patch at the base on the north side of it. I filled in the little space that was left when three layers of shingles was removed and replaced by one. I painted the filler piece I put in and it looks wonderfull. Now I am energized to do the other three, but the hot sun makes the asphalt shingles so soft I have to do it in the early morning or wait for a cool day. I don't want to ruin a $6500 shingle job with a $100 repair. Anyhow, this is Sunday. I can't work today. I have to take it easy and go to church, tomorrow I work at the gass station during the cool part of the day, so it will be Tuesday morning before I can get back to my work.

I am 60 pages in to Bill Clinton's autobiograph. It has been interesting, a little more than these writtings, but it is 900 pages and I haven't read a 900 page book before. I have Lord of the Rings, 1100 pages, here on my book self waiting for me to read the last 500 pages already. That makes 1400 pages of good reading right hear. I would have to give up my job, quit the roof repair and give up these writtings to accomplish that. I spend too much time reading the newspaper. I guess the Iraqi war can go on without me checking on it every day.

That is it. JH

July 7, 2004, 7:54PM MDT.
I need to get some work done on the roof of the old house. When the new shingles were put on three for four layers of old shingles were removed so there is a space between the siding of the dormers and the new shingles of about an inch and a half. I think it looks bad and would like to put a board in the space and paint it. The trim at the top of the house needs some repainting too. Anyone who likes to do that kind of work, let me know. The worst part is a leak in my new roof. I had a fellow put some roof cawlk on it but I think he missed a spot. I painted the room that got some water damage and after a rain about a week ago I find there is a new stain on the ceiling. I have called two local carpenters/painter guys and they are both too busy. How about you? My legs are shot. I can walk up the roof but I can't work when I get there. Fear is a factor too.

As long as we are talking about the weather, it is blowing up a storm right now. A cold front went through at about 6:30 this evening and brought some clouds and wind. So far there has been no lightning, hail, thunder or rain. With all the trees and buildings around you can't see far enough to the west to guess what may be coming like you could on the farm. Ah, for the good old days when storms were something. The wind would blow, the chickens would fly by the window and the dust would be so thick you couldn't see the garage. That was just the beginning, then came the lightning, thunder and hail. But usually, they went to the north of us or to the south and we missed out on the rain entirely.

Chickens can fly? That is right, but only when the wind tops 30 miles per hour.

I have been doing a little reading today. Norma bought "My Life" by Bill Clinton when she was in Billings yesterday. The first 45 pages is just a tale of his childhood, which would not be interesting if you didn't like Bill. I do. But, I don't think I can make it through 900 pages. I have never read a 900 page book before, why do I think I can read one now? Just a thought about what Bill has had to say about his affair with Monica. "I did it because I could". Wouldn't we all. Thank the Lord He didn't make us all attractive.

What was Norma doing in Billings yesterday? She caught a ride with her friends Lil and Lilly who had business there. It gave Norma a chance to do some shopping. They all probably did some shopping. You can't even by a neck tie in Miles City any more. Our retail has all gone to Wal Mart and Town Pump.

That is about all for now, but I will let you know how the roof repairs came out in a later writting. JH

July 1, 2004, 6:20PM MDT.
Where does the time go? It seems just yesterday that I did a writting and here it is two weeks. I am sorry for the long delay, but I must be having fun for the time to go so repidly.

If I am not having fun it is not the fault of our weather. We have had three substatial rain falls this summer. The most recent was just last night. It came in the form of a thunderstorm. The center seems to have been a little bit east of town, where they got about 1.76 inches. The airport got only .54, but everyone else got at least and inch and a quarter. We probably got a couple of inches here. It flooded the sheriff and police department quarters, too bad, and created a lake at the underpass as well as at most of the intersections around town. We didn't see any of this, because we wisely stayed home and enjoyed the cool and rain from here. Generally, except for being a little bit dry, the weather has been almost perfect for the past couple of months. Only one or two air conditioner days.

Just a line or two about my health. I have been feeling fine, but have been undergoing some radiation therapy for a tumor in the skin on my arm. I got the day off today because the machine at the cancer center was broke down, but I have about 20 treatments left to go. They don't hurt so I don't mind them. There are about 20 days left until I see the oncologist again. Unless something new breaks out or my blood goes bad I don't expect any surpises then. So we will keep enjoying this nice summer the Lord has given us for now.

As you know, I have some digital pictures I took with my DC50, digital camera, while we were in the Puget Sound area last month. It was my intention to put them on my web site, but that is easier said than done. I have some up and some still to go on. I have this evening and all of tomorrow to get the remainder on so you can enjoy the great northwest with us. As you will see, I take pictures of things better than pictures of people. People are so, Well you know how people are.

For those interested in farmin and ranch management, the secretary of agriculture announced grazing to start on the 28th of June in drought areas like ours. I just happened to be at the farm that day and stopped at the Farm Service Agency in Forsyth to ask about grazing starting at the usual time of July 15th. The folks there went right to work getting us setup to start grazing right away. As far as I know, Dan has some cattle on the CRP as we speak. It is a good time to start grazing it because the alfalfa is still green and the crested wheat grass is still good. By the 15th of July the alfalfa will be dried up and the crested to tough to chew.

Speaking of tough, I have a patch of winter onions. A month ago they were good eating so I pulled some yesterday. Now they are as tough as corn stalks in October. I guess, I learned something about winter onions.

Speaking of gardening. Jamie sent me four blue seed potatoes. I cut them in half and planted them. I have eight of the nicest potato plants you have ever seen. They are in bloom now and I noticed the blosoms are blue. Now I am waiting until they are ready to dig. How many do you think I will get? A bushel?

I will stop on a high note.JH

June 15, 2004, 4:54PM MDT.
We are back. Back from the northwest. We went to Seattle on the 6th and returned to Miles City on the 14th. In between was a whirlwnd of activity.

Some of the high lights:
We spent the first two days getting to and back from Victoria Canada. The Washington State Ferry from Anacortes to Victoria did not run in the afternoons. We don't do anything in the mornings, so we had to go to Tsawwassen Canada near VanCouver to catch the BC Ferry to Swartz landing near Victoria. That was good. It gave us more time to spend in Canada and a chance to ride a really busy BC ferry. We stayed at a hotel on the inner harbour of Victoria, saw the sights of the city and Burchart Gardens. On Wednesday, we visited The Everett Mall. We had our hair done, found the Tax office, which is closed this time of year, and ate at the "Eat Street" food court. Thursday Norma had lunch with Laura Jo and her lady relatives in the space needle while Jamie, Cameron and I went to the museum of flight. That is where the picture of the concord came from. Of course, I took it with my DC 50. On Friday we went to the graduation of Megan and a really big lunch by the family in Everett. I say family, because it took a family to prepare it. They had lots of guests and everyone had a good time. At that time we were treated to a tour of the gardens at the home of Jamie and Laura Jo. They have made their place, both inside and out, very lovely. On Saturday Joe and Tom took us on a nice sight seeing tour of Seattle and to the Mariners Ball game in the evening. We enjoyed being there very much. Sunday we went to St Joseph church in Seattle with Tommy then took a walking tour of the million dollar homes in the area. Sunday afternoon, we went to a car show in Everett and said good bye to the boys. Sunday evening we flew to Billings and on Monday morning we came home.

Today, Norma worked at St V's, I put in the bedroom air conditioner and went to visit my oncologist. Everything went very well as long as we were talking about the amazing recovery of my blood counts, but it all went south when I pointed out my new tumor to the good doctor. I hated to do it. But someone had to tell him. I am going to start radiation therapy on next Tuesday, and as these little things show up we will continue to chase them around. He dosen't think I am ready for a lymphoma vaccine trial, so we won't be doing that yet. So much for the $30.000 zevalin shot.

We are going for ice cream and cake in about an hour and I have to load my concord picture so that is about it for now. JH

June 4, 2004, 4:18PM MDT.
Since another 10 or 12 days slipped by on us I must try to remember what has happened worth writting about. Nothing. Wait a minute, I have prepared a folder with the Seattle itinerary and driving instructions, it rained about two weeks ago in a thunderstorm, Norma has washed all the clothes we will need in Seattle, so there you go. Something has happened.

Let's talk about the rain first. We had this nice little thunderstorm on a Sunday evening about two weeks ago that left nearly and inch of moisture behind. It saved me from using expensive city water on the lawn for a few days, but it probably meant a lot more to the guys out on the ranches. Although, it was so dry, it probably won't cause much grass growth. It is so dry, we followed a truck load of at least two year old hay down the interstate the other day. I say two yeas old, because you could smell the mold in it as we passed by. Someone told me cows like moldy hay. Should I believe that?

We have the Seattle trip pretty well planned. I have documentation for everything, and I am going to review it to make sure it is accurate and complete this evening. I have to get on line for boarding passes tomorrow or Sunday morning. Isn't that airline ticket purchasing system on line something. I hope it works. All activities while in Seattle are pretty well planned. Nothing begins before noon.

With the laundry done, there is nothing left to do but put it in the bags, jump into the car and go. Ooops! We have to remember the folder, the passports and money. I didn't thing of getting some Canadian money. Will they take credit cards?

The big event today will be a trip to Wal Mart. I want to see if I can buy another card for my old digital camera. I will take Norma along. She likes to go to Wal Mart and we will make a good time of it.JH

May 26, 2004, 11:56AM MDT.
Well, well, well. Sooner or later it had to happen. I have let a whole month slip by without a writting. The reason for that is extreme fatigue. There I go again. We are back on the subject of my health. We will change that.

I came home a little cranky from work this morning. Low and behold, I found the busted coffee maker shooting a geyser of coffee. Out of my line of sight, someone had set it up to make a gallon and a half of coffee, and , of course it ran over. I have to keep a closer eye on those people. How low am I going to sink. To get upset over a little spilled coffee. That is what happens when you work at a skulduddery job. You become a victim of skulduggery, intentional or not. I am sure not. It is a reason why people retire. As a fellow told me when he retired, "working is too hard on my nerves." Not back, nerves.

As I have already said, my energy level has been pretty darned low, but that is not to say I haven't been doing anything. Oh, sure, I have been taking way too many naps and haveing trouble sleeping at night, but we have planned a trip to Washington for next month. As you know, the hardest part of a trip like this is the planning. So far, we are going to fly to Seattle on the evening of the 6th of June. We are going to Washington State Ferry through the San Juans from Anacortes, WA to Sidney BC and bus from there to Victoria on Monday the 7th of June. We are going to spend the night of the 7th in one of the luxurious hotels in Victoria. On the 8th we are going to reverse our tracks back to 1154 N 92nd in Seattle. We are going to visit the famous gardens of Victoria, the name won't come to mind and if it did how would I spell it, sight see around Victoria and have a good old Canadian supper. We have been there before and can't wait to go back because is is so beautiful.

On the 10th of June we are going to the musium of flight with Jamie. That is going to be fun for Jamie and me, but I don't know how Norma is going to take it. They do have some really nice things there. The concord is there, the first Air Force One, a Boeing 707, is there and you can sit in the pilots seat of an A18. Besides all of the other planes on exhibit, what more can a person ask. Well, there is the store and the cafe. They may be nice.

We are going to the graduation on the 11th and have a nice lunch afterward with Megan's aunts, uncles, cusins and grand mother. Jamie is in charge of that.

The only down day we have so far is the 9th. Joey is taking the day off, so I am sure we can find some interesting thing to do then.

I am in charge here this afternoon. Norma is away playing cards. She has a nice suppler planned for me, so all I have to do is behave for a few hours.JH

April 20, 2004, 3:33PM MDT.
I am having a day off. What can I do? I have worked too much this spring. I can't entertain myself. For one thing, I watered the flowers, what there is of them, and got the lawn watering tractor going on the front yard. It hasn't rained since last year and it hasn't snowed since February. Our lawn is turning brown when it should be turning green. I could see, during my inspection, that there is no way it is going to grow under these conditions.

The tax season ended about Thursday, but I could hardly tell. I had one day off then it was back to the gas station to cook corn dogs. Today and tomorrow I have off. Of course, I will find something to do to entertain  myself. This writting for one thing.

The other thing I have done today is visited the oncologist this morning. He is please with the disappearance of my tumors but on edge about their reappearance. And, of course, so am I. There is nothing we can do about that, so I will continue to entertain myself until our next meeting on the 18th of May.

Norma, also, had a doctor's appointment this afternoon and some work to do at St V's afterwards. She takes several medications so she needs her blood examined by the doctor every once in awhile. I don't know how it turned out, because I haven't seen her since.

We continue to function here by ourselves. I try to maintain some contact  with the boys by calling them about once each week. Jamie continues to work although he is in a shakey industry that makes parts for airplanes, but Joey has a solid job that he can count on. I am trying to keep Tommy's interest in finding a job up. I don't know how he feels, but I am desperate. Thank goodness it isn't me that is out of work. I would be insane.

I have written about everything that is fit to print. JH

April 10, 2004, 6:46PM MDT.
It is the Easter Vigil. I will miss lent. We had fish at the K of C fish fry every Friday until last night. Then I had the best yet. It was lightly breaded trout fillet with fresh lemon wedges at the 4B's cafe. You never know where a taste treat will show up.

I did mention the last time that my appetite had dimished a tiny bit. Well, not so that you would notice, but enough to loose three pounds. I don't know if I should blame the zevalin or those two part time jobs that I am getting tired of. In five more days I can ease up a little. The tax season will be over, but the manager at the gas station gave me 4 shifts next week. If it isn't one it is the other.

You can tell from this writting that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". This has been going on long enough. I asked the boss if I could have some time off in June. She said yes. So we are going to Everett for a few days. Then, we are going to New Orleans in September. Norma saw an ad in the paper for a trip to the Holy Land with the bishop. It would be great but a pretty long stretch. Stretch of the budget. Part time deli helpers don't often go the the Holy Land. It would be fun to walk where Jesus walked. After all we have already seen the Pasion of the Christ. We know a lot about the place.

I am going to the vigil service at the church this evening at 8:30. I don't want to stay up late, but the stress of leaving work to go to Mass in the morning would be worse. I don't think my loved one wants to go tonight, so I guess, she will have to go in the morning. This business of being a strict practicing catholic can be hard at times. I had to eat fish every Friday for six weeks and now this. It has to be done. You never know when you will need the grace. JH

March 31, 2004, 6:07PM MST.
I see that the last time I wrote my health was the main subject. Well, we won't break stride now. I have been to Billings for the theraputic dose of zevalin. It was administered on the 24th and the tumor behind my left ear is gone. I suppose that indicates they are all gone. The doctor was right about the side effects. All I feel some fatigue. Not enough for an excuse to stay home from work.

Our neighbors are out in thier yards. Some of them are playing with children and a few are doing some yard work. I pulled off some of last year's flowers. It maked a big difference in the way the area looks. When the weather gets this nice again I may go pull up a few more.

Besides the little bit of yard work, I finished our tax return this afternoon. It turns out we don't have to pay any federal or state tax this year. Either we are pretty darned poor or I am a pretty darned good tax preparer.

There is no doubt in my mind that compared to other years we are having an early spring. The grass is green in town. The grass in the country knows better than to start growing this early because it is mostly native to this area. The lilacs are leafing out and the dandilions are growing. It was well over 80 today and I can't find my long johns. I guess they have been put away.

I am going to try to upload this right away. I feel a nap comming on. JH

March 18, 2004, 7:20PM MST.
My first report is on the subject of health. Mine, of course. We have been in Billings for three days undergoing some new treatments for the lymphoma. I have received an infusion of rituxin and zevalin. Then I had a full body scan on Wednesday and Thursday to see if the zevalin was disbursing throughout my body. I seem to have soaked it up well, so the next infusion will be the theraputic dose on the 24th. That will be several times more medication than I got on Tuesday. They scan to see if the body is properly using the diagnostic dose so as not to waste the larger theraputic dose. After all it is very expensive. It will be an $18,000 shot. Zevalin comes from a pharmacy in Salt Lake City on the day it is used in Billings. So, the medication and I have to meet in Billings at the scheduled time. So far, so good. I am happy with the outcome so far.

We had a pile of mail, newspapers and some telephone messages to take care of when we got home. I, of course, have this writting to take care of.

We see no green, having nothing to do with the recently passed St Patricks Day, expcept for a couple of vacant lots in Billings where the weather has been warmer and sometimes vacant lots are the home to early growing cheat grass. It was 69 degrees when we got home at about four o'clock. Green is just around the corner. One of the phone messages was from a yard care customer from last year. Tommy is not home so I don't know what to say to her. Norma told me I can't do any yard work, so I'd better let it alone for now.

It has been a long time since Christmas. I have not taken any pictures lately so we will have a Christmas tree on the web site for a little longer.

We had a little time to kill in Billings so we went to the Passion of Christ yesterday afternoon. We enjoyed the movie very much. Maybe enjoyment is not the thing to say about it, but I thought it was pretty darned good. There is nothing so shocking in it if you have sat in view of the stations of the cross every Sunday all of your life. I know no more than most do about the scripture, but it was a good account of the passion and death of Christ as I know it. I didn't see the weeping women Jesus told " don't weep for me, weep for your children", and it seems the role of Symon was exagerated a little at the end. I loved the good thief.

Let us see if this old computer will up load this document the I am going to check my e-mail and go to bed. JH

March 9, 2004, 9:07PM MST.
Since my last writting a lot of water has passed under the bridge. Around here and, I am sure, where ever you are. I don't know what has happened at your place, so I will tell you what has happened at mine.

There was an evaluation of my performance at the gas station. No raise but plenty of kind words. It was like a kiss without a squeeze or apple pie without cheese. Well, I am still going in, cooking the corn dogs and looking forward to my little pay check.

My other job is showing signs of tapering off. I am still getting some drop off returns to do and trying to get my hold file cleaned out. Not to worry. I am looking forward to the end of the season so I can get some rest. That is not going to happen tomorrow.

I have jury duty. I am going to the courthouse, sit around for a few hours, draw my 12 bucks and come home. That is what I hope happens. But, who knows, they may become desperate and put me on the jury. Then what? Stress.

Next week some of this activity will come to an end. We are going to Billings on Monday evening for the start of, hopfully, our last and final lymphoma treatment. There will be a Rituxin infusion at 8:00AM on Turesday, a Zevalin infusion at one, then a scan on the 17th and another one on the 18th. I don't know what these scans will be, but when I find out I will let you know. Anyhow, we will come home on Thursday evening and go back for another infusion of zevalin on the 24th. After that I am on my own to do the best I can with what ever side effects there are. The oncologist told me there are no side effects but that is not what I have read in the literature. There seems to be some killing of blood cells. Your know what that means. I may get a little tired. I am already tired.

I almost forgot the weather. The weatherman kept telling us it is going to be more of the same, until spring hit and he had to tell us it is a lot warmer. 25 degrees warmer. Instead of 35 it is getting up to 60. The motor cycles are out.

A sure sign of spring. I have seen the birds building nests. There is nothing green yet, but it won't be long. The little weeds start to grow as soon as the snow melts.

Had enough yet. Well I have. JH 
  
February 29, 2004, 8:23PM MST.
It is leap day, the 29th of February 2004. I had no idea it was leap year until a few days ago when I spotted the 29th on the calendar and wondered what it was doing there. My, it seems we just past ground hog's day.

It has been a really good day. The first one not to include some work for a long time. These two jobs are wearing me out. The little bit of income is nice though. I had better keep going for a while yet. Everyone needs a little discretionary cash.

We need it for a crown on my tooth, 450 and repairs for the kitchen stove, 129, not to mention a huge utility bill. Sometimes I think the devil is out to make sure I am poor.

Let us get to the really big question. The Oncologist has tested me and found me qualified for some monoclonal radiolabeled antibody treatment for my lymphoma. I have a couple of obvious external tumors and some suspicious looking things on the C T scan that the oncologist believes are more tumors in the making. So, we are going ahead with the treatment as soon as the therapy specialist is ready. We expect a call in a few days and about three trips to Billings for the various phases of the treatment. The oncologist has told me there will be no side effects so I intend to go right on with my activities as though nothing has happened. If something does happen I will, of course, have to cut down on my work and retreat to the recliner. That wouldn't be all that bad, would it?

How about that weather. We had a fine little snow over that last 24 hours. It is about three inches deep and contains a lot of water. The temperature has been pretty warm and we haven't had to go out on the road, so it has been OK. We usualy have a spring storm. I hope this isn't it. We could use a lot more.

Let us hear a cheer for the Melstone Broncs. They got into the state tournament and won one game. The coach is someone named Grebe.I don't know which generation. And there are Kincheloes and Hjelviks on the team.

I know my site pictures is still the Christmas tree. Since valentines day, ground hog day and leap day have all past I am about three seaons behind. But, it is getting late, I am tired and I don't have an appropriate picture handy you will have to waite for a new one. JH

February 22, 2004, 10:00PM MST.
Still surviving.

Norma survived a marathon penochle party this week and I survived my two part time jobs. I went to work on Wednesday afternoon and they were playing at one o'clock. When I came home at eight thiry they were still at it. It must be wonderful to be retired.

We are deep into the tax season. Our peak period is about to start winding down. Then we will have the March lull. I have done quite a few returns. Enough to have learned some new stuff. Either about the tax code or the software. All together I am really pleased with the tax season so far. I didn't think I would get to work so much, but the staff is smaller this year so we all get to work more. And, I think, to enjoy it more. There is no way to learn this stuff without doing different problems.

We are going to Billings for some tests tomorrow. The tests will be done on Tuesday, but we are going up in the afternoon. We are going to see the doctor on Tuesday afternoon, so we will know what treatments will be available to us then.

The weather has turn nice. What can I say about nice weather. It is just nice.JH

February 12, 2004, 8:28PM MST.
We have made it this far into the tax season. I must have been out of my mind. Do I really think I can do tax returns with one hand and cook corn dogs with the other? Time will tell. Not much more time, just a couple of weeks. The peak season at the office is over before February is.

Ah! Spring is comming. It was bad the last few days, but the temperature was up to about 19 this afternoon. From where it was this morning there is nowhere to go but up. It was four below and by the way the weather reports look like it is going up from here. The wall to wall trucks we had parked at the gas station Tuesday evening waiting for the interstate to open are gone too so can spring be far behind.

The late winter, early spring fever in the area is in full swing. That would be the end of the wrestling season and the beginning of the basketball tournements. We are hosting the eastern A right here in Miles City this week. So the town is bustling. We have gone from the bull exhibition on main street last week to the sports mainia this week. We very seldom have a dull day. If you look closely, we do have our doldrums. There is the January doldrums and the hot summer day doldrums in August but they are soon forgotten.

I got home to an empty house last night. My wife, Norma, was out playing cards with her buddies. They were having so much fun the games didn't end until 8:30. Have you had that much fun lately?

The most fun thing I can think of now is to go to bed and close my eyes. JH

February 1, 2004, 9:25PM MST.
Wow! What a week end. I had today off. I took Norma to the movie this evening. It was called Mona Lisa. I enjoyed it very much. If for the main reason, there were more 1954 girls than I had ever seen. It was set in a girl's college in 1954 with period cars, clothes, TV adds and culture. Don't miss it.

It has been quite a while since I have written because I am too busy. I was tired yesterday. You know how old guys hate to admit they are tired. I have to start another week in the morning. This week will be a piece of cake. I have only two shifts to work at the gas station instead of four like last week. I want to get as much tax preparation practice as I can because there is no other way to develope the skill. So, I wind up working too many hours.
 
There were some good times and some not so good at the office last week. You never know. It usually depends on weather the client is happy with his refund or disappointed.

We had a good time today. We bought a DVD at Wal Mart last week end. It wasn't until this morning that I had enough time to set it up. First I had to wrestle the TV out of the cabinet to get at the back of it. It was two falls out of three. I got the two because the TV is back in the cabinet working. Then we had to figure out the instructions written by a foreign born linguist. We got the thing to work inspite of it. The reason we did all that was to see a DVD of the reunion last summer. It was made by Judy with pictures and music. It was very nice. If you would like one, just call her. I don't think they are very expensive.

The weather is still cold. We know there is a spring in here somewhere. We just haven't found it yet.

Now for the really big trick. I have to try to get this old computer up upload this file. JH

January 19, 2004, 9:03PM MST.
I am not writting because I have anything to say, it is so no one will think I have died and gone to heaven.

They let me do my first 2003 tax return this afternoon. All seems to have turned out fine, except it took me twice as long as it should have. But the client was patient. Thank goodness for that.

We are going to see the Oncologist tomorrow. It may not do much good. I forgot to get my blood drawn on Friday so he won't have the information he needs. So, I will do the best I can. I will go over and have it drawn in the morning. The radiation therapy is finished and turned out just fine.

The big news. We got the Christmas tree taken down this evening. Most of you have had our trees down for three weeks, but we liked ours so much we left it up intil January 19th. Now we are ready for Valentine's day.

Oh, the weather. We are having a little disturbance today to continue tomorrow. The high temperature will be in the 30's and a little snow or rain may fall. A little has fallen today. Some more may fall tomorrow, but that is OK. We are going to stay indoors most of the time anyway. Thank goodness for winter. It can't last long enough for me. It is a relief from the summer maintenance work. Except for a little snow shoveling, I haven't worked outside for months. JH

January 11, 2004, 6:37PN MST.
The cold weather is gone and we are in our January thaw.

We have had some socializing during the past week. More than usual. Norma's sister Mary and her husband Terry were here for a couple of days and we had company again last night. Mary and Terry are on their way to Colorado. They should be there by now. Last night, we had some folks over for birthday cake and ice cream. Everyone has birthdays. As we have observed, they are better than the alternative. These kinds of occurances are pretty regular now. I have noticed, we are almost old enough to be proud of our age instead of ashamed of it. Well, not quite. I beleive that happens at about 80. Very few of us are there yet.

As you can see, I am searching for something interesting to include in this writting. It could be I am making mountains out of mole hills. I don't want to waste your time with mole hills. So, we will go to a really interesting subject.

My radiation therapy. I have two treatments remaining. We skipped Friday so we could take two on Monday and Tuesday. It seems a single treatment is not effective unless it is preceded or followed by another treatment. In other words, I need at least two on consecutive days to do any good. That is why we skipped Friday. Tuesday will be my last one. We will be seeing the oncologist about a week from now. As I have written before, he has some additional treatment planed. I will not go into the details of what that might be, because I have done that on some previous writting.

Those are the items that come to mind. Norma and I are fine, the cat is gone, Tommy is gone and plumbing the industries  of Seattle for employment. We have talked with him recently and he is doing all he can to find employment. So it shouldn't be long until good news comes from him.JH

December 31, 2003, 10:30AM MST.
We are in the dead of winter in the north. The temperatures are not too bad. It gets around zero at night and 20 in the daytime. But we got a dose of snow the day after Christmas. Even that dosen't hurt those of us who don't venture out of town. We just have to make sure we don't slide throught the intersections. Every winter I have to slide through one to get my bearings. I seem to drive too fast when I am in the car because it is quieter and smoother riding than the pickup. The other winter problems are the lack of light and the utility bills. On the up side, we will soon be looking for our January thaw to come.

Christmas sure went past in a hurry. I guess I didn't start soon enough. In the end, we had a wonderful time. Norma made a dinner for some folks and we played cards into the night. Oh yes, we went to Mass and I made a few bucks working at the gas station in the morning. A Christmas better than most.

No report would be complete without a health message. I have six radiation treatments left. The tumors have diminished to almost nothing. They were red and slightly raised; now they are pale pink and flat. The skin is a little pink on my back but, wouldn't you know, dark red on my face. I will be seeing the oncologist on the 16th of January. We will have more information then.

It is New Years Eve. Not to worry. I will not get into any trouble. They are making me work again this evening. That will make up for making me work on Christmas day. It makes no difference. I never learned how to celebrate New Years Eve anyway.

Norma is playing cards this afternoon. I don't know what Tommy is doing. He is in Seattle.

That is about the extent of what I know right now. JH

December 18, 2003, 11:32AM MST.
We are enjoying another on of the nice winter days here in Montana. Eastern Montana. That means we have no mountains to block our view. Anyhow, the wind cleaned the streets yesterday and it is calm today. The sun is out and it is going to warm up into the 40's. You might say there is no more pleasant place in the winter since global warming has taken the edge off winter. We had a winter like this in 1987-88. The summer of 88 was hot and dry, but we can't give up these winters.

So much for bragging about our weather. It could turn on us any day. On another subject, I have had 12 radiation treatments. 13 to go. I had two doctor visits on Tuesday. The radiation is going fine, according to one, and we are not going to be finished when the radiation is done, according to the other. The radiation is a debulking process, after which, we will do some chemo therapy. We are going to use rituxin and zivalin. Rituxin is a monoclonal antibody and zivalin is a monoclonal radiolabled anibody. These treatments will be done if I am in condition to tolerate them. We are going to do a bone marrow scan and a cat scan to learn that first. Which treatments we use depends on the results of those scans.

There is evidence we are in the Christmas season. We got a nice gift box from Joe today and we are going on a shopping spree to Billings tomorrow. I got a turkey from the Town Pump and Norma is planning a big Christmas dinner. I don't want to forget to mention the very fine home made, I think with some help, Christmas card from Dick. With a little luck, I am going to put a different picture on the web site. So Christmas is here.

This is week number two without the cat.JH
 
December 11, 2003, 5:50PM MST.
I am surprised at the long time between writtings. It is a symtom of the age. Time passes faster.

There is hope for the old mule after all. We have started radiation treatment for the lymphoma relapse. I have had seven of twenty five daily treatments. Unless my eyes are decieving me, the tumors on my back are starting to fade. We are buying time. My oncologist has an up to date treatment planned for later. We are going to use Bexxar, a monoclonal, radiolabled antibody. It will attach radio active antibodies to the cancer cells and kill them. It is a treatment approved by the FDA in June of 2003. I know this is extreme layman's speak, that, I hope, makes sense.

Joey has been here from Seattle for a visit and went back with Tommy last week on Wednesday. After a year with us we miss Tommy. He made a big difference around here. He liked Norma's cooking, so we had most of our meals here. The Miles City cafes missed us, but that is alright.

Just as we had hoped, Tommy returned to Seattle as the economy started up and, hopefully, so does hiring.

I am still cooking at the gas station. They almost have to keep me. I show up on time for work and I keep the hot case full. Besides that, I work for darned little.

Norma is not working a Saint Vincent's, at least for now. It got too hard on her. She is playing cards with a bunch of her friends on Wednesday afternoons and visiting the Cottage Salon from time to time.

This last item is not a happy one. I didn't want to add it, but news is news. The cat died. That is he got old, 16 or 17 and his organs failed him. He got thinner and thinner until he couldn't eat drink or walk so we took him to the vet for his final shot. That may not sound like much, but it was a terrible experience for us. We don't want to do it again. JH

November 23, 2003, 7:23PM MST.
Finnally I have something to write.

We got flue shots about three weeks ago. I got the flue on Sunday, a week ago. I am still couphing but the fever is gone and I am back at work. No, It wasn;t quit that simple. I thought I was a gonner on about Monday. Norma took me to the walk in clinic for a examination. They didn't have much to say, but did give me some antibiotics. They have been consumed. I hope it was a strong dose. I need a strong dose, because I have a weakness for bronchitis. I will keep a close eye on it. If it isn't gone in a few days, I am going back to the doctor. Tommy got the flue on Wednesday, but he is a lot tougher than I am. He is pretty well by now.

We are going to undergo radiation therapy for the malignancies on my back. They are the only ones the doctor can find with palpitation so I am going to see the radiologist on the 2nd of Dec to get started. It will take about four weeks to complete.

Tommy and I tried to setup a network with our two computers here in the house. Things went wrong and, before you would know it, I couldn't get on line. That is one reason I am so late with this writting. It was just this evening I was able to get us back on line again.

The weather is terrible. It was 12 below this morning. I have to take a shower, plug in the car and get to bed early so I can get to work early in the morning. JH

November 11, 2003, 5:18PM MST.
We got no mail today. Of course not. It is Veteran's day. Or, what we used to call, armistice day. Maybe yesterday was veteran's day. I am confused.

We got a phone call and I made a couple of calls yesterday. It stirred up a whole bunch of stuff. First, we discovered a leak in our roof. It was just reshingled last year in November so I called the roofing company. They will fix the roof, but haven't called back yet. Secondly, I called my oncologist. He is going to start a new course of treatment in a week or two. We discussed a couple of the new treatments available, but we are going to use an older one first. The drugs are, Cytotoxic drugs, may be spelled wrong, and prednisone, also may be spelled wrong. The spelling of these words is hard because they are not usually in the dictionary and have to be found in special places on the internet. So, for now, that will have to do. This is a weak chemotherapy, which we will try, to find if it shrinks the tumors. If it does, maybe we won't have to go with the very expensive and difficult to administer drugs like Bexxar or Zevlin. These are new drugs recently approved by the FDA. Bexxar just last June 27th. The expense may not be important to me, but it is to the medical provider. Medicare has a funny way of adjusting the bill before it pays the medical provider.

The other call is from the Overlands to tell us the Overlands are coming. There seems to have been a sea change in their lives and they are coming to share a few days with us.We are already started to get the old place cleaned up for their arrival. JH

November 2, 2003, 6:58PM MST.
All Souls day. The second day of the first day of winter. Officially it is not winter yet, but November is a most miserable month bacause we are accustomed to warm weather and it is not warm. We had a little skiff of snow last week that still is present in the shaded areas.

I really have nothing to report, other than the turn in the weather. My doctor has not called and I am still working my part time job. So, I guess, I might say all is well. JH

October 16, 2003, 10:10 AM MDT.
No news is good news. I haven't given you any news for a couple of weeks, and now I still have no news.

I an still waiting for the Oncologist to call with a solution to my problem. He hasn't called yet, so that is good news, I am still working, Tommy is still working and Norma is still doing a four hour shift at Saint Vincent's each week. That is all good news.

Now for the bad. Tommy is going to go back to Seattle in a few weeks. I don't know why. He has been working such nice jobs here. He works for me. Out picking up leaves this fall and at the laundry sorting hospital stuff, for which he had to get a shot. I had no idea there were jobs you had to get a shot for except going over seas with the Army. Anyway, he is looking forward to a change. I can't blame him.

It is the wild and crazy time here in Eastern Montana. The hunters have decended upon us in flocks. I was not aware how many there are until I went to work in the gas station. They stop there for gas for their SUV's and food. Maybe even a six pack. I notice the hot case(where the cooked food is) gets empty more often than it did. Also, we have the GreyHound stopping and bus loads of kids heading to various events. Around here they travel hundreds of miles to play games so they need rest stops.

Tommy is comming home for lunch in a few minutes, so I am going to cook lunch. After all, I am a cook. JH

September 28, 2003, 4:35 PM MDT.
I finally have some news.

My lymphoma is back. Yes, it has recurred in the skin on my back.

Everything was going along fine and then this. I had some red spots on my back that were seen as a new case of lymphoma by my Oncologist. Of course, he was right, but you could have knocked me over with a feather. I didn't know there were lymph nodes in the skin. The malignant cells have been examined in the labratory and we are waiting for the doctor's response now. I will keep you informed.

There is some other, less startling news. I got Norma to go to the farm with me this week. We examined the house, and found it just as it was the last time we were there. That was good news. But there was some bad news. The garage fell down. It has been leaning this summer, but I guess it got a boost from the wind in the last couple of months.

The weather has cooled so I have nothing to complain about. So I will stop here so I can get cleaned up for Mass. JH

September 19, 2003, 7:35 PM MDT.
I am adding alittle note to let you know I have not quit. There just isn't any news right now. There will be. Check in in a few days. JH

September 3, 2003, 9:55 PM MDT.
There was a time when I spent time with my computer, updated this diary every day and checked my e-mail often. But now that I am a working man, I understand how some people can let computer communications slip. I have other things to think about. My aching feet for one.

But, all things considered, I am glad to be at work. They started me on three day weeks, but it has grown to four days per week. I seem to be able to take four days, but I sure hope it dosen't grow to five. I want a job, but I don't really want to work. At least, not that much. As long as I don't work five days per week, I can consider myself retired with a lttle work to do, not a working man with a little time off.

We thought we had seen the last of the hot days. But, after a little respit, it has warmed up to the 90's again. The closer it gets to cold weather the less I will complain about the heat. We all know what is coming. Twenty below.

These changing seasons are great. It is just like moving to a different part of the world twice a year. From the arctic to the desert to the arctic to the desert again. There, I just took you through two years of weather.

Tommy is still working at the laundry and cutting grass. His time at the laundry will not be long now and the grass cutting will depend on the weather. He is still playing the piano at a couple of churches and wants to stay in Miles City and teach piano lessons. He has a couple of ad's in the paper and church bulletins, but only one confirmed student. Anyhow, he will need a little more financial support than that. It will be interesting to see what it will be.

Norma has become a confirmed card player. She meets with some friends at least once a week for a penochle party. She enjoys the company and the card games. Along with feeding two hungry men and her work at St V's you can see she is pretty busy.

I talk by phone with Jamie about once each week and we get an e-mail or picture from Joey now and then, so we know a little bit about what they are doing. We don't want to know everything. Just the good stuff.

That is about all the good stuff I had better mention just now. I will be writting again soon. JH

August 19, 2003, 7:33 PM MDT.
I am feeling pretty good. How about you? The chemo seems to have worn off, so now, I am only afflicted by the ravages of time. I know. There are some who have withstood the ravages a lot longer than I have, but some of us have less endurance than others. So, all things considered, I feel I am with standing them pretty well. I will continue to do my best.

We have still got Tommy with us. He is still working his head off at three jobs. The heat in the laundry was hard on him, but then he had to go out into our 100 degree afternoon heat to cut grass. I really did think we were over working him under difficult conditions. The heat is letting up a little now. It gets to about 95 instead of 105 in the afternoons. It was the hottest summer I have ever lived through. It was practice in case we don't get to heaven.

Norma had a little accident today. She stumbled on the steps of her friend's porch, fell and cut her lip and brused her toes. But she is alright now. No permanent damage was done.

I am still cooking at the gas station. I can't really say I am a good cook, but I am getting pretty good at wiping up the spills around the pop and coffee machines. As far as that goes, I am getting a lot of practice at cleaning the broaster and doing pots and pans. I am working three days per week and, thank goodness, I have four days off in a row this week. I didn't do much today but may go to the farm tomorrow or the next day. I don't want to pin myself down to any particular day. I may not feel like going when the time comes. Then what.

The problem is, I want a job but I don't really want to work. I want to go to the farm but I don't really want to endure the long drive and work I may run into when I get out there.

That is about enough. I really didn't have any important news and, thank goodness, no bad news. JH

July 28, 2003, 9:34 PM MDT.
Time sure goes fast when your having fun. It has been two weeks since I wrote last. Seems like just yesterday.

Nothing worth writing about happens around here. That is the problem. It is still hot.

However, we went to Lenard and Jacky's 50th last week end. We all had a good time. Norma and I stayed in Billings over night because we didn't want to drive home in the dark. Yesterday we came home and tomorrow I go to work. Today was a day off, I get Wednesday and Thursday off and work again on Friday and Saturday. So, there you have my schedule for this week. The best thing about this job is, I never have to work more than a couple of days in a row. The second best thing is, it makes the days off more pleasant.

One other thing I might mention. The hot dry weather has turned our grass lands back to their natural brown color. The wheat fields are ripe and being harvested and the corn is looking great. At least the hot weather agrees with the corn. We haven't heard from any of our July 4th visitors, so I think I will send some e-mails so they can't say the same thing about me. JH

July 13, 2003, 9:24 PM MDT.
Thank goodness it isn't Friday.

We are in a sweat this evening. Our Air Conditioner is on the blink. This is serious. Every time it gets to about 100 the air conditioner quits at about five PM. It is after nine and it still won't run. This is about the end of it. That air conditioner could be history. It is hotter in the house than it is outside.

I am too busy to mind such matters as the air conditioner, salvation or even cutting the grass. After all I have a job to go to every day. Well, not quite every day. I am working about three days per week though. I have to stand for eight hours each shift. You can't sit down and cook. I am a Deli helper at a gas station. I cook chicken, buritos, corn dogs, chicken stips, JO JO's and a few other things. If you go through Miles City at lunch time, stop in at the Town Pump and have a tast.

It is true, that a guy has to be careful not to clutter up his life with too many little things. The important ones get forgotten. Like these writtings. But, that is what I have done. I hardly have time to go to Mass. I have to squeeze it in on Saturday evening so I have time for all the little things.

We had a good time at the reunion. All of the people who came were very congenial. I hope we were the same. We injoyed the evening at Ingomar and the evening at the Forsyth country club. We had an added bonus. Two of Joan's daughters and a couple of her grand children stayed in Miles City for a few days. We got to spend some time with them. We enjoyed that very much.

It would seem that we would be having some withdrawal symtoms after all the company left and we are alone. But, not so. We are fine. JH

July 1, 2003, 6:30 PM MDT.
Hot. Out air conditioner quit this afternoon. That is when you can tell how hot it is.

Art, Kari and I went to the farm yesterday to prepare for visitors. You know, you always have to pretty the place up a little when company is comming. We patched a couple of windows and swept some of the dust out of the kitchen. I was, entirely pleased with the condition of the place. It hasn't been damaged in the ten years since it was occupied. Looks the same as it did when Dad left it.

We inspected the CRP. It has a good crop of crested wheat grass and some alfalfa with a little native grass. Not what we tried to make of it. It was seeded to native grass but it didn't grow, so the crested wheat came back. After all the time and expense, it looks about the same as it did before our efforts.

We stopped at the Jersey Lilly for lunch. The bufalow burgers and beans were good. It was the first bufalo I have eaten that was really good.

As for me, I am waiting for the reunion. JH.

June 23, 2003, 10:05AM MDT.
I have very little to report this week. But I will report on the hair growth. I have to shave everyday because there is enough whisker growth, but the hair on my head is not doing much. It is growing, but not enough to be visible at more than about three feet. It looks a little whitter than I remembered, but there isn't enough to be sure.

The other thing I might mention is, I am playing phone tag with a couple of folks this morning. This, of course, is one of the modern inconveniences I don't really care for. I go out for a few minutes and that is when he calls. I call back and he is not at his desk so I leave, yet, another message.

Another item I should report on. I got a job. The bills are getting bigger and I found out what a fixed income means. I haven't gone to work yet, but the job has been promised to me. I have to do some paper work, probably fill out a W4, today and go in for some training tomorrow. I am going to work in a delicatesen. I had to look that up in the dictionary. Thought I should know how to spell it as long as I am going to work in one. I am going to work three eight hour shifts per week. I couldn't find any shorter shifts, so I guess this will have to do. I'm going to learn how to fry chicken.

The reunion is almost upon us. I want to go the farm and do a little cleaning up before anyone sees the place. I haven't been there since last summer. It should be fun to go out, but the energy expenditure for a trip there and back is pretty darned high. I may not have enough, what with my new job. Well, maybe I will go and maybe I won't. JH

June 15, 2003, 4:47PM MDT.
It has been 11 days since my last writting and there isn't much to tell. I really think I do this because it is a way I can talk without feed back. No matter what I write, no one says that isn't true or it is a gross exageration. However, there are a few reasonable things I could mention.

It may be my imagination, but I feel free of chemo. My energy supply seems to be normal, my other sensations seem to be about right for an old guy, and if I keep my mind on current affairs, my mood is pretty good.

With these improvements in my condition, I have thought about a trip to the farm in the next few days. Tuesday looks like a good day. It takes a lot of time to get there and back not to mention the time it takes to do the work I may do while there. Besides that I will need to take a long walk through the CRP to check on the growth of the grass we planted in 1998. The dust will have to be swept out of the house. We are expecting company in a couple of weeks during the reunion. Well, I have nothing else to do just now, I might as well go out and clean it up a little bit.

It has been a pretty good week end. I had a nice visit with Jamie yesterday and a nice visit with Joey today. They tell me they are fine and I believe them. We are going to wrap this week end up with a barbecue this evening. Tommy is out cutting grass this afternoon and I am going to cook a little beef steak in a couple of hours. It looks like a lttle evening weather comming in the form of a few clouds. Haven't heard any thunder. JH

June 6, 2003, 9:09PM MDT.
Chemo is finished. My tumors have disappeared, the groshaun (a tube to a vein in my chest used for blood drawing and IV input) is gone and my blood is improving. White count is 3.5, normal is 3.8 to 11, and hemogobin in 11.3. Normal is 13.3 to 17.1.

I did work today I couldn't have done a week ago. So there goes my excuse.

Norma is still working her St Vincent job on Friday afternoons and Tommy is still working his three jobs. I guess I will need do something productive. I want to get paid though. I don't know, yet, if there is anyone in Miles City who wants to pay me.

I can't do a writting without mentioning the weather. We have had over an inch and a quarter this month already. I got caught in a hail storm this afternoon while doing some hedge trimming for one of Tommy's customers. That is the way it has been. We have two or three showers every day. The weather man thinks this showery weather will continure for another day or so, but then it looks like it is going to warm up and dry out. Just when you get used to it it changes.

Just because the chemo is finished dosen't mean I will guit posting my thoughts on this site from time to time. There is plenty going on around here to fill up this page on a regular basis. JH

June 1, 2003, 10:19PM MDT.
I can't get on line to upload this message because there is some kind of strange noise on our telephone line this evening. I will upload this message in the morning, God willing and the noise is gone.

It is bed time, but I have been trying to do some bookkeeping for our lawn care business and it has boggled my head.

The telephone noise may be the result of some water in the line. Every time we get some weather something goes wrong with our services. The last time is was a power outage during a wind storm.

As you may already know, we had a lot of rain today. It was a lot for our neck of the woods. We had rain this morning and a thunderstorm this afternoon. I have no idea as to the amount, but it was quite a bit.

Because there is a real shortage of news, I will report on my health and let it go at that.

As you already know, I have finished my series of chemo treatments. We are going to Billings on about Thursday for a CT scann and if it turns out good, that will be the end. I have been feeling a little bit better each day. My energy is going up and I am doing more chores. I still need a little more endurance, but I  never had much of that. There is no sign of hair on my head yet but a little sign of some under my nose. I haven't shaved in a couple of months and don't look forward to it. Norma has mentioned that I could start any time. Shaving.

There you are. All the news from Miles City that is fit to print. JH

May 24, 2003, 11:50AM MDT.
We are enjoying a nice quiet Saturday morning here in Montana. Tommy is at work cutting grass at a ranch home. He is going to put on some fertilizer after it is cut. Fertilizing a nice lawn like that is a stressfull activity for me. He dosen't seem as conserned about burning the grass as I do. I fertilized it twice last year and had plenty of fertilizer left over, so I suppose I under fertilized it.

I am running pretty scared today. Norma has some newly purchased plants on the back porch. She has a promise from me to help plant them. Actually, I feel pretty good this morning. Like I could really be of some help to her. But, I don't think she is ready to start just yet.

I had a pretty good day yesterday. I made $12.00 at the city court. They pay $12.00 if you show up in the jury pool, and a bawling out from the judge if you don't. I didn't make the cut so didn't make any judgements, which would have paid $25.00.

This is Memorial week end, so we should make a trip to Forsyth with some decorations for the graves there. If I can get Norma to make a trip to Forsyth this afternon, I won't have to plant flowers. Or, is that not a good reason for going. I feel more like a nap now. JH

May 18, 2003, 11:29AM MDT.
There are some new pictures on the site. I have more to put up but for now I have to rest my head for a little while. Check back later in the day for more pictures. JH

May 15, 2003, 8:58PM MDT.
We have done nothing distinguishing in the week, but I'll write a little anyhow.

Well, If nothing else has happened, the weather is still acting up. It rained pretty good a few days ago and got hotter than heck today. We have some clouds rolling in to cool it off and hopfully, a little rain will fall tonight.

Most of our operations are still working. We have Tommy working at the laundry 8 or 9 hours each day and cutting grass for three hours after work. Norma and I got our own lawn cut this morning. I guess we could pay Tommy, but we didn't think of that, we did it ourselves.

The bucking horse sale is this weekend. I don't care if I miss the sale, but I am too weak to go to the horse races. Wouldn't that make you a little crabby?

Chemo is finished. I am weak as a kitten. It has something to do with the lack of red blood cells. I take a shot each Monday to remedy that situation, but it hasn't taken yet. In about a month, I expect to be back pretty close to normal. I have an appointment for a CT scan on June 6th. That will reveal if the cancer is gone. I feel good as long as I don't exert myself. So I won't. JH

May 8, 2003, 6:16PM MDT.
I started out apologizing for not leaving a note on Monday, then I dated my writting May 5, which was Monday. It was really the 7th. And now it is the 8th.

Now everything is under controll. I feel fine when I sit down but my red cell count must be below zero. Productive effort is out of the question. At least that is what I am telling Norma. But it has gotten me out of no chores. I am preparing supper. Fish with spicy tomoto and vegetables and potatoes with fresh french bread and butter. A little like Grandpa Jones would make.

I have Tommy out trying to cut grass. It has been raining but I made him go out anyway. After all, he is from Seattle where they have to mow grass in the rain, otherwise it would never get done. We noticed a funny thing out there last year. The construction crews keep right on working when it rains. Western Washington people are tough.

I got my white cell shot at the hospital this afternoon. The nurse told me they are experimenting with exercise to enhance chemo patients ability to withstand the side effects. Isn't that just great. Make sick people exercise. What next? Asside from that idea, they have taken good care of me. I have a month to recover, then we well have a CT scann to see of the malignacy is really gone.

In the mean time I have a lot of things to do. I have to recover enough to cut my own grass and help Tommy when he gets behind, but first I need some rest to allow the recovery to proceded. First things first. JH

May 7, 2003, 7:54PM MDT.
Good heaven. I thought I had posted a message before we left on Monday. Computer must have been on the fritz or something.

Well, now I am back. They gave me my last chemo treatment this week. I have to have a CT scann in a month. By then we are hoping for the lymph nodes to be all back to normal and a cure lumming ahead. No one promised a cure, but that is what I want. Of course, I would settle for a good long remission, but remission becomes almost a dirty word when you consider the cost in money, time and feeling chemo'ed at freguent intervals.

We missed you Tom a Carri, but Mary brought communion to me today.

I am out of time. Check back tomorrow. JH

April 24, 2003, 9:14PM MDT.
Easter and all of its pagentry is over. It hardly seem possible. I guess that is because I didn't participate very much. I did go to 8:30 AM Mass on Easter Sunday. I can sit in the cry room and hardly anyone comes in there at that time of day.

In the afternoon we went to the Olive and had the buffet dinner. Since than I have done almost nothing. But Norma and Tom have been busy. Norma has been playing cards, going to birthday dinners and keeping her appearance up. Tom has been working. He is back in the truck and has lined up some moonlighting jobs. His moonlighting is cutting most of the same lawns we cut last summer. He has to do it alone. I am too weak to help.

I have become weak because of low red blood cells. I have only one dose of chemo left so, hopfully, I can survive. I will be dancing in about four weeks. JH

April 17, 2003, 8:26PM MDT.
I'm back. They filled me with chemicals, but I survived and now I am home sleeping it off. Kind of like a three day drunk. Well, it wasn't that much fun. Actually, I don't mind the procedure so much, but I am tied to an IV pump for almost three days. It does make me feel a little bit strange. But, my biggest problem now is the reduction in the hemaglobin in my blood. It has left me pretty weak. They are giving me a shot each week to improve my energy level. It dosen't mean I can't do anything, just that I can't do much of it. There is just one more treatment left to do. Lucky thing. I may not last through two.

Norma is doing very well. She is responding to her nursing duties in good shape.

Tommy is still rehabilitating his shoulder. He wants to get it healed so he can get back in the truck, but that may not last long. He was replacing an injured guy who is back. He has been gone so long they need someone to go along with him to teach him the changes in the route. Tommy hopes he can do that for a while instead of folding sheets in the laundry.

So, we are not doing too badly, but there is a lot of room for improvement. If everything were perfect, what would we have to do? My boss used to say something like that. "If there were no problems, what would I need you for?" JH

April 13, 2003, 8:25PM MDT.
We are leaving in the morning for treatment number five. I am writting because we won't be back until Thursday.

Good news. Tom's shoulder is healing nicely. He is back at work, but not doing the same thing. He is working inside the laundry with the women. He dosen't like it. He will see the therapist on Tuesday and the doctor in about a week. Maybe then, he can go back to driving the delivery truck.

I worked a half day last week at the office and the weather has turned warm. All seems to be well.

The LK I signed off with last time was a typo which has been corrected. JH

April 7, 2003, 8:30PM MDT.
Pay no attention to that last writting. It was written on April fools day, and you know what a practical joker I am.

The grass is getting green in God's country and more nice warm weather is comming in the next few days. Our dafodils and tulips are up but not ready to bloom yet. There may be a little back porch sitting tomorrow.

We have to change some of our plans. We had been lining up some work for Tommy, but he dislocated his shoulder this morning. He happened to be picking up rugs at the hospital when it happened. He called us from there at about 6:00AM. He was already in the emergency room so we just went over and picked him up after they had him fixed up. He has his arm in a sling and will be resting it until he sees the doctor on Thursday when they will decide when he can use it again.

We have some company comming tomorrow. Tom and Carrie are going to be in Miles City at lunch time, so we are going out for lunch. They are traveling with the Bishop. I don't know if the Bishop is going to lunch with us or if he has plans of his own. We will see.

Have a nice day. JH

April 1, 2003, 8:42PM MST.
The bald guy looks kind of sick. Well, it can't be me. I feel just fine.

I did have some bad days after the last treatment. Yesterday was as bad as any of them. But, today I felt like doing things again. So, I did. I changed the oil and started the lawn care equipment to make sure it would run before Tommy needs to use it. I say, Tommy, because although I feel good the limit to my activity stops just short of walking behind a lawn mower.

Tommy has two lawns to do on Friday afternoon and Saturday. He wants to do some more on the other afternoons, but he has to find out if his current schedule will continue for awhile. We have about four other customers who will probably let us cut their grass if he has time.

The Lord willing, I will be ready to do some things tomorrow. I have my weekly house cleaning to do in the morning and my tax return to run in the afternoon. While I am out at the office I will see if I can do some more returns in the next couple of weeks. Another pay check would be nice.

Norma is getting along just fine. She is doing a little cooking and laundry and enjoying her leasure time. She saw a TV movie only a woman could understand this afternoon and has been watching situation comedies this evening. I don't know when I am going to catch up on the war news. She won't give up the remote. JH

March 28, 2003, 11:12AM MST.
Got company. See the picture on the home page. Sorry about that bald guy. He just looks that way. JH

March 27, 2003, 12:26PM MST.
Just as promised, here is my report on the chemo treatment at the Deaconess in Billings.

It was a blood draw at 9:30 AM at the Deaconess Clinic and an 11:30AM visit from the Oncologist. At noon I was in the chair tied to an IV for a five hour input of Rituxon. They turned me loose at 5:00PM or so. We had a nice supper and I got to sleep over at the Motel. On Tuesday at 8:00AM I checked into the Hospital for two days of IV feedings. They gave me several medicines and antidotes. I can't pronounce or spell their names, so I won't try. We got out in time to be home by 7:30PM last evening. Today, I am feeling mellow but not inclined to do more than to walk from my recliner to the refrigerator and back. Outside of that, Norma is going to take me to the Holy Rosary Hospital for my Neulasta shot this afternoon. I expect that to be about all of my activity for today and tomorrow.

I must include a visit from Tom and Carrie, the Schleders from Big Timber on Tuesday. They visited us, Tom brought me communion and prayers and they had lunch with Norma in the hospital cafeteria. It couldn't have been a more welcome experience and we thank them very much for that. JH 
March 23, 2003, 8:00PM MST.
I am feeling real good. It is the last day of my recovery period between the third and fourth doses. Tomorrow we go to Billings for the fourth dose. I will report on our experience on about Thursday. JH

March 18, 2003, 8:02PM MST.
The purpose of my writting today is to discuss the effect of a blood transfusion in a chemo weakened old man.

You can tell I am going to tell you that a transfusion can really cause a perk up. The transfusion was on Friday and it is Tuesday and I feel perked up. I did some house work this morning and worked on my tax return at the office this afternoon. I feel almost well.

The chemo cycle is three weeks. This is the third week, so I am supposed to feel good. The chemicals are given the first week, they are left to percolate the second week and, I believe, the third week is when the patient is left to get stong enough to take the next dose. I feel like a dose right now.

The weather. We are having some semi winter again. It isn't cold enough to be winter, so it is snowing and raining intermitantly. I think it is our spring storm. Without, which, we would be the worst kind of desert. We nearly always get one of these. Sometimes it is early and some times it is late. Sometimes it snows a lot and sometimes not. This one is a good one. It is not quite cold enough to snow and not quite warm enough to rain so the snow will not build up too deep. Hopefully, we well get a couple inches of moisture and then the sun will come out and warm everything up. Hope. That, we know we don't deserve but expect anyhow.

I hope to get well and feel like doing something this summer. JH

March 15, 2003, 9:50AM MST.
It has been a week, as I notice, since my last writting. My MY how time flies when you are having fun. 
Well, I had better tell you what it is that I have been doing that has been so much fun.

First of all, I had a blood transfusion yesterday. I had to sit in the outpatient clinic for four hours connected to the IV machine. I had to ask permission to go to the bathroom, but the Hospital provided lunch for Norma and me. The reason for the transfusion, among others, was a low hemaglobing reading in my blood test. I could feel it, because I felt a little dizzy when I got out of the chair. That is gone today but I am still a little tired.

The next fun I am having is surviving a cold. The doctor doesn't think I need anything for it at this time, but I know, sooner or later I will need antibiotics to get over the lingering cough.

I haven't had any fun at the office lately because they are in the March lull. It is just as well. I don't feel like working. I have a chance to work with the free for the poor and elerly tax service this morning, but I don't want to give any old guy a cold. So I am staying home. Ooops! I may still give this cold to an old guy. Jerry and Frances are coming to Miles City for a visit this afternoon.

Norma is feeling much better. Her cold has dimished and she is showing signs of recovery.

The realy fun thing we are doing is watching the snow melt. It was the coldest week of the year with snow but for the most  recent few days we have temperatures into the 50's. The snow is not all gone yet. It has been freezing at night until last night. It will take a couple more nights like that to get rid of the last pile of snow.

We are warm and well fed for now. I am half way through my treatments and spring is here. What more can we ask. JH

March 8, 2003, 12:12PM MST.
Most of what I wrote on the 6th was wrong. We did come home on Wednesday evenings and it did snow about 5 inches by Thursday morning, but we have a foot on the ground now. Tommy shoveled this morning and that was his report. It sometimes seems deeper when you are shoveling. It did snow like the dickens all day yesterday, so there is about a foot on the ground. It isn't ofen you see that much snow on the ground in our area.

The other misinformation was that I was going to Forsyth and do a tax return on Friday. Thank goodness, it was snowing too much to go to Forsyth and my tax client canceled out. I didn't feel like doing either. I think the chemo is catching up with me. I didn't feel well on either Thursday or Friday, and I don't feel like doing much today. Although I feel much better.

Even though we are hunkered down for the duration of this cold weather, 10 below last night, there is only warmer weather coming. I can only imagine what a releif it will be when a batch of warm are moves in and the water starts to drip off the house. JH

March 6, 2003, 7:50PM MST.
Some water has gone under the bridge since my last writting.

We spent Monday to yesterday evening in Billings for our third chemo treatment. I drove down in the snow on Monday Morning and Norma drove back last night just ahead of another snow. We woke up to about 5 inches of it this morning. The time in Billings was spent fruitfully. I absorbed some more chemicals. I wish I knew the names and I wish I didn't know the price. Anyhow, I feel much better than I did after the second dose.

I am going to Forsyth for a meeting with the Farm Service Agency at 11AM and back here for a tax return at 2PM. It will be fun. If it dosen't snow in the morning.

That is about all the news worth telling here. We are all fine. I will write again soon. JH

March 2, 2003, 8:20PM MST.
Time has slipped up on me. We are going to Billings in the morning for my next dose of chemo. It will be my third. I am feeling real good now, but the darned stuff seems to degrade my condition a little bit so I won't be feeling so good when we come back on Wednesday evening.

We have had visits from Jamie and from Joey. They wanted to see me one more time. I suppose that would be, while I am still alive. But the side effects don't seem to be as bad this time as they were in 2000. I was in wonderful shape while they were here so they should be reassured. I will survive.

Norma is suffering from a bad cold, but, good soldier that she is, she is going to drive me to Billings in the morning and stay there while I under go the treatment. She is busy right now getting the laundry done and the packing for the trip done before bed time. I would help, but, in the knick of time, I remembered I had this writting to do.

I guess that about covers it for now. I will write again when we return. JH

February 23, 2003, 2:26PM MST.
Not many dull moments here. On Friday, Tommy drove Jamie to Wolf Point after a three or four day stay, then he went to Billings on Saturday to get Joey for a three or four day stay.

When you are in Miles City in the winter time for a visit there really are no exciting activities for the quest, so we have fun filled feasts. Today's feast is going to be on Swiss Steak. Tom and Joe are going to include a stop at the grocery store in their junket around town this afternoon to pickup the groceries for Norma to make the Swiss Steak. While they are all occupied I will make up a little story about the current events.

We had a nice time with Jamie. It seemed he had never left and this was just a little extention of his time here in the early 90's. He was here for three years then going to Miles Community College and working part time jobs in Miles City. He has gone on to become a middle class citizen in Everett Washington, which was his goal all along. Norma and I enjoy the fact that he was able to acchieve that.

Now we have Joe, a middle class citizen from Seattle with us. We haven't spent as much time with him in the last 20 years, so we are becoming better aquainted with who the real Joe is. Without going into any more detail, we are pleased with the grown up guy here today.

Norma is at rest today because she was at a benefit chilly feed for her best friends last night. I hope she can make the swiss steak.  She sold tickets to raise money to restore equipment for our favorite country and western band, which happens to be Lilly's, the girl Norma baby sat many years ago.

I can't quit without mentioning the weather. Cold. That is all there is to it. But, the sun is out now. It isn't warming it up much but it looks nice.

The picture. For those who may have checked in in the last couple of days, I tried to change the picture on the main page, but the time was short and I was tired and the picture name was not correct and I gave up. But all is well. The subject is Richard and Diane's grand daughter. JH

February 17, 2003, 11:04AM MST.
We are leaving for Wolf Point at 12:30 so I have time to get in a few words.

The sun is out, the temperature is in the 40's and the snow is on its way to become water. There is not a bad thought or feeling possible on a day like this.

I want to tell you what happened this morning. I stopped at the mail drop by the post office. I had a big hand full of envelopes, one of which was my bank deposit. Sure, it went right in the mail box with my letters. So, I ran into the post office for help. There was no one around because it is presidents day, but I banged on the post master's door. To my surprise the assistant post master opened the door. He knows me and I know him. He asked what my problem was. When I told him, he said, "well, should we go out and get your deposit back out of the mail box?" That is exactly what we did. The post office does have a heart.

Anyone with a picture, please e-mail it to me so I can replace the one we have on the main page. JH

February 16, 2003, 7:00PM MST.
This is sunday, so I can say I had the chemo was last week. I felt pretty good until Thursday when I didn't feel so good and it lasted through Friday. So, nothing got done those two days but on Saturday I felt great. We had a little seminar in the moring and I did three tax returns in the afternoon. I made a little money and came home a happy man. I hope to do some more work during the next two weeks. But I never know how heavey they will schedule me and I have no control over that. I am just thankful for the work I got to do for a couple of weeks preceeding this last chemo treatment.

Norma and I are going to drive to Wolf Point to get Jamie from the train tomorrow. He wanted to come out to see me. I guess he wants to see for himself, what my condition is. Joey is, likewise comming, but not until Saturday. The last time I had chemo Joey came when I was at my worst. I asked him if I looked pretty bad when he arrived. He said "yeah, but I got used to it."

Now you know the highlights of our next few days. Otherwise it is pretty quiet around the house. The one visitor I might mention was Kari Grace from Big Timber. She was traveling with some Eastern Montana nuns in our area when she had a lttle time to stop in and visit us. It seems the folks in Big Timber are just fine if Tom could just get his church remodeling done. Otherwise everything is OK there.JH

February 12, 2003, 1:52PM MST.
We are baaack.
I had three days of chemo therapy in Billings and Norma drove me back to Miles City this evening. I have had no noticable side effects and hope to be functioning as usual tomorrow. JH

February 9, 2003, 1:52PM MST.
Would you like for me to put the other picture back on the main page?

February 8, 2003, 8:25PM MST.
Norma's back is better. At least good enough to drive me to Billings on Monday morning. I think she is a little unhappy with the hour we are going to leave. 7:00AM. I have an appointment with the oncologist at 11:15, but they need to draw blood two hours ahead of time so it can be analized by 11:15. We are leaving early to get blood there on time. We will have outpatient therapy on Monday and hospitalization on Thesday and Wednesday. It will be a full cup for the week. I am not working at the office for the week unless they have a desk for me and I feel up to it by about Friday.

I have had a wonderful time at the office this past couple of weeks. I have made a little money and have learned to file some more complicated returns. It was good of them to let me work, bald head and all.

Most of my hair is gone. It started to fall out on about Thursday. If Norma will take my picture I will put it on this site tomorrow. A site isn't a site withour a sight.

Tommy got a raise last week that I think he deserved. The man Tommy is replacing is coming back in about a month, but Tommy thinks they are going to have another job for him.

The weather is just killing me. It is about 30 during the day with a chilly wind. It freezes my bald head. Sure, I can wear a cap, but that isn't cool. JH

January 29, 2003, 8:33PM MST.
Norma wrenched her back a couple of days ago. She has been hard pressed to keep up with her laundry with two big vigours men in the house dirtying cloths for her to wash. She lifted a big pile of wet clothes and hurt her back. Not to worry. Although she has been in discomfort she has perked up pretty well this evening. So all is well on that account.

Tommy is still doing his three or four jobs. He is practicing with the United Christian Church chior at this time in the evening when he should be in bed. He has got to get up at five AM to go to work tomorrow.

I am glad it is not me. But I have to get up in time to get to work at 9:00AM. I am actually doing some work at the office. I have worked three days and I am on the schedule again tomorrow. It can't get any better than that.

My treatments for Lymphoma are coming along fine. I felt pretty tired last week, but I am fine this week. In ten or twelve days we will be back for our second treatment and, I supose, start all over again. My blood count turned out all right on Monday, but I have to have another blood draw tomorrow.

Enough. I have to take a shower, and clean my gorshung before bed time. JH

January 25, 2003, 3:23PM MST.
I had a visit with Joe today. He is fine and tells me it is real warm in Seattle today. It is 50 degrees and raining. It's 6 degrees and getting colder here. We had snow all morning and another day of cold weather coming, but some warming expected for Monday.

I am a tired and lazy goose (as Ma used to say) today. The drugs are not without effect. That is alright with me. As long as I can feel them, I expect they are working. I expect to be a little livlier in the next couple of weeks before my next dose.

Along with what I have just told you, I have a job. In fact, two jobs. They are putting me on the schedule at the office and I will be scheduled to work some for the free tax service for the poor and elderly. I have no idea if I can do it, but it will put a little spark in my life. I think I can do it.

It is snow blower time. I would love to go out and shovel some snow. But, of course, in my weakened condition I will have to pass on that one. Poor Norma, had to shovel the entire walk herself. She did a good job too. JH

January 23, 2003, 5:25PM MST.
We went go Billings, we got our medicine and we are back in Miles City. We got to Billings in good shape but our drive back was not quite so good. We had to drive through a little rain which froze on the windshield so Norma had to stop for a deicings once in awhile. The medicine was the big deal. They give me a three day treatment. I got a shot of Bituxin on Monday and a 24 hour chemo drip of some other stuff on Tuesday and Wednesday. There was anti nausia medication and some other stuff to go along with it given too, but inspite of all that I don't feel bad.

There is a nice place for Norma to stay while I am in the hospital. It is called the Lutheran Center, but you don't have to be Lutheran to stay there. So, I stayed there with her last night because we didn't want to drive home in the dark. So we drove home in the rain today. You can't tell when traveling will be the easiest.

I am feeling nice and lazy, but I don't think my head has been uneffected. I can't think of anything to type. JH

January 19, 2003, 6:48PM MST.
We will be going to Billings for our first chemo treatment of 2003 in the morning. There is a new drug and a new way of administering it so we have to go to Billings.

There are a couple other notes of interest. I have been progressing nicely on both of my jobs. I went to Glendive for a class on the Montana State return on Friday. That was for the free service for the poor and elderly. Then, I did my first return for the the office in Miles City this week.

The other issue is that I developed a muscle spasam in by back. I didn't know I had enough muscle back there to hurt so much. I hope the medicine will cut it down before our big ride to Billings tomorrow. JH

January 14, 2003, 8:02PM MST.
The recovery is coming along fine. There was complication, but that has been taken care of. I had a fever on Friday evening. It turned out to be caused by an infection in the incision. A dose of Cipro has quieted it down. The tempurature has been fine the past few days and the incision is healing fine. That dosen't mean it isn't still sour. That will be about all the health news until Tuesday of next week. That is when the Oncologist comes to town and we will make all the big decisions then. I will let you know what they are as soon as I know them.

The other news is about my jobs. I am on the staff at the office, but that dosen't mean I will make any money. They seem to be a little over staffed and I am the last on the list. I have a job, but no clients. And maybe I won't get any. I feel that I am sort of the spare tire. It may be better that way. I don't feel like doing much work anyway. My other job with the free tax return folks for the poor and elderly is going much better. Wouldn't you just know it. There is no pay there. I passed the entrance exam and I am going to Glendive to the Montana income tax school on Friday morning. I am looking forward to doing something at either place.

Tommy is still hurrying about town delivering laundry and enjoying every minute of it. And Norma is having a wonderfull time cooking and keeping house for us. She hasn't actually said that, but I expect she must be. She is doing such a wonderful job of it.

The weather is absolutely gosh auful miserable. Zero at night and fifteen in the day time. It may even snow tonight. I don't think so. It is too cold. This is no place to live in the winter time. The grass is brown, the trees are black and the air is too cold. I wouldn't say that if it would stay 20 degrees warmer. JH

January 9, 2003, 9:42PM MST.
We are back. Norma did a wonderful job of driving me to Billings and back and overseeing my surgery.

You have probably noticed I am a day late. There is a good reason for that. The laparoscopy procedure didn't work. It seems there is too much stuff in there for the doctor to find the lymph node. It was hiden behind and under some other things so he had to resort to the knife. So, I went under the knive.

The surgery was successful. The node was removed and sent to the lab. The physician told Norma it was the same cancer as the last time. We haven't heard from the Oncologist yet, but I expect the same treatment as I got in 1999. That still doesn't explain the delay in our return. The medical people recommend the patient stay in Billings for the night after an incision is involved in surgery. Being tough and cheap, I stayed in the motel last night. I rally wanted to save the first day hospital charge from medicare.

That is about all I have time to write tonight. Besides, I had surgery yesterday. JH

January 6, 2003, 9:43PM MST.
I want to leave a message so you will know why I may be a little late in adding to my writtings.

We are gong to Billings tomorrow afternoon for a blood draw at 4:00PM and a laparoscopy of my belly at 7:AM on Wednesday morning.

That is the only word I wanted to leave until I am back, hopfully Wednesday evening, or heaven forbid, if I have to be hospitalized, later. I will try my best to be back here on Wednesday evening with all the gory details and a story about the auful pain. JH

January 1, 2003, 7:37PM MST.

New Years really was a better holiday. I went to Mass this morning and we had dinner with a few friends at the Stage Coach Station this afternoon.

It was a warm day for January. About 35 degrees. We had some rain last night that froze on the streets and sidewalks. I had to walk real carefully when I went to Mass this morning, but it melted off by about noon. This is one of the nicest winters we have had here for a long time.

It seems some big event happens around here every week. Last week Tommy went to work and this week I went to work. It is true, I really don't like to do work, but I like to have a job. They signed me up at the office the other day and I intend to do some software study starting about tomorrow. They are having some hardware trouble, but expect it to be fixed soon. Like tomorrow. This office uses a different software package than I am accustomed to. They're e-fileing procedures and rapid refund process may be a little bit different too. I have a lot of catching up to do. JH

December 29, 2002, 6:26PM MST.
Tommy has put in a week's work at the laundry. Thank goodness, he is as enthusiastic now as he was when he started. He likes to work. I guess that is what a couple of years of unemployment will do.

I don't like to work. I like the idea of having a job and getting a pay check, but I don't like to actually go there and do something. When I have to do something I don't really want to do I get sleepy.

We had some company for Christmas. We didn't actually have company for Christmas, we had dinner with them then we played cards with them on Christmas day. The Sunday afternoon cribbage or penochle game is a wonderfull thing as long as everyone behaves nicely. We did.

It was a pretty sinsible Christmas. A few gifts, but not too much. Now we have a much better holiday coming up. New Years. It is better because we don't expect so much from it. Holidays are different for retirees. They are no longer days off. So, now we can focus more on the reason for the holiday. Peace on earth, good will to all men. JH

December 20, 2002, 2:23PM MST.
I have some good news. As the old saying goes; "good news is like manure. It dosen't do anyone any good unless it is spread around."

My best news is that Tommy has found employment. He is doing the paper work and getting a uniform for his new job as we speak. He will be the delivery guy for the laundry in town. Also Norma is doing her weekly shift at St V's and enjoying every minute of it.  I am doing nothing.

The other item is that Norma and I went to Billings on Wednesday to meet with the physician who will remove the meat for the biopsy. He is confident that he can find a lymph node for the lab and sew me up just fine. We are going to Billings on the 7th of January for the preliminary work, like a blood test and urinalysis, then for the surgery on the morning of the 8th. As far as I know, therapy will begin soon after that.

In celebration for all this, besides prayers of thanksgiving, we are going to the Stage Coach Station with our many gift certificates for a nice supper tonight. JH

December 15, 2002, 7:04PM MST.
Not much was accomplished during the past few days. The main item I should report on is progress in my medical situation. My doctor did call me on about the 12th and told me I would be seen by a phsycian who will remove the biopsy material. The physician's nurse called the next day to tell me of the appointment. It is on the 18th. This is not for surgery, but only for a get acquainted exam. I think he wants to take a look at me now to develope a baseline of my condition so he can tell if any damage was done by the surgery. Anyhow, we are going to Billings on the 18th for this and then it is anyone's guess as to what is going to happen. I do want to keep this process going so it can be finished by next summer.

There was one other thing. I mailed some Christmas gifts on Saturday. I also mailed some Christmas cards. It looks like I am in the spirit of the season. We haven't had much Christmas music this year which I think would help.

The weather is till warm and dry. JH

December 11, 2002, 7:16PM MST.
I wasn't going to a writting today because I didn't think I had anything to say, but after checking my hit counter, I discovered there had been 20 hits since I last checked. That is reason enough to write something, even if it is nothing, just to change the message.

If you watch David Letterman's show you have seen "is it something?" The curtain is raised and an individual performs for about a minute then Paul the band leader and Dave decide if it was something or if it was nothing. So, if you think what I have written here is nothing, send me an e-mail and I will try harder the next time.

Something did happen today. The insurance check came. You can tell I have been thinking about the insurance check for the roof, because it is about the first thing out of my fingers.

I suppose the really big item everyone is wondering about is have I been byipsied yet? No, but I did call the doctor's office today. We have a nurse shortage so he has no nurse, I think I was talking to his partner. My doctor is in Sidney today so he can't talk to me until tomorrow. It is my belief he will call tomorrow or the next day and inform me as to the day when the biopsy surgery will take place. He did tell me, at our last visit that I was in no danger. Of what? Maybe an exploding tumor. Anyhow, I believe he expected this process to take a lot of time. That is good. Now I know I have a lot of time. Not everyone can say that.

We put our lawn tractor away today. That means the season is over. Thank goodness. Tommy has a job. He delivers newspapers to vending machines three nights per week for about an hour each night. It is only a few bucks per week but it makes me feel a lot better.

Norma is fine. She is looking forward to Christmas.

If you still think this writting is nothing, I can't help it. Nothing much has happened this week. JH

December 5, 2002, 4:19PM MST.
Tommy is job hunting and Norma is baking cake. They are doing just fine. I haven't done very well today, but I did get a job. I think I have the folks who do free tax returns for the poor and elderly talked into letting me help. It is not that bad. I will lose less money than I would if we went to Everett, paid rent and worked for the office.

Let's have a weather report. We had a couple of cold nights and a couple of windy days, but now it is nice. The temperature got up to about 40 today and the sun was out all the time. There was no wind and we have no snow, so it was quite nice. We expect several more days just like that.

This is really a slow news week. Nothing has actually happened, but we are anticipating some things. Like a visit to the movie theater. Tommy and I are going to the Lord of the Rings, Part two in a few days. Norma dosen't like Lord of the Rings. Then, on Sunday the Miles City Community Orchestra is performing at 2:00PM. It is really more than Miles City. There are performers from out of town and even some from the Billings Symphony. You can't beat that. Also, if the weather stays nice and we have a day to spare next week, Tommy and I may drive out to the farm. Norma dosen't like to go and neither does Tommy, but I need him to help me carry the old dresser from up stairs to the pickup.

Speaking of the old dresser, it would be a shame if it got destroyed by mice or something, but it is an important part of the whole farm as an artifact. Just like the old rusty machinery laying around in the weeds. It is part of the farm and part of the complete artifact itself. It would be a good idea to load it all up on a truck and sell it to the junk dealer, but then the farm would not be the same. It would not be the fine old artifact it is.

Getting back to the present, it is soon to be Christmas. The tree is up and the cake is backed, but I haven't done my shopping yet. Got to get at it. JH

November 27, 2002, 6:30PM MST.
I worked for a long time in the evenings. During that time I wished I could sit here in front of the monitor and do whatever I wanted. Now, here I sit all broken hearted....Stop, that"s not right.

I am really pleased. The roof is done and the insurance check is in the mail. My Cat scans are finished and I am looking forward to turkey dinner cooked in someone else's kitchen tomorrow. Whose kitchen the cooking takes place in is very important. It always spills a little in the oven and drips a little on the stove and counter not to mention the floor and carpet. So, I'd rather it be cooked in someone else's kitchen. So, tomorrow, I will eat, drink and remember some of the Thanksgivings of the past. It was always an easy holiday, because you didn't have to go to church. Now that I don't have to go I am going in the morning.

Tommy is still stacking leaves and Norma is cleaning out her house. She told me today that there is something wrong with her. She can't stop working. I said that is just fine. Just keep it up. Putting levity aside, Norma has under gone a sea change in recent weeks. I would pronounce her well, but I don't know if it is my job to do that. Anyhow, I am more pleased with her recovery than I am with the insurance check. What did I say!  Well OK. I am.

Next week, when the medical people pick a date, Norma and I will be going to Billings for surgery to extract a piece of tissue for a biopsy. The lab will inform the oncologist conserning the exact type of cell we are dealing with and he will stir up a brew to insert into my veins to kill the malignancy. Or that is what I think will happen. The last time I was on chemo, I was sick as a dog and I said, "Doc I know you have to hit a window between killing the cancer and killing me. But I think you missed." He didn't think it was funny then and he probably won't now

That is what is supposed to happen. We will see if it turns out that way. JH

November 22, 2002, 7:43PM MST.
This is roofing day three. The crew finished just before dark, which is about 4:30 these days. I had a nice visit with the forman who gave me the signoff sheet and he is stopping by for it and the check in the morning. The roof looks pretty darned good. At this time I am very well pleased. There is only one small item remaining. The insurance check. We got a check last year and I got a promise to pay the difference between that check and the cost of the job. I will fax the bill tomorrow and make a follow up call on Monday. That should do it.

Tommy gave me a ride to the hospital for my third CAT scan this year. With the numerous medical procedures I have had I must be pretty sick, but I feel quite well.

Norma worked her fourth week at Saint
V's today. She works four hous per week and still says it is fun. JH

November 21, 2002, 4:53PM MST.
I have two items. The roofing continues in the warm weather. It was 65 yesterday and was just as warm today. The prediction is for warm tomorrow and cooling on Saturday. The roofers tell me they will be done tomorrow. I have posted six (6) more pictures on the "How is the roofing comming?" page. It may take for ever to down load so I will test it and decide if it should be divided into two pages or some pictures removed.

I got some Mucomist from the hospital to take before and after the CAT scan. It protects the kidney. And tasts like water from a bucket with a dead mouse in it. The CAT scan is scheduled for 3:00PM tomorrow. The purpose is to find a biopsy candidate closer to the surface than we have found so far. JH

November 20, 2002, 10:23PM MST.
After all the trouble I laid on you yesterday, I thought it only fair to come back today and let you know all is well. We have gotten used to the idea that we are going to experience chemo again and we are fine. Another CAT scan is scheduled for Friday and we will go on from there.

Be sure to check the "How is the roofing comming? link. JH

November 19, 2002, 4:59PM MST.
All the balls I have been juggling are back in the bag. The decisions  are all made and I had nothing to do with any of them.

Norma and I were at the doctor's office this afternoon to find out if the suspicious lymph nodes we have known about since the July CAT scan are malignant or not. They are so that made a lot of the decisions for us. As a result we are not going to spend the winter in Everett and I am not going to work for H & R Block this winter, we don't need a place for the cat to stay, we don't need to find money to pay the high rent in Western Washington and we don't have to pack up our stuff for the trip out there. Instead, we have to have another CAT scan in a few days to find a node close to the surface to biopsy, submit to the surgery to obtain the sample for the biopsy and then to start chemo.

It sounds like I am glad to have Lymphoma again, but no sane man would be. Rather I am glad the suspense is over. I would rather go to Everett with all the planning and effort required than do chemo again. But, we do what we need to do. Thank goodness for the July CAT scan done for a different reason and the sharp eye of the Oncologist. There is no swollen lymph node under the skin that can be felt. So, we got lucky.

In my zeal to discuss my physical ailments I forgot about the other ball. The main object of my anxiety for the last couple of weeks has been, "when will the roofers show up?" They showed up this afternoon. Of course, the shingles were the wrong color. But, Norma has a new load of shingles to show up in the morning. All is well that ends well.

The third ball was the change in telephone companies. They showed up this afternoon too. Will wonders never cease? Our new number is 874-3588.

That is a big load for you today. I will keep you posted on my health and on roof. JH

November 18, 2002, 5:03PM MST.
The weather we are having is amazing. Day after day it is just nice.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day. I had a CAT scan last week and blood drawn this morning so the doctor will have all the information when we meet tomorrow. He is going to look at me, inside and out, then we will know what shape I'm in. Also, the roofers may show up. It is getting late but the weather is just great for out door work.

Those are two of the balls I am juggling. Get those questions behind us and we will know better what we will be doing this winter. What we will be doing this winter may not make much difference, but I would like to get those two questions behind us. That will leave room for some new questions.

Tommy is still here. His work is getting slow and, maybe he is getting a little bored around here. I don't know. But, he has to stick around until the last leaf is picked up on our customer's yards. He is actually free to go anytime he feels like it but I think he would rather stay here where Norma cooks his supper and he has a nice warm bed to sleep in. That is why I like to stay here.

There. Now you know all the important stuff that goes on around here. JH
     
November 12, 2002, 3:58PM MST.
Election day has come and gone. The Republicans are moving in. That is all I have to say about that.

Tommy is still with us. He did some chores for some of our friends and picked up the leaves in our yard today. With a little luck we won't have to do that again. The trees look pretty bare. That's what we want to get away from. Miles City can turn from a green oasis to a  bunch of gray sticks. It is looking like a bunch of gray sticks now. Not yet. We have too many balls in the air. We have a roofer coming this week, I have a CAT scann tomorrow and a visit with the doctor next week. In a couple of weeks we will have finished the juggle and have a better idea of what the future holds for us, short term. If all is well by then, we will turn our faces west and head for where the leaves are green and dripping with rain or maybe not.

It has been nice here lately. We have had company the last couple of Sundays, and Tommy is good company between Sundays, and the weather has been pleasant.

Whatever happens, I have my toys. And a new one to boot. As you may know, I have been dealing on Ebay to buy a used digital camera. I got one. It is a starter model. A Kodak DC50. It is digital, it takes pictures and transfers them to my pc, but it lacks the really good features of the new models. But I didn't pay much for it and if I can't stand not having the new features, not much has been wasted on it. There will be, soon, a new page on this web site with some new pictures from the DC50. They may be worth waiting for. JH

November 5, 2002, 6:56PM MST.
It is election day. Norma and I voted three weeks ago. We voted absentee although we were not absent. It is a good way to vote at our convenience instead of the government's. Anyhow, it is done.

We are winding down our lawn care business. Tommy has been cleaning up leaves for a couple of weeks and has one more place to go tomorrow. As far as I am conserned it is over. Good riddence. And, I think, Tommy has had enough of it too.

We are having a nice weather spell. But, we know it is only a trick. It is a little warm spell to soften us up for when the real winter hits. It will hurt a lot more this way.

I haven't been doing much. That ends tomorrow. I am going to start a review of the H & R Block tax course so I can pass the employment test when I get to Everett. They require all preparers to take a continuing education class during the summer or pass the test. I will have to pass the test because I had no oportunity to take the summer classes. Or, I can flunk the test and lay off for the winter. I am not sure which I prefer.

At any rate, I have to attend my first finance committee meeting tomorrow evening. That is just great. I start tomorrow night, then leave in December for a few months, then come back and expect my place to be kept on the committee. I don't think so. I'll go to the meeting tomorrow night anyway.

We've been thinking of going to Everett. Sometimes it seems to be too much for old guys to attempt. But, on the other hand, the winter in Miles City with nothing much to do can't be all that grand.

Have you noticed, when you are sick, you have no initiative? Since my Broncitis has cleared up I see some things around the house I think might be fun to fix. I don't want Norma to know that. But, along with my H & R review, there a some small projects that may get my attention in the next few days.

Ooops! Rambled on. When you let a guy talk about himself that is what you get. JH

Octover 27, 2002, 2:27PM MST.

Norma is sleeping on the couch and Tommy is sleeping upstairs. That leaves me here to do all kinds of wild and crazy things. There was a wild and crazy thing we could have done today. But, my partner is not up to doing anything today. She had a busy time late last week and is in rest mode today. We could have driven to Forsyth to the annual harvest dinner at the church there. It would have been fun to dine while Frances and Jerry served. I am sure they would have been serving. You know how small the parish is and how active they are in it. But we had to skip that because Norma is not feeling real well today.

Norma's activity last week was her new job. She is the cashier at the Saint V's store from 1 to 4:30PM on Fridays. She said it was fun and she is ready to do it again this week. We also had a birthday celebration for a neighbor on Friday evening, so that pretty well tired her out.

Tommy is all in today too because he gathered leaves for the last three days of the week. He has plenty of the same lined up for the coming week.

That is what Sunday is for. Rest from your work.

I guess you can tell by what I have written so far that the weather is pretty good. We get a bad reputation from the occasional cold snaps. But, so far the winter has been cool, quiet and sunny. Just the kind of weather you need to do the fall fixing up around the house and yard. I wish I hadn't thought of that. I don't want to do any fixing up around the house and yard. I have already done some of that. I pulled the dead and dry plants from around the house and patched a window ledge. Isn't that enough?

Maybe I have finally learned how to retire. I can use the entire day for dinning, naps and reading. Don't think so. But,I am getting closer though.

All is well. Notre Dame won, the seventh game of the world series is on tonight and, in about an hour, the chichen in the sink will be thawed enough to fry. JH

October 21, 2002, 5:20PM MDT.

We had a lovely day. The prediction was for a high of 36 but it got up to 60. But, for the bad news. At about 4:00PM the wind came up and the temperature began to fall. It is down to 37 now and the weather man is predicting 100 percent chance of snow tonight.

Still more bad news. Norma decided to go to Billings this morning when it was real nice because she wanted to do some shopping. I am not invited on these trips. So, she is out on the interstate with a snow storm comming. What do you think of that?

Ok, here is the good news. Norma is going to work one half day per week at the Saint V's store this week. The job dosen't pay, but one thing could lead to another until we could be awash in a large salary. I have some pent up demand since I am never allowed to go along on the shopping trips.

I got a call from Joey today. He wanted to find out if we were all well. Well, I am not coughing and Norma and Tommy appear to be fine. He had to call from work today because I had the telephone line tied up to ebay trying to find a real cheap used digital camera. I have been loosing out to other bidders in the $30 to $40 range so I have a new bid on a DC210 for $50. It will probably go to about $80 to win. They call it winning.

Hey, Brett, did you win the marathon? I guess it dosen't really matter. The question is, did you finish? I did see a little slimming of your body. So, I beleive you actually ran the marathon with Kristen and you finished.

I am gong for a short walk in the Montana wind. JH

October 16, 2002, 7:40PM MDT.
When I last checked my hit counter, I discovered there had been a few visitors. So, I guess, I had better provide some timely news.

The good news first. And if I should think of some bad news I will keep it to myself. But, Norma has passed another miles stone. She has found it possible to discontinue one of her medications. It has made a large difference. She is much more active. That means less daytime sleeping and more attention to the household chores. Just one example. She has changed the decoration on her dining room table. Many of you have seen the seasonal changes that show up on Morma's dining room table. There is a fall/holloween theme there now. Candles, toy jack 0 lanterns, leaves and collored pollished rocks. We eat in the kitchen any way so what else is a dining room table for? There are other changes evident too that I don't feel competent to discribe. But, the trend is up for her.

We still have Tommy with us. He is running out of grass to cut but there are leaves to clean up for a couple of weeks more. He dosen't seem in a hurry to leave so we expect to have him here for a while yet. I tried to make a deal with him today. I would trade him my pickup and grass equipment for his Trooper so he could go to work in lawn care in Seattle. He hasn't locked on to the value of the idea yet. Still thinks he can find a job that pays real money.

I can't think of a single shread of bad news. But, if I could, you know I wouldn't keep it from you. JH 
October 13, 2002, 10:01PM MDT.
We had a freeze last night, but it didn't amount to much. The flowers are still in the back yard. I didn't inspect them closely, but they look alright from the kitchen window. But, we did have a skiff of snow on the ground yesterday morning.

I am drawing a complete blank when I try to think of some event of the past four days that I could report. I don't think I have lost my mind. It is just that nothing has happened here in the past four days. It is still Norma, me, Tommy and the cat living here. Our behavior has been normal, although the cat did do something bad last night. I couldn't tell for sure, but I think it came out of the back end and didn't amount to much, but I set right to work and cleaned it up as best I could.

There is one thing that I could report. I am suffering a bad case of buyers remorse. It seemed a good thing for us to have pass ports just in case. Just in case a really good travel deal out of the country came to our attention some day, for instance. Maybe a real cheap air line price to Brazil or Cuba. We would want to be in a position to take advantage. But, during the process, I discovered it cost 55$ and a $30 processing fee plus pictures, each. I was shocked. By the time I had recovered from shock enough to change my mind, the deal was done. Thank goodness we didn't do worse. And, we saved a lot of money by not smoking or drinking. JH

October 9, 2002, 8:51PM MDT.
It has been go, go, go. Norma has been doing her fall cleaning. She has had me help her with the window washing on Monday, the rearranging of the bedroom yesterday and the cleaning of the back porch today. I am exhausted. Tomorrow we will have a picnic and that will be all. We are going to have a picnic because it is to be in the upper 70's. That will be the warmest day we will see until next year in June. Strangely, the flowers are still blooming. We are scheduled for a frost on Friday or Saturday night.

We don't have a lot going on right now. We are in between the grass cutting and the leaf raking. Tommy will do that. We are also waiting for the roofing to begin. The roofers will do that. They are not scheduled to start yet but in about four weeks. So, there are some things going on here, just not right now.JH

October 4, 2002, 7:31PM MDT.
We had a pretty good day. 
I got the bills paid for another month. Well, I didn't exactly get them paid. I wrote the checks. I would like to pay my bills and have a little bit left over, but that wasn't the case this month. Maybe, next month.

I have good news though. I spoke with the insurance man on the phone and he promised me a check in the mail to pay for the new roof. Praise the Lord. I feel like a new man.

It seems I think about nothing but money. I check the stock market several times every day, but I don't check my spiritual health even once a day. There is something wrong. Where can I get some spiritual direction?

The high light of the week was a visit with Francis, Jose and Bea at Jerry and Frances' house a couple days ago. They were here for a polka fest in Billings. They will be in Montana until about Sunday. The polka fest continues through Saturday. We saw them in March and they seem as well as then. Frances made supper. Providing fare way more than one would expect. Grilled steak, potatoes, pie and more.

I sent Tommy out to a ranch to do the lawn and to clean up the garden spot. Acturally, I didn't send him out. He has developed a fine relationship with our customers on his own. All I have to do is deposit the checks. Anyhow, he had to work in the cold and rain. It didn't rain much but enough to be miserable.  JH

October 1, 2002, 4:13PM MDT.
Oh, great, it is October. I thought it was the 31st of September.

We have had a very slight frost. So, now, I suppose this is Indian summer. I don't recall spending October anywhere eccept in Eastern Montana, so I don't have much experience, but no place has a nicer Indian summer than we do.

Since we have had Tommy here Norma has had a lot of cooking to do. After 20 years of batching, Tommy likes to eat in the kitchen. So while Tommy is home we are having home cooking and enjoying every minute of it.

We sent out customer billing for the grass mowing this morning. Revenue is off a little bit in September, but could rebound nicely in October if we have a good leaf fall and no snow. Last year I hauled leaves until the middle of November. There is nothing better than a nice crisp day for racking leaves.

The stock market rose 349 points today. That is good news, if you are a stock owner. It could be bad news if you have government bonds. Ever notice how the market price of stocks and bonds move in the oposite ways? When one goes up the other goes down. Of course it is good news in other ways. Without the capital gains and income tax, the great state can't pay its bills. Sure this is outside of my expertise but this is my space so I can say whatever I want.

Just one other thing, I have installed a hit counter on this site. I can't wait to see if I have had any hits. JH

September 23, 2002, 9:07PM MDT.

A deal is not done until the check is in the mail. I would rather it was the other way around, but it is my check that is in the mail. We made a payment to a roofer to put shingles on the old house this fall.

We got a couple of new lawn care jobs this week. Our good work is paying off. It just goes to show what a little extra trimming will do.

Those are the two big news items for today. JH

September 22, 2002, 9:30PM MDT.
This is what I wanted to do during those long years when I was a night computer operator. Lay around in the evening, watch a little TV, visit, snack and type a little report of the day's activities. Well, here I am doing what I dreamed of. The problem is, I do so little, there is really not much to report. But, here goes.

It is Sunday, so I did my do good things. I took communion to a couple of shut ins after Mass. That is a good way to start the day. I bought some donuts to have with coffee, but had to put them in the freezer because Norma had baked a cake yesterday. It seemed silly to have donuts when we have cake. So we had cake and coffee this morning.

The cake. It was a birthday cake. I turned 67 yesterday. Considering all the broken parts, I am darned lucky to have turned 67, but now that is accomplished I will set out to turn 68.

It got real warm this afternoon and our flowers looked dry so I had to water flowers. That was a 45 minute job. Then we went for a little drive about. During that we stopped and inspected my old garden spot. Lo and Behold! The gardener's squash were frozen. It appears we had our first freeze last night.  We went out the Baker road to the pine hills. The grass was short after a summer of drought and grazing. So, the new crop of grass that spung up since our September rains looked quite nice. The black cows on the green meadows was a sight for sore eyes.

All good things must come to and end, so we ended today with a pot roast. We had our neighbor over to help us eat and to visit a little bit. JH

September 19, 2002, 7:46PM MDT.

We have a roofer coming on Monday with his estimate. The Insurance man has told me on the phone he will pay for the roof minus the deductable. Thank you. I know what the estiment will be the insurance man knows and I have checked with previous customers. I don't want any surprises.

We have Tommy back in harness. He has gotten over his Seattle cold and gone back to work. Thanks for that. I had to do his work last week while he was in Seattle. I didn't like it. I have cut plenty of lawns for this year. It isn't that much fun anymore.

I mentioned that Tommy and I were going to the farm a couple of weeks ago, but never followed up on it. Well, we did go. It wasn't as much fun as we had hoped. There were some windows in the house that needed our attention. Glass had fallen out and we had to put it back in with some glazier's points and putty. Some were so bad that we had to cover them with some string mech plastic. We did all that in the heat of the day and then took a walk into the CRP. The CRP looks like a dry crested wheat grass field. But, the important thing is, our cover has been approved by the US Conservation Service so we don't have to replant the native grasses.

Norma is cooking. Now that Tommy is here she has to cook.  He dosen't like to eat out because he can't keep good control of his diet. I don't like to eat out because it cost too much, so Norma has to cook for us. I think she likes it.

It is nice to have Tommy in the house. It creats a little more noise and activity than is the usual case.

Mariners game is on. JH

September 11, 2002, 7:55PM MDT.

It has gotten nice. We put up with all that hot weather just to get to this. Now, enjoy it.

I am. I spent a half day out in the fresh air cutting grass today. My helper has gone on vacation to Seattle for a week. I'm so tired all I want to do is go to bed but it is only eight o'clock. If I went to bed now, I'd be going to bed with the chickens. I will tough it out for a couple more hours, and still get enough rest to cut grass again tomorrow. A chicken's life is pretty good. They can go to bed as early as they want and don't have to cut grass. I remember wishing to be a dog when I was a child, but never thought of the chicken.

I should explain Tommy's Seattle vacation a little better. Marty had planned on a vacation in Seattle, so Tommy joined her there. They all went to Jamies's for a barbecue last Sunday. So, on Sunday, Jamie, Joey, Tommy and Marty got to visit, but Joey and Jamie are working now so, I supose, Tommy and Marty are doing the vacationing. Tommy will be back on Saturday. I will retire. JH

September 2, 2002, 7:53PM MDT.

September. The month of nostalgia. The month of the birthday, the first day of school and the wedding anniversary. There is a song called September. It has something to do with getting old, but the old are not the nostalgic ones. It is the young.

Are we living our miserable little monotonous lives here? Far from it. As you already know, I resumed my lawn care business the first of May. I cut grass for three months, then I played out. (fatigued) Tommy has come from Seattle to help me out. He has been doing the work and I have been resting. And I am feeling better. It seems impossible that a big tough guy like me would play out. But Tommy intends on being here for the duration of the season. And it is nice to have another person in the house.

Actually, it is going to be a little bit monotonous here. I can't think of anything that will happen between now and Christmas. If the roofer dosen't take all our savings, we may be able to get out of Miles City for a while this winter. Last winter was a great experience, but the second time wouldn't be the same. I am not sure I want to do it again, but there are other things we could do. Maybe spring training in Peoria, horse racing in L. A., gambling in Las Vegas or football season in Ohio. A lot depends on the roofer. JH

August 25, 2002, 12:54PM MDT.

12:54PM. Is that in the middle of the day or the middle of the night? It is the middle of the day, so if I am wrong, please let me know.

Not only is it the middle of the day, but it is Sunday. It is my favorite day of the week. Saturday was my favorite when I had a regular job, but, in retirement, it has become Sunday. We had a lovely Mass this morning. Fr Hemauer gave a sermon of about 3.5 minutes. The church was a little warm, but not that warm. It dosen't make much difference. I can't remember the sermon. I think it was about admiring beauty to lift the spirits about us instead of dragging them down with reminders of the ugly. I hope I can remember that thought, at least, for the remainder of the day.

Tommy and I are going to the farm tomorrow. That will make it a big day too. We will take some ladders and tools along to do any window fixing we see needed on the old house, clean the floors a little bit and inspect the CRP. I think we will take along some window tacks and putty to fix the glass in so we don't have to put plastic over any more of the windows. I don't think we will try to start the John Deere. It has a flat tire. One day isn't enough time for that job.

Otherwise, not much has changed. We keep cutting grass. I feel pretty well rested up since Tommy has taken over my work. JH

August 19, 2002, 8:20PM MDT.

These ten days went by so fast I must have missed something.

The Mariners have finally done it. They have lost their lead in the American League West. They couldn't even beat Detroit tonight. Let's not stomp on them when they are down. Go Mariners. Get up and go Mariners.

Of course, the baseball news is just a little relief from the rest of it. I have to quit watching TV News. There is too much grim stuff out there. It could push a delicately balanced mind over the edge. Now, don't get me wrong. My mind is not delicate balanced. It is firmly stuck in its same old rut.

You can tell I am trying to keep this writing off the local and household level. But, I don't believe I'm up to thoughtfull or even ordinary comment on subjects of substance outside the local area.

At least, this little writting will let you know that we are still here and looking forward to tomorrow. JH

August 9, 2002, 5:21PM MDT.
It has only been two days since my last writting, but it was so poor I thought you deserved another.

As you are well aware by now, I have an employee in my grass cutting business. Because he is a temp I am going to enjoy the relief from the stress of walking these old bones around lawns only for awhile. We cut the lawn on the Ranch today. I did the trimming and Tommy rode the tractor. He enjoyed riding it eventhough it was sprinkling a little from time to time.

We heard the Celebrant Singers at the church last night. Then some of us were asked to provide a place to sleep for a couple of the singers. We had two fellows  
from California stay with us. They were very pleasant. The bus left at 10:00 this 
morning for Rapid City. They perform in a different town every night for months at a time. They're seeing the world, but there may be an easier way to do it.

It has been a couple of busy days. I am still busy, although I am sitting here in my room of memorabilia trying to decide what to play with next. Even this computer is fast becomming an artifact. It is seven years old. I have a 55 year old piano in here, a 65 year old battery operated radio, a reproduction of a 75 year old picture of Jacob Hecker's combine and a 100 year old picture of the Sacred Heart on the wall. I fit in pretty good. Age wise. The lower end. I think I will put this on line and go out and read 
this evening's paper. JH

August 7, 2002, 2:21PM MDT.
What a relief! I've hired a grass man to do my work for me. Yes, I have an employee. It is Tommy. He couldn't find employment in Seattle so he came home and I hired him to do my work for me. He did his first half day's work this morning. He did a wonderful job, and he did it with enthusiasm. Seattle's loss is my gain. I intend to keep him employed as long as he will stay. I can find other things to do while he is here.

We had a nice visit with Tom Schleder and Carrie yeasterday. They are on their way to Minnesota to a wedding and some visiting. Big Timber is a couple hundred miles away so we don't see them often, but enjoy their company when we do.

We have some activities planned for August. For one, Tommy and I are going to the farm for a day. I need to see if it is still intact and he likes to see it when he comes out. The boys were well acquainted with their Grandfather and remember going out when he lived there. So visits out there are important to them yet. Joey and I went out last month when he was here.

Another relief has been the cooling. We are hoping the weather pattern has changed so we will be spared the blazing heat of last month. It is tough to cut grass when it is over 90. It would be hell to sit here by the air conditioner knowing Tommy is sweating in the sun.

I thought I could write something a little more interesting. When I read it, I can't help wondering if that is all. Do we lead dull lives? I guess so. JH

July 27, 2002, 3:05PM MDT.
First I must alert you to a wonderful service on the WEB. www.ewtn.com. I forgot to bring a bulletin from Mass last Sunday so I needed to know the readings for the 28th. There it is. First Kings, Romans and Matthew.

Old man weather is loosing his sting. It feels like we have died and gone to Heaven. But there is no rain.

We got a new doctor last week. Since my doctor retired, I bacame her patient on her first day on the job. With all my broken parts, I thought she would be overwhelmed, but she took it in stride, and now I hope I am well on my way to recovery. Our first project is to find out why I have been coughing lately and then we will go on to some of my other complaints. If she tells me they are all caused by old age, I am going to be real disappointed.

You can see we have been having a really exciting time. I haven't mention Norma yet, but I believe she is thinking, right now, of a tasty treat for super tonight. She has been having a pretty hard time keeping up with me. I dirty about three shirts and a pair of pants every day cutting grass. She has to wash all that stuff. She went to a kitchen party this week and has had her nails done. That is beside watering her flowers. That is plenty of activity for a 62 year old. Also I took her to a fine movie last week end. Le La and Stitch. I won't give away the plot in case you want to see it. JH

July 17, 2002, 8:33PM MDT.
I had a visit from Art this afternoon. He caught me in my shorts with no shirt. The truth is he caught me exhausted from a morning working in the hot sun. But, now I am recovered and ready to go again.

We are going to the Rosebud Bar and Cafe for big steaks tomorrow evening. Then, on Saturday evening we are going to the Forsyth fair. This is not just an ordinary trip to the fair. The Oak Ridge Boys are entertaining. Art's mother in law, Jean, has ticket and two of them are for us. Isn't that nice.

Otherwise it is pretty dull, but we will get to see Art and Judy and Jerry and Frances.

The weather continues as miserable as it has for some time now. It was 90 after a thunderstorm last night, but the humidity was up so it got real sweaty for the out doors workers. Like me. Tomorrow it is to start creeping back up toward the 100 mark. Won't that be nice. If only we could get some of that cool Everett, WA air over here. It would be better for me  to go to Everett.

Norma has recovered from the Becker reunion. She rested for awhile but has done Meals on Wheel a couple of times this week and had her finger nails done today. She enjoyed her Meals on Wheels experience.

Stay cool. JH

July 10, 2002, 9:32PM MST.
I supplose I should explain why I disappeared for about 12 days. Well it was the big week of the reunion. All hell broke loose around here. It started on the 30th of June and ended just a few days ago. There was no time for the quiet reflection to put together any message.

Of course, a good time was had by all.  How else could it have been with all the preparation that went into it? We are in the post period now. Not all things have been put back in their rightful places yet. There is no rush here. We have all the remainder of the summer to get that done.

I can't let the weather pass. It was 100 or more for several days during the past week and we have some more coming. It is to be 95 to 105 for, at least the next three days. I think, either hell broke through or it IS global warming.
 
Keep those cards and letters coming. JH

June 29, 2002, 7:41PM MST.
This is it. The eve of the reunion. The focus of months of planning and preparation.

I mentioned the Eastern Montana Summer last week. Well, we got a dose of it this evening. There was this strange storm. There was no lightning, no thunder, and no rain, but the wind pushed real hard on everything. It did one thing. It lowered the temperature from the one hundreds we have had for the last three days.

I just had a nice visit with Jamie. He will be here on the 4th of July for the reunion. Joey will be here on the 3rd. But Tommy has to stay in Seattle and keep his nose on the grindstone.

It is time to mention again. Thank goodness for Sunday and the other days of rest. Next week is going to be heck. I will have to squeeze my grass cutting in around the 4th and the reunion activities. I hate to get myself scheduled to be in two places at once. Next week looks like a likely time for that to happen. JH

June 23, 2002, 5:30PM MST.
We are enjoying the Eastern Montana summer. Without discribing an Eastern Montana summer, I will say, so far it hasn't been bad.

This is Sunday, the day of rest. It does help. Normally, I don't do much on Monday and Turesday, but there are a couple of fertilizing jobs to be done this week. I don't like to fertilize, but I am going to do my best.

Norma had been driving herself pretty hard. She told me just yesterday that all of the big jobs are done and she is going to coast into the Fourth of July from here. I think she was trying to calm my nerves after she had spent money on a project I couldn't understand. I think she is done too. The place shines like a new nichol. Except for my computer room. Joey is going to take refuge in here for a couple of nights around the 4th so I had better get some of this stuff out of here. Where oh, where should I put it?

The biggest regret I have right now is that I haven't found time to go to the farm. In place of a trip out there, I don't have the energy, I will visit with Dan. I sent my Nephew Brett out a couple of weeks ago, but it sprinkled a couple of drops and he chickened out so I got no report from him.

There are two calls I need to make this evening. One to Dan and one to Tom in Seattle. I want to be kept informed on the job search. I think the thing that would bring the most joy to this old heart right now is news that the job search is over. JH

June 14, 2002, 4:52PM MST.
I haven't died and gone to heaven yet. I put the yet on the end of that sentence out of complete exuberant optomisim. I am going to let it there for now. It may be of some use.

I wrote that first sentence because my fingers hurt and I feel like it must be bed time. Pain has a good purpose. It reminds us where we are and what we have been doing. This is the end of four days of down and dirty grass mowing. Nine lawns are mowed and one is lined up, already, for Monday.

There are two reasons I am into this mowing thing. I have to pay for my lawn tractor and it will feel soooo good when I quit.

Now, what is Norma doing? She is enjoying some couch rest now because she stained our deck this morning and shopped this afternoon. She too, is enjoying the rewards of physical labor. I think she went a little too far earlier this week. She strained her back and is just now comming out of it. She challenged the back yard to be beautifull and it responded with some resistance. In the stuggle her back got strained somehow. Now she too, knows she has not died and gone to heaven yet. JH

June 10, 2002, 7:25PM MST.
Eight days ago, June 2nd, we were anticipating a multitude of things. They have all come to pass.

Brett and Kristen Hecker visited us, a week's grass cutting has been done and the preparations for the Becker Reunion have continued unabated.

Brett and Kristin had supper with us on Thursday. They intended to visit the farm on Saturday. I couldn't go along. I was too busy. Not only was I too busy; the tank was empty. I wasn't out of gas. I was out of muscle and energy. No one seemed to notice my eight pound weight gain.

I have Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, tomorrow, to rest. Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good rest, but today was a wreck. One of my grass clients called. I had forgotten I had promised to clean up a pile of weeds in the corner of her yard. Then we did some washing of lawn chairs, the wall at the end of the carport and the porch floor. Norma did a wonderful job decorating the portch. She has a good eye. Still to do. Clean up my mess in the corner of the back yard, take my lawn machinery to the garage and wash the windows. Then I will be done. I am already done, but not finished.

Right in front of me I a have an e-mail from Jody Heflin, Norma's sister. She wants to know when her brothers and sisters are going to show up. So, Pat and Dick will be here on the 29th, Mary and Terry on the 1st or 2nd and Everyone else on the 3rd of July. JH

June 2, 2002, 9:16PM MST.
Preparations for the Becker reunion are continuing. I have a couple of days off from my job, so we will be doing a lot of work around the house. The yard has started to look pretty good. I think it is a primary concern of the woman of the house that it be perfect. The shed is painted. Thanks. No siding.

I got a call from the young Brett Hecker today. He and Kristen are comming to Montana next week. We will have a lovely time. They are willing to spend some time with us here in Miles City. I hate to let him see me so fat. But I can't lose 10 pounds by Tuesday. Well, I guess the cat will be out of the bag. I feel so bad about gaining 10 pounds in the last six months I think I will have a sandwich.

My other chore is to find a place to hide my grass cutting equipment during the reunion. It looks like I will have to resort to paying a storage outfit. But, I have to clean out my corner of the yard.

Two of our boys, Jamie and Joey will be here for the 4th of July, but Tommy dosen't feel he should spend any money on that sort of thing until he has a job. We just saw them a couple of months ago, but it will be good to see them again. JH

May 26, 2002, 5:06PM MST.
We took a trip to the Rosebud County Cemetery at Forsyth today because it is the Memorial day week end. The Cemetery was lavishly decorated with, mostly, plastic flowers. So, we put some plastic flowers on Mom and Dad's graves too. They look just fine. While we were there, we had a nice visit with Florence Yablonski, her son Dewayne and great grandchild. You always run accross someone you know at the cemetery.
 
The weather was a blast last week. There was a three day wind followed by a two day rain with a little snow. The last couple of days have been fine. Everyone's May is a fine month, so I won't say our May is any finer than anyone else's, but we have finally gotten some May weather.

The reunion preparation goes on steadily. My last project, as far as I know, is to side the unsightly shed in the back yard. My carpentry skills are a little poor, so I hope it looks better when I am done than it does now. JH

May 22, 2002, 4:33PM MST.
I have passed my examination. My oncologist palpitated and examined my lab report and turned me loose for another six months.

We had three days of stong east wind and, now, it is snowing. It has been blowing and raining all day and now it is snowing. This writting will be cut short so that I can find stuff and cover some new tender little plantings in the yard. JH

May 20, 2002, 8:10PM MST.
I guess the purpose of this space is to write what is on my mind. No point in wasting the space.
 
I gave blood at the hospital this morning so the lab can prepare a report for the Oncologist for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the important day. I have an appointment at 10:45 to see the Oncologist. He will palpitate and read the results of the lab work on my blood. Then he will pronounce me fit for another six months or we will have to go back to the drawing board. I expect to be found fit, but you never know what may be hidden in the belly of an old man.

This evening, we rest. I did 5.75 hours of billable work today. Four hours on the yard of a ranch. It was a pretty nice day out there inspite of the wind.

So what is on my mind. Believe it or not, it is cutting grass. It does two things. I provides something unimportant to occupy my mind and the physical fatigue lets me rest. I get paid for it too.  JH

May 16, 2002, 3:20PM MST.
The surroundings in the Puget Sound Region are a much different from those here in Miles City as you can make them. The adjustments are not. We came back to Miles City on April 30th and have adjusted to our old ways and places in no time. I can't say as much about our putting things away. It is a fact, that Norma has done real well with her stuff, but my room is still a mess.

We are in the process of getting ready for the big family reunion of Beckers this summer. The fence has been restained and the house footings have been repainted. Norma has done some of her planting and land scape work. There is some paint work to do on the back porch, but it was too cold today. Right on the paint can it says, "the temperature must be over 50 degrees." This work must go on at a steady pace to get most of it done in May. I have a feeling June will be taken up with other things.

By now you can see why the web site has taken a back seat.

Just a short report on my grass cutting business. I put an ad in the Star. It resulted in three new jobs. Now I have eight yards. That will be plenty. I needed a little increase in my work to pay for the new Kraftsman lawn tractor.

My other job is on hold for now. I fully intend to go out to the farm as soon as I get some time. As far as I know, the pasturing business is going along OK. But, there is nothing like an on sight inspection by the senior management. I will do that real soon.

Norma is fine and I am fine. Our boys in the Puget Sound Area were fine the last we saw of them on the 28th of April.

If there is anything else you would like to know, just e-mail me at jhecker@midrivers.com. JH

May 5, 2002, 9:45PM MST.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord, for Sunday. Except for the couple of hours I had to spend helping with yard clean up, I rested today. 
We have been welcomed back. It is nice to be welcomed back. Norma was honored with a birthday cake last night. There were some gifts and a lot of conversation. There were three ladies who hadn't been together for a long time. 
You probably know we spent a five month leave of absence in Everett, WA. There was a lot of action involved. There was the packing up and moving out, the setting up of housekeeping and maintaining a resonable life style. We worked, visited with the boys, took care of ourselves, and learned to get around in the traffic. We spiced that up with some trips to the penninsula, the islands, the race track and several other things. Then the big event. It came time to come back to Miles City. Well, after all the settling in we had done, we weren't so sure we wanted to leave. But we did. That required packing up and driving 1018 miles to Miles City, then walking into the old house for the first time in five months. But we are adjusting. We are glad we did it. It has kept us out of the rut. The grass is getting green, can't say the same for the trees, our daffadils are blooming and we have a whole summer of acitvities here in Miles City to do. Buckin Horse Sale, here we come. JH

May 3, 2002, 6:25PM MST.
We got the leaving done and over with, the San Juan trip is done, the last Sunday visit at Jamie's place, we drove 1018 miles to Miles City, we went to Billings to get my lawn tractor and I am cutting grass. 
There a many thing I could discuss about right here. Such as: the marvelous features of my new lawn tractor or how darned tired I am. I will show you how darned tired I am. I am going to bed. JH

April 19, 2002, 5:43PM.
I have a of lot updating to do on the Everett doings. The tax season is ended and I am unemployed. It feels good to be free of all reponsibilities. But it feels even better to plan some new ones. Tomorrow some of the kids are comming to eat with us, Sunday I am going to Emerald Downs for the races with whoever will go along, then we are going to spend a couple of days in the San Juan Islands later next week. You know what that brings us up to. Packing up and getting out of here. And that brings us up to a busy summer in Miles City. I have my lawn care business started , bought a new lawn tractor today, so I will have to hit the streets of Miles City on the run. Norma has a bunch of stuff to do to prepare for the arrival of the Beckers on the 4th of July. These plans will make leaving the great state of Washington a little easier. We hate to leave the good friends and relatives we have spent the winter with here, but our plans for the summer will put a poitive face on it. I hope. I have a lump in my throat already. I never was any good at leaving. JH

April 13, 2002, 9:45PM.
This writting will be a little different. I am going to type in an account written by Norma's friend, Wendy about an event that actually took place yesterday the 12th of April.
"Grandmas witness furious gun battle on Snohomish street". -  Out for a relaxing lunch in sleepy Snohomish, Norma Hecker and Wendy Robetorey, both in their early 60s, were witness to a furious gun battle on main street! As they passed by the jewelry store, they were oblivious to a robbery in progress. Upon crossing the street to the opposite corner, they heard shouting and gunshots. A local merchant had drawn his pistol, and with practiced precision shot at fleeing robbers as they attempted their getaway. Firing three shots in rapid succession, the armed merchant shattered a car window, shot out a front tire, and wounded one of the thugs in the arm. "at this point, I ducked into the the Cinnamon Stick (a nearby shop) for cover!" exclaimed MS Robetorey. MS Hecker, however, was glued to the scene in the doorway of the Cinnamon Stick. She observed the getaway car as it peeled out and was followed by two other vehicles in hot pursuit. After giving statements to the local police, the two ladies continued on to a quiet lunch at the Cabbabe Patch Restaurant where they discussed their latest adventure in the great northwest. They had never experienced such adventure in their native state of Montana. shaking their heads they exclimed, And we thought Montana was the wild, wild west!".

All true. In fact, they were called by the Snohomish police to come this afternoon to give an account their observances. JH

April 7, 2002, 9:10PM.
I didn't have much to say last night. The boys came for dinner while I was writting. We had them over for Norma's cooking, which we have done frequently all winter. Tommy reported on his job hunting, Joey was in a jocklier mood, and Jamie loves his mother's cooking. Megan was enjoying her second to last meal before her dental experience, Laura Jo was feeling good about her sales success and Cameron and I had a game of horse on the basketball court. Then we had scallop potatoes with pork chops. 
I have the day off tomorrow. Norma said, "what are we going to do?" She wants to do something fun. Imagine that. We don't always agree on what that is. We need to have a discussion on what that might be. I will report on what it turned out to be in my next writting. JH

April 6, 2002, 6:23PM.
Time is flying. We must be having fun. There is only three weeks left to our grand adventure and I don't know what to think of that. 
I just finished an eight hour shift at the office. JH

March 29, 2002, 5:47PM.
I can't imagine nine days have past since my last writting. All I can remember is that our company left, we had the boys for supper on Sunday. We really had Mexican food for supper on Sunday. And I have worked a few days. 
I have run accross a paragraph in C S Lewis' book "Mere Christianity" that pretty well sums up what it is like to run away from home for the winter. "The thrill you feel on first seeing some delightful place dies away when you really go to live there. Does this mean it would be better not to live in the beautiful place? By no means. If you go through with it, the dying away of the first thrill will be compensated for by a quieter and more lasting kind of interest." 
One more month of quieter and more lasting interest in Western Washington and we will be experiencing the thrill of  "first seeing another beautiful place."
So there. Now my lovely wife, Norma, is preparing our Good Friday supper of cold canned salmon and macaroni and cheese. JH

March 20, 2002, 10:38PM.
Mostly I will comment on the weather. We took Dick and Pat for a ride up Whidbey Island with a ride on the Mukilteo ferry, up 525 to Coupville, then to Oak Harbor, across Deception Pass and on to Anacortes. The weather for the whole day was the worst you can imagine. It was cold, the wind blew and it snowed the whole way. It wasn't a complete loss. We all got a better perspective of Western Washington and the ferry ride was fun. Everyone enjoys his first ferry ride.  The size and the comfort of a ferry is always a surprise for a first time rider.
Yesterday Dick and I went on the Boeing plant tour and we went to Seattle center for the afternoon on Sunday. So, you can see it was a pretty busy week. Without  even mention the shopping. JH

March 12, 2002, 8:18PM.
What a week. Three trips to Seattle, two to SeaTac, and one to Whidbey besides the shopping trips I didn't get to go along on. Our guest is gone and in three days we'll have Norma's brother Dick and his wife Pat with us. There aren't many dull moments in Everett. As much to remind myself as to report, there is a middle school band concert in Everett on Thursday. Plus, an the office employee banquet on Saturday. Will this whirl wind of activity never stop? 
The high light from last week was a suprise piano solo by Tommy at the Band concert in Seattle. One of the bands couldn't get accross the border, so there were some performances by individuals and ensembles to fill in.
Now, the really big news. We got an invitation to the wedding of Jay Hecker in the mail today. She got one thing wrong. I have scheduled our return to the Big Sky for the first of May. One or the other of us may have to change our schedule.    JH

March 8, 2002, 4:21PM.
This is my sixth day off. There is one left until I go to work on Sunday. 
We have been out and about this whole week. Pike Place Market on Tuesday, the ladies shopped on Wednesday while I was sick with a dreadfull cough, Whidbey Island sight seeing tour on Thursday, and lo and behold, they found shopping at Coupville, then shopping and house touring today from which I got excused again. They are having a wonderful time. We are having the beets I bought at Pike Place Market and left over salmon for supper tonight. Asian ladies were selling bunches of beets for a buck. I couldn't pass it up. 
The weather needs to be mentioned. We have had some snow, but the cold and wind are the worst part. Some roads were closed and some schools were closed but we were uneffected. It did snow on Whidbey yesterday, but we drove right through it. We are going to drive right through it to Seattle tonight. Tom is accompanying and the band is rehearsing. We are going back tomorrow night for the band concert. It must be good. We are risking life and limb and an expensive car. On tonight's news the bravest guy in Seattle was pointed out. He was driving a $90,000 European Sedan on the icy streets of Seattle. JH

March 4, 2002, 10:25PM.
Well well, she is finally here. Lil, the Miles city visitor arrived on time at SeaTac. This has been a day to remember. The worst driver on the green earth, with a little help from the wife, drove from here to SeaTac and back with hardly a miss. The flight arrived on time and Lil was on it none the worse for wear. We gave her a ride back to the home place through the pit of down town Seattle. She got a fleeting glimp  of the tall buildings, space needle, the jumble of cement freeway lanes entangled like a bowl full of spagetti and finally the green turf of home. Everett. The girls are tucked safely in their beds while I plot, with internet maps, our next trip into the maze of the inner city. We are going to visit the famous Pike Place market and have lunch at the equally famous Ivars Sea Food restaurant on Madison and The Alaska Way. We are going to walk the 7 or eight blocks from the market down first avenue, across on Madison, under the Alaska Park Way to Ivars. We will face all of that frieght and danger for clam chouder. JH

February 24, 2002, 8:22PM.
Yesterday was a wonderful day. I will describe it. It began with a Seattle experience. I waited in the rain for the bus for 20 minutes. Thanks to the oil skin hat, Seattle jacket and umbrella, I didn't get very wet. Tax preparation went well, plenty busy and no major mistakes that I am aware of. Joey picked me up after work and we had ham and mashed potatoes with Joe, Jamie, Laura Jo and the kids. A great time was had by us all, expecially Laura Jo and the kids who got to watch the olympics with us. 
Another big day is on schedule for tomorrow. We have the Aztec gased up and ready for a drive to Wapato. Norma is getting her stuff together and I have a map and driving instructions right up to the door. So far so good. If we go in the ditch, I will report that later. JH

February 22, 2002, 9:49PM.
We have had valentines day and Ash Wednesday. We have had a couple of meatless Fridays and they both sneaked up on me. By the time I realized it is Friday and it is Lent it was too late.
Our life here in our 525 square feet of living space has gotten a little bit hum drum. Thank goodness, it doesn't bother Norma any. She has had some things to do lately. She is taking a knitting class and she met a new friend to go shopping with. She is planning on making supper for the boys tomorrow night, so she is doing pretty well. I have been working. I don't have to work long hours but I have had to work without many days off until this week. I have had two days off in a row for the first time in a month. I have quite a bit of off time scheduled in the next couple of weeks. We are going to Yakima for a visit with Frances and Josey Shields next week and our friend Lil from Miles City is gong to be here the next week. Norma's brother, Dick, is comming on the 15th of March, so we have a full cup for a while.
We have been reading, every day, that it is warmer in Montana than it is here. Not only that, but it has been raining in our area. We had a big rain yesterday and a little wind today. But, these spells are separated by some pretty good weather. 
You have probably noticed my writtings have gotten less frequent. The reason is, when you have a life, your hobbies just aren't as important. But, inspite of all of that, I am going to try to report more frequently. JH

February 13, 2002, 9:09PM.
My last writting was on ground hog's day and now it is nearly valentines day. How time flies. You don't suppose I am having fun? 
Norma received valentine flowers from her oldest boy today. Everything is fine. She is having fun. Her new project is knitting. She is going to her second class in the morning. She has her homework done and is eager to get there. 
We have had some nice weather for the last few days. I got my sun glasses out. It is an oddity. I saw no one else wearing sun glasses. I doubt many people here even own sun glasses. 
We have some exiting events comming up. There are a couple of musical evenings; one with Cameron in the seventh grade and one with Tommy in Seattle. Then there will be a visitor from Miles City early in March and one from Las Vegas later in March. Anyone else who would like to come and visit us we have a couch which can be made into a bed in the living room and we will be here until May first. JH

February 2, 2002, 9:26PM.
Did the ground hog see his shakow where you live? It has been raining and snowing for a couple of weeks around here, but to our dismay, the sun was out bright all day.
We are still here and having a ball. Well maybe not exactly a ball, but doing pretty darned well. I have been working more lately, so the time is passing fast for me. So far, I think the time has gone pretty fast for Norma too. She has plenty of things to do. If I get a little tired of the rain, I wonder how I would feel if it was time to return to Miles City tomorrow. I might feel some loss at leaving this place, so I am glad we have three months left here. We still have to experience spring here. 
We hope it is spring where you live. JH

January 27, 2002, 8:22PM.
There are probably many interesting and important things going on in the Puget Sound Area, but none as news worthy as the weather. It snowed today. It is still on the ground and will probably be there tomorrow bcause it is to get to 26 degrees tonight. Well, if we had known this was going to happen, we would have stayed in Miles City. Now that we are here, it seems that we are stuck with the snow. 
We had Tommy, Jamie, Laura Jo and her kids here last evening for a nice vist and Norma went to Jamie's place for breakfast today. I couldn't go because I was scheduled to work today. 
Since I have worked two Sundays I am completely confused. I have lost the anchor of my week. I can't tell which day of the week it is without looking at the calendar. 
As you can see, in spite of the terrible weather, life in the fast lane still goes on. JH

January 23, 2002, 10:50PM.
We had a little break in the weather. That means the sun came out a few times. Today, though, it went right back to its old ways. It didn't rain, but it was windy and pretty darned chilly. 
We did another night away from home last week end. Norma and I took a little overnight trip to Whidbey Island. We took the Kingston ferry, and drove up to Oak Harbor on Friday the 18th. We stayed at the Coachman's Inn and went by way of Deception Pass to the neighboring island and had lunch at The Captain's Place at the docks in AnaCortes. The scenery, the marina, the antigue shops and The Captain's Place made our day. Next, we might take the bus to down town Seattle all by ourselves. The trip and lunch down town would be a pretty good adventure for us. I haven't run that idea past Norma yet, but there should be no problem. JH

January 16, 2002, 7:12AM.
Howdy! 
We are still here. I was right. If you stay in a place long enough it starts to feel like home. It is home for now. We have everything we need right here. An apartment, friends and relatives to visit us, several malls near by, several grocery stores near by and a job to take up part of my time and to keep me from aganizing over more important things.
We had all the friends and relatives over for supper on Saturday. I went swimming with Cameron, Laura Jo's 11 year old son while Norma entertained the rest of our guests. She told me I missed a good time of jockular bantering among the boys. But she missed a good time splashing in the pool. We went to downtown Seattle with Joey today. It was a nice experience. The hight light was lunch at Pike Place Market with a nice view of Elliot Bay. We watched the tugs pushing and pulling the freighters in and out of the harbor and the ferries going to and fro while we ate. We saw the experience music project building again today. I got another picture. What a sight. Pictures don't do justice to the real thing just as with the space needle. 
The weather has been OK. When it isn't raining, it is usually pretty nice. We are becomming used to the lack of sunshine. But not the cold days like today. It wasn't freezing, but cold enough to come through my clothes. JH

January 6, 2002, 10:25AM.
We are preparing to drive up to 2619 Cedar in Everett for Mass at the Imaculate Mary parish. The presider is a large African American priest who promotes livily congregation participation. It's gonna be fun. AAAmen!
Another item is our "vacation" last week to the Pennisula. I will have a few pictures posted on this site in a day or so. We left Thursday and got back Friday afternoon. We started with a ferry ride from Edmonds to Kingston and a drive accross the Hood Canal Bridge to Port Townsend. We stayed at a Victorian hotel then drove all the way down the coast on 101 so I could see the Pacific Ocean. It was a long drive but worth every mile to see the surf splashing against the rocks. I have completed my taining at the office and will go to work on Tuesday. I hope they let me do my first tax return then. In the beginning we are only working a few hours per week, but I think, the hours will increase soon. JH

December 27, 2001, 8:17PM.
Christmas has come and gone, so we can all relax. Aaaaah! That feels good. Don't get me wrong. I had a wonderful time this Christmas. Norma and I went to noon Mass, then we went to Jamie's house and had a fine time visiting quite a large group of friends and relatives, and eating a big ham dinner. It can't get any better than that. I hope your Christmas was a pleasant day too.
Now for the important part. I loaded a half dozen pictures on this web site. They were taken in and around our apartment and can be found if you click "Pictures from Everett, WA". JH 
good.

December 23, 2001, 4:11PM.
You were promised a detailed account of the computer virus and its irradication. Here goes. It hit on the 27th of November. It wasn't until about the 15th of December that it was diagnosed. The solution was to clean off the disk. After that was done, to my discomfort, I couldn't get the system to run. But I have two disc spindles, the C drive is on one and the D drive is on the other. The solution was to switch the slave master jumper on the back side of each drive. So the system came up, on what was formerly the D drive but now is the C drive. The reason that was possible is, that I had built a mirror image of the C drive on the D drive some time ago. With that switch made, I was able to build a mirror image of the former D drive onto the former C drive. Then it required, only, to reswitch the jumper to reset the original arrangement of master and slave to get back to the situation that existed prior to the virus.  
The only thing left is for me to profusely apologise for the e-mails sent by the virus. Expecially for the "me naked" one. JH

December 22, 2001, 10:07PM.
Yipee! The computer problem is solved. I had a virus. I was able to clear it up without loosing any data or programs. Some of you already know I had a virus, because you got some strange e-mail from me. Not so. It was from the virus. I am not about to send anyone an attachment that is titled, "me naked". Who would open that?
All is well with Norma and I. Tomorrow I will give the details on all of these subjects, but now, it is bed time. JH

December 18, 2001, 9:43PM.
I have develped some computer trouble. It seems a virus go into my machine's inards and prevents me from going on line. I am going to take this file and try to up load it on the office computer in the morning. JH

December 14, 2001, 9:52PM.
I was afraid our 5 month stay in the great northwest would get boring with nothing to do. Not so. As you can see, I have been so busy I haven't had time to do a writting since last Friday. 
We have been to Jamie's place three time this week. On Sunday for a lasagna supper, on Tuesday for Cameron's band concert and last night for Megan's band concert. We spent this afternoon in the antique stores of Snohomish. We got lost on the way home and drove an extra 40 miles, but made it in time for supper. 
We saw something unusual today. The sun. We wore our sun glasses, but saw no one else wearing them. It took a teriffic wind to blow the clouds away, but the sight was worth it. 
As far as my employment goes, I am still at it. So far it has been training. We are learning to use the office software. I am not a whiz by a long shot, but I am going in for some extra practice tomorrow. I think I can make it. The real work starts in January. JH

December 7, 2001, 9:18PM.
I think all is well. The reason is, I finally got my computer to go on line to Midrivers.com in Circle, Mt. Since the 2nd when I last wrote, we have done several things. Built a computer work table, decorated the apartment for Christmas, had visits from the boys, stocked the refrigerator, laid in some other  essential things we either forgot or didn't realize we would need, gotten used to the small apartment, it is a lovely place, Christmas shopped, of course, we found the grocery store and shopping mall, and last but not least, I have become employed. It seemed a good idea to get me employed to help keep the well from running dry while we are here and to get me out of the apartment part of the time. Norma does not need supervision 24 hours a day.  
So far our great adventure is going along real good. I only hope everyone is as pleased with it as I am. JH

December 2, 2001, 9:08PM.
Norma and I are in our Everett, WA apartment. We arrived yesterday in the afternoon at about 3:00PM. It was raining. We called our boys for help and they came right away. We all pitched in and got our stuff in out of the rain. There wasn't much that got wet. In fact, we packed very well or got real lucky. I just set this computer up and it ran as if it had not under gone a 1000 mile ride in the Aztek. That says something about the Aztek? 
Today, we went to Mass and had a nice visit from Jamie and Laura Jo. Norma laid in some more supplies and I got some much needed rest. 
Tomorrow, we have a big day. I am going to start with an exercise walk around the lake, breakfast, shopping for a computer table, Norma won't let me keep it on the dinning room table, and then we are going on line if the telephone gets connected. Norma is going to finish up our business with the land lord and get the TV cable connected. Right now I am suffering from TV withdrawal. I can't stand it much longer.
I want to send a big "thank you" to Tom and Carrie for the bed and hospitality Thursday night. Even more so since we found out what motel rooms cost when we got to Spokane Friday night. JH

November 27, 2001, 9:30PM.
We are nearly at the wire. We passed the point of no return and we are comming down the stretch. There have been many weeks of planning and preparation and now all that is left is to load up and hit the open road. There won't be anymore updates until after the third of December. Let's see what happens. JH

November 21, 2001, 8:14PM.
I have a couple of items today: We went to Billings to get a couple of things fixed on the Astek. That turned out pretty good, but I had to set in the mall for three hours while the mechanics did their work and Norma Christmas shopped. She had a wonderful time. 
The other item is that, on Tuesday, I had my regular post chemo examination. The glad tidings are that no lumps were found by the oncologist and I am OK to proceed for the next six months. We won't do that again until May.
Our plans are to have a big turkey dinner at Lilly Ann's house tomorrow, get flu shots on Friday and get serious about our preparations and loading for the trip. In seven or eight days we are out a here. JH

November 18, 2001, 7:03PM.
In a couple of weeks we will be residences of Everett, WA. We are going to spend a few months in the south west part of Everett, not too far from Joe and Tom's place in Seattle and not too far from Jamie's place in Everett. I don't know if they are going to visit us or invite us to visit them, but we will be close by just in case. In fact, what we intend to do is to invite them over for supper and conversation every day. We expect to see a lot of them, but that is not the only reason we are going to spend time there. We want the experience. Good or bad. 
Our preparations are comming along. I could explain the psychology of changing cars, but let's skip that and just say, we traded in our bonneville. The Aztec, we intend to use for a long time, has a large interior space and a roof rack. All the better to haul stuff to Everett. Norma is the head planner of getting stuff packed and in the outfit, so I will be the head driver. 
Until we actually pack up and leave, I have things to do. In order to be a real Washington resident, I want to find some temp job to make me feel necessary. That takes some planning too. And maybe a little action. JH

November 13, 2001, 8:57PM.
It is finished. Tax school is finished. I have spent most spare moments studying and now it is over. Thank goodness. The only other thing I want to report is that my grade was good. My deportment was poor but I got a certificate. 
The only other thing to report is that the application from the Silver Lake Apartments in Everett has arrived, we have filled it out, written the check and have it ready to put in the mail in the moring. JH
November 9, 2001, 9:37PM.
It has been only two days since my last writting, so you can't expect much new news. There isn't much.
The leaf bagging goes on. I have to go out into the country, to a ranch, to bag tomorrow. I have been promised an easy time. It is supposed to be a pickup of a few scattered leaves. Sure. Yah. These little jobs have a way of growing up. For instants, today. I set out to bag a few oak leaves, and before the day was over, I had spent four and a half hours, part of which was on the roof.
Also, the big test comes on Tuesday. I should be studying, but when I do, it seems an auful lot of time being spent to pickup such a small amount of information. I think I am pretty much ready, except for a few obscure little items that I hope will not come up on the test. What I really need is good execution on the day of the test. In other words, don't choke.
The really big day is comming toward the end of this month when we are going to bag it and get the heck out of here for the winter. Norma has been gearing up for that momment. She has perked up like you can't believe. She is cleaning, rearanging and packing. I won't have to do a thing, except get into the car and drive away. JH

November 7, 2001, 8:23PM.
We had elections today. We had no contest locally. I guess it was a formality. It was a quiet day. 
Not for me. Leaf bagging time is upon us. My lawn mowing customers think I have an obligation to bag their leaves. Well, I guess I do. That seems to be about all I have been doing for about a week. My first customer has three large Oak trees in his front yard that didn't loose their leaves when all the others did, so I have a couple of hours of work left there. Let that be the end. 
We await an application from an apartment manager in Everett. It is our choice of places to live through the winter. By all discriptions it is a lovely place. We are eagerly looking forward to signing up and getting there. My lovely bride is preparing for the trip and the stay there, but I have my hands full with my current struggles with the leaf bagging and the Tax school. Both will soon be over and I too can turn my attention to the up comming travel and Washington experience. JH

November 2, 2001, 9:35PM.
I mentioned, in my last writting, that Norma and I are making plans to spend some time in Washington. We even started to look for a place to live there for the winter. We haven't found the ideal place yet. At least, we don't think so. We have some scouts out there who are going to report this weekend. Depending on those reports, we are going to make a discision next week and send a check. A deal is not a deal until the check shows up. That will be one problem solved, but in a really big plan like this one there are many problems to solve. I won't overwhelm you with a list of all of them, but we are taking them on one at a time. For instance, I have two more weeks of Tax   school and I am out of there. One more problem will be solved. A couple of more leaf removal jobs and I can put the old lawn tractor away for the winter and that will be another problem solved. 
The weather should be mentioned. Haloween has passed and we have not had a cold spell yet. Knock on wood, it has been nice. I have to get to bed. I have to collect a pickup load of leaves tomorrow. JH

October 28, 2001, 9:53PM.
I am afraid I am writting for the same reason as the last time. There is no headline stuff to write. 
We received a clipping from the Phoenix paper from Dick.  It was a story about the Miles City bucking horse sale. It was a good and accurate story and we appreciated getting it. We have another item. The Clairmont, California Legion Baseball coach has been our American Legion coach for the last couple of summers. I don't know what that says, but there is at least one person who appreciates what we have here in Miles City.
We have leaves on the ground here in Miles City. It is my job to pickup the leaves where I mowed grass last summer. I have learned, it is a lot easier to mow  grass than it is to pick up leaves. 
Our plans for the winter are comming  along real good. We will soon be past the point of no return. Our house sitter is going to inform her land lady of her intention to move this week. That will be it. We will have to get out of here for five months starting the first of December. We will be ready. We looked at the pictures and floor plans of some furnished appartments in Lynnwood, WA on the internet. Norma is ready. I guess she liked what she saw. JH

October 24, 2001, 9:51PM.
That is it. The baseball season in over for me. 
We have been doing alright for the last five days since I last wrote. No disasters and we have had some good times. We had supper with some interesting folks a couple of days ago, done our chores, raked some leaves and shopped. 
I don't really have any news. Just wanted to let you know we are OK.
JH

October 19, 2001, 9:31PM.
In my last writting I said the business stuff in the tax class is easier to remember than the other jargon. Why did I say that?
There will be a new picture of Mark on the front page. I have one. Molly sent it to me and I am going to post it, but first I have to find it. A computer is just like any other storage device. You can lose things in it. 
I found some one bedroom furnished rentals in Lynnwood, WA with pictures. We looked them over pretty good and now we can't wait to get there. But wait, we must, there is a lot of water to flow under the bridge first. You know the saying of the plans of mice and men. Well, it may help if the plans are monitored closely. So I am busy keeping my eye on our plans so they don't go wobbly on us. One thing at a time. JH

October 14, 2001, 9:22PM.
I am reporting tonight because I may get too busy once the work week gets started.
The weekend has been quiet except for a couple of things. I talked at length with Jamie in Seattle and Art in Columbus. So, I have learned a few things from Seattle and a few things from Columbus. Unless they are holding something back from me,it seems that all is well in both of those places. They have not been attacked yet. 
The mid term test grade was pretty good. I am not going to say exactly what it was. If it was high I will be seen as bragging and if it was low I will be the butt of jokes. So, let us just say that it was good. Now we are into assets, depreciation and other business stuff. I find it is easier to remember than the filing status and other qualification rules. One month from now is graduation. JH

October 11, 2001, 9:22PM.
We have been to the first special fall movie. "A Friend Like Harry". It was French with sub titles. That was a plus. I can read better than I can hear. It was good. The best I've seen since the special winter movies. I won't spoil the show for you with an account of the action, but I will say that I wont forget it for a while. 
You can see we are keeping pretty busy. Besides the movies, I have my education to do. Study, study, study. Tomorrow is the day we get the results of our mid term test. You know I will be a nervous wreck by the time I get to class tomorrow. Boy, I sure don't want to flunk. I got a bad grade on a daily quiz a couple weeks ago and Norma saw it. I tried to keep it hidden. 
We have been busy taking care of business as usual. It seems, even more business than usual. The farm needs some attention. We have the hunters, CRP grazing and broken windmills to take care of. Right here in town we have the lawn cutting business, leaf raking, roof repairs to administer, and I just got the gardening done last week end. whew!
And I have to go to church on Sunday and say my prayers. About every second Sunday I get a special assignment, like go to the shut ins or to the rest home. Thank God. It is so much better than being a shut in. JH

October 7, 2001, 9:44PM.
We have experienced the fall curse. It froze on Thursday and Friday nights. I knew it was going to, the weather man, so we went to the garden and did the last minute harvesting. Still, though, we have to gather in the huckle berries. As far as I know, they are to be left out until the first freeze. 
There have been some good things happening here. Norma has had an improvement in herself. She did quite a bit last week. I can't remember exactly what it was, but she was delighted with herself. We went to a movie and then to the Alta Club for some dancing. I can't believe I am typing this, but it is true. I can't believe I am dancing. 
Speaking of dancing; Francis and Josey Shields from Washington stopped in Forsyth on their way to Billings for a Polka Fest. We had a nice visit with them at Jerry and Frances' place on Thursday. 
I did go to the farm on Wednesday. Except for a blowen off shingle, a failure in the kitchen window, a flat on the tractor, and the cover off the tractor, every thing else was in good shape. I fixed all those things except the flat tire. I put a shingle on, some visqueen on the window and recovered the tractor. We will deal with the flat tire next year. JH

October 2, 2001, 10:12PM.
I haven't died yet. Haven't even been sick. Just busy. The thing that is taking my time is this Tax  School. I am not too sure the old memory is up to the task. I learn new stuff and foget the old stuff. My brain is like a bucket that has been filled already. 
I am taking tomorrow off. Going to drive out to the ranch with some fence posts. I hope to do my last inspection of the house for the summer and leave it to the coyotes. 
Norma and I are getting pretty excited about our plans to spend the winter in Seattle. We haven't been invited, so we are going to take care of ourselves. We are going to drive out after Thanksgiving, if the old car can make it, and pretend we are Seattle-ites. Probably won't do a very good job of it, but we think it will be fun. 
There is still a lot more to do here in Miles City. I have to finish up my grass cutting and harvest the last of my garden. JH

September 22, 2001, 8:12PM.
It has been only two days since my last writting. The schedule must be slowing down. There is not much worth the ink in the last two days, except the birthday. Nothing much happened then but a big splash is planned for tomorrow. My lovely spouce invited some of our friends and relatives to come over for dinner tomorrow afternoon. To her dismay she fell somewhat ill today and couldn't prepare. So, I have prepared for my own birthday party. How about that. I am going to pick it up tomorrow. It will be a box of fried chicken, box of potato salad, rolls, fruit bowl and a vegetable tray from the grocery store. Not to mention the O'Douls and Bud Light in the refrigerator. There was nothing in the mail so far but, maybe, there will be a little something tomorrow. It is unlikely a person can buy a little something for a birthday, but this should do it. Lest I forget. Norma gave me some new clothes and I got a nice e-mail from cousin Dick. Thanks guys. JH

September 20, 2001, 10:08PM.
I have not posted anything to this site for a couple of weeks. Not to worry. I am not sick or dead. Just auful busy. It is summer time and there are lots of things to do outside. My plate is full. I might as well explain. 1. the garden still needs a little time. 2. I still have three or four yards to cut each week. 3. Our flowers still need to be watered every other day. 4. the lawn still needs watering a couple times each week. 5. I go to Tax school every Tuesday and Thursday morning. 6. I do home work a lot. 7. I am going to the farm as soon as I can find a day. Tomorrow would be good, but I am not ready. Well, I could continue on, but you get the idea. 
We had a good time at he Hopf, Franzel wedding on Saturday and a nice visit with a second cousin on the Schleder side of the family yesterday. I have a little geneology chart back to our common ancestor if anyone is interested in that sort of thing. I am, but as you can see, I don't have time for it. JH

September 9, 2001, 8:05PM.
Labor Day was last Monday. Our hot summer weather was passed too. It has been thirty degrees cooler for the last few days. We have had a little rain too. Now that it is the 9th of September, I don't think we will suffer from the heat anymore this year. 
We had a moderate hail storm at 6:00AM on the first of July that did just enough damage to the roofs in town to require new shingles. We have had an evaluation by the insurance adjuster and by the roofer. It looks like we are going to get our old shingles replaced. It gets complicated. The house has had shingles added but not replaced. We have three layers on one side, and I think, four on the other. I had no idea they were that deep. No wonder it doesn't leak. 
There are a couple of events to note in the next couple of weeks. The 40th anniversary is on Sunday the 16th and the 66th birthday is on Friday the 21st. Don't make a big deal over these dates, but it would be nice if everyone would drop a little something in the mail. Each little bit counts up. JH

August 31, 2001, 10:12PM.
Well, I have been looking to put the lawn mower away. Not yet. I got to cut a large, very nice, ranch lawn today. I have cut it before, but today everything went so smoothly, I would do it again.

The Labor Day weekend is coming up. I don't labor much, but it will be nice to have an excuse to sit back and rest. After today I can use it. 
We received some information about the family in the state of Washington before they came to Montana. For example, a sale notice listing the farm equipment and animals to be sold in 1915. If you would like a copy, let me know. I will e-mail it. It is too good to miss. It was found by Richard on a recent trip to Harrington, Wa. JH

August 28, 2001, 6:51PM.
I was way too optomistic about my recovery of my health. True, the Biaxin made me feel better soon, but the cough and the head cold has hung on for the entire week. It is getting better, but there is still a little cough and a little nose blowing. The good news is, I passed my examination by the oncologist. Big word. It means cancer specialist. He told me I have no lumps. Ooops! I already reported that. 
Our summer is winding down. Thank goodness. I can put the lawn mower away in a few more weeks and do something else. I am working on some ideas for the fall and winter. Fall and winter can be just as much fun as spring and summer, but you need a plan. I have a plan. In one week I am going to start Tax school. Then, in December, we are going to Seattle where I am going to try to find some temporary employment. Of course, we are comming back to the Big Sky next spring. And, if this plan dosen't work out, we can come back to the Big Sky sooner than next spring. In either case, we will survive. JH

August 19, 2001, 3:13PM.
In my review of my last writting I find a fairly positive outlook. For me. But at the time I didn't know my common cold was going to turn into bronchitis. I have had bronchitis before so, I recognized it when it got me. I went, imediately, to the doctor and got a Biaxin prescription. That was Friday morning and already, I am feeling better. My couph is lessening and my ambition to do things is comming back. Enough of that.
It was with satisfaction that I recieved a message from Dick. Someone is hitting my site. I found Harrinton on the Washington state map. I am suprised it is less than 50 miles from Spokane. I am also glad to know that Jacob owned 80 acres and his farm sale add is still available. I thought Dad was born in Harrington, but maybe not. If not, I don't know where.
It is actually the 21st. I got interupted. This was my Oncologist vist day. I am one of a few who was palpitated by an Oncologist today and told he is free of lumps. So we have passed again. JH

August 14, 2001, 10:17PM.
It has been nine days since I last wrote. Why hasn't anyone complained?
The summer is droning on. It is still hot, I am still cutting grass, the yard still needs watering. Lucky Montana people. We have a change in the weather coming up. It will be fall soon. In another few weeks it will freeze. Then the growing will stop, the watering will stop and I will stop. 
We had company last week. Art and Judy were here. We went to Medora for the Burning Hills Musical. What a show. We had a nice drive over, a bufalo steak supper, the show and a nice ride back. Art and Judy got to Forsyth late but they had Friday to rest before their flight to Ohio. 
Norma and I went to Billings on Sunday for a little outing. We didn't do much, but the drive there and back was pleasant. JH

August 5, 2001, 10:12PM.
I have been working too hard. Cutting grass, watering flowers and fertilizing. Today was Sunday so I spent it in doors. There were a couple of good reasons for that. It gave me a chance to get reaquainted with my PC and it was too hot out. 
I have Jerry and Frances' old family album here. It has some real good pictures in it. They are a lot better than the dusty box of pictures I got from the farm. I scanned and burned quite a few onto my CD writer. But, sorry to say, I got some of the pages mixed up. Out of order. Maybe no one will notice. 
We have company comming this week. Art and Judy are in Forsyth now. We are going to Madora on Thursday. I expect a call any time from them. JH

July 31, 2001, 9:35PM.
I have some weather news to report while it is still fresh. Our precipitation for July is over six inches. We had, officially, 1.83 inches last night. As you suspect, there are individuals in town with private rain gages who had 3.5 inches. The under pass was still full of water this afternoon. 
The other reason I am writting so soon after the last time, is that I want to give a short account of the "Planet of the Apes". I imposed on Norma to go to the movie tonight just because it was "Planet of the Apes". She didn't like it, but I thought it was wonderful. It was similar to the original but different. The hero landed on the planet of the apes by accident, did some heroic things, had two girl friends, one ape one human and returned to earth, only to find apes had taken over while he was gone. JH

July 29, 2001, 9:03PM.
Art called me last night. Now I am doubly cheered because I have had two telephone visits with distant relatives this weekend. Arthur and Judy will arrive in Forsyth on August 5th and leave for Ohio on August 11th. We have a week to prepare for the visit. There is no indication what is in store. We haven't thought of it yet. But we will be working on it during this next week. That will be our prioity.

The good thing about out of town visits is that they tend to wake us up here in Snooze City. They bring news from the outside, new and fresh ideas reasons to do things. Well, that may be somewhat exagerated, but we do like to have visitors. This upcomming visit will be a good one. JH

July 27, 2001, 9:14PM.
I went to the dentist. I gaged. I got temp teeth in front. Yes, that is plural. The six hundred dollar hamburger turned into a $1200.00 hamburger. Both front teeth are being crowned. They said I would never be pretty again if both teeth were not crowned because they would not match.

Frances loaned me her album of old family pictures when we were in Forsyth last weekend. I have duplicates of some of them, but there are some real jems in there. I have scanned a few, but in the summer time it is hard to sit in here and run the computer. 
I made a couple of calls to cheer me up this evening. Art wasn't home but I found Tommy home and he did a nice job. He told me he is doing well in school. That is what I wanted to hear, so I will be OK for a while now. 
Our summer is not droning on. We are having one heck of an interesting weather spell. We are having a thundrstorms every other night. These aren't wimpy little ones. They thunder, lightening, rain, hail and blow. Our moisture count for July is up to four and a half inches. New shingles are going onto the old house as soon as the hail season is past. It has been that bad. JH

July 23, 2001, 10:04PM.
We had a nice weekend. The high light, for the sake of brevity, was a trip to Forsyth. The Rosebud County Fair was in progress. Charley Pride performed on Saturday evening. We missed that, but I heard it was to an overflow crowd. We were there on Sunday. Not quite we. I was there on Sunday. Norma visited with Frances at her place until late in the afternoon, when they came to eat 4H food. I can't let this pass without a brief description of the Montana Draft Horse & Mule Association working teamster competition. There were a half dozen teamsters who used teams of draft animals to maneuver wagons and other outfits through obstacle courses to see who could have the most luck. The high light I mentioned was a couple of hours in the shade watching these proceedings. I dosen't take much to entertain me I suppose. It was free.
Today was almost a downer. I cut one lawn and not much else. But tomorrow is going to be big. Remember the $600.00 hamburger at McDonalds? Tomorrow the tooth repair begins. I hope I don't gag. I am between a rock and a hard spot. It is the ugly broken tooth or the dentist. JH

July 20, 2001, 9:24PM.
I have some bad news. Norma went yard saling without me, because I was too tired. She didn't stay long. About 15 minutes. I knew something had gone wrong. When has a woman ever gone yard saling for 15 minutes? An hour, minimum. Well, she had stepped on a stepping stone at someone's house and it flipped over. It hurt her foot. She thought it was a broken bone on the left foot like she had on her right foot last winter. We went to the emergency room for an exam, but it is not broken. Thank goodness. Just sore. So now, for the good news.
Mrs Baker has taken me back. I thought she had found a new yard man, but she called today and I cut her grass. Another little good news; I had the car in the garage for an unrelated matter and the mechanics pronounced the power steering system well. How is that. Two bits of good news to one bad. I think I have another bit of good news comming, but we will deal with that when the time comes. JH

July 18, 2001, 7:09PM.
Three days have passed since our last message. We are still doing our little things. The weather is still doing its little things. We have a little lightning, a little thunder and a little rain every night. We have already had our's this evening and it is only 7:00PM. We could have another. Last night we had two. The last at 3:00AM. 
Norma is trying to catch up on her laundry. I am trying to catch up on the little chores in the yard: trimming the trees, watering the lawn, watering the flowers, and, today, the big one. I put a new alternator in the car. There is a long story here. I won't burden you with it, but that quieted the old bus down. It gives me fresh hope there are a couple of years in her yet. 
The only other thing that comes to mind is that, I found a copy of "Treasure Island". In retirement, it seems likely that a guy should be able to read for more than 20 minutes. I am at the point where Jim Hawkins has returned to the stockade in the dark and found himself surrounded by Silver and his men. See you later. JH

July 15, 2001, 11:24PM.
Referring to the healing service in my last writing, I did go. We did the stations of the cross, had a lecture on the power of Satan and special healing prayers. As always, in these cases, the Lord does not take away our need for Faith, but it is enough to say that healing did occur. We will have to wait to see the extent and the duration. 
It has been a week so I can't tell all, but I will hit the hight lights. Jamie and Laura Jo left for the lush paradise, Everett, WA, a week ago yesterday and left behind to suffer in the oppressive heat of Eastern Montana, Cameron and Megan. We did have a nice visit with them last week and I am going to call them for a visit this evening. Maybe for a hamburger feed at McDonalds. I had a $600.00 hamburger there last week. The hamburger itself wasn't $600.00. That is what I need to pay to fix the tooth. No more, thanks.
Another high light was our visit with Tom in Seattle. He assured us he is comfortable and perfectly capable of not only completeing his cuurse work at North Seattle College, but doing it well. We are, in deed, pleased to have that information. 
Joey has disappeared from our sight temporarily. We know he is there. During our visit with Tom, he, Tom, said Joey is reading the paper. We may call later today just to authenticate that and to hear his voice. 
There, you have the high lights of the week. There were many more very important things happening, but this is probably about all anyone would want to read of a writer without a whole lot of substance. I hated to write that last sentence about lack of substance, but then, I am not C. S. Lewis. JH

July 8, 2001, 10:07PM.
We had a busy week last week. But the weekend came just in time. We have done almost nothing for two days. Now I am ready to do. I have a yard to cut in the morning and three things to do at 7:00PM tomorrow evening. Oh, what to do what to do. I think I had better go the eucharistic minister's meeting. I have gotten word that Father was pretty cranky when so few showed up at the regularly scheduled meeting last month. But , on the other hand, I would like to go to the Relay for Life meeting to keep in touch with that group. Not because they can't function without me; because they can function without me. And I would like to go to the healing service at the church. If anyone needs healing, it is me. Mind, body and soul. Well, let us just wait until tomorrow evening and we will see which one I go to. JH

July 5, 2001, 9:54PM.
I feel like I have lived a life time in one day. Today. I look at the June 26th writting and there I find that I had played myself out too. What! I am working too hard. It seems like a long time ago that I did the digging, but it was just a week ago. It was finished on Saturday. Thank Goodness. The under ground watering system works. I fixed six leaking pipes. In fact, this thing has progressed so far that I have shown the upstairs apartment to a prospective renter. I think the owner is in the process of signing them up. 
Ah, today's activity. It was 100 degrees while I cut grass for one of my clients. I think I found out how much heat I could stand. I spent two hours in the mid day heat and was at the edge of a melt down when the job was finished. 
We have had a lot of time with Jamie this week. He is here with Laura Jo and the kids. They are here for Laura Jo's mother's birthday tomorrow afternoon. We are invited. It is going to be a great time. Laura Jo comes from a large family. They will be leaving for Everett on Saturday morning. 
That is most of what we have been doing in the past week. It doesn't look like much, but boy, it sure seemed like hard work at the time. JH

June 26, 2001, 9:58PM.
Just a short message tonight. I am too tired to type very much. It has been a day of pick and shoveling. I am fixing the leaks in the neighbor's lawn sprinkler system. I still have a little more digging to do in the morning, but there is a light at the end of the tunnell. 
We are busy listening to the Billings weathermen discribe, over and over, The thunder storm activity in Billings. It seems to be pretty bad. We are probably safe. By the time that weather gets here, it will be too cool for any bad thunder storms. So I am going to bed and sleep like a baby. JH

June 24, 2001, 8:46PM.
We are having fun. I know, because time is flying. It seems like just yesterday we were in Cody at the Mark Russell show and the Pow Wow. But, another great weekend has passed. This weekend was different. It was more of a stay home and enjoy the summer weekend. Norma and Lil sold hundreds worth of household and clothing items at their yard sale. I frittered the weekend away doing some lawn mower maintenance. I didn't accomplish much. I harvested my radish crop. I don't think Norma enjoyed the produce much. They were a little more woody than she is accustomed to. But, the fiber is good for her. Wait til she tasts my tomotes, squash and cabbage. Not to mention the wonder berries. They are comming up all over the garden. There will be a better crop than last year. Darn! I sure didn't want to make pies all the month of September again. We have company comming next weekend. Jamie, Laura Jo and the kids will be here next Sunday evening. I have one wonderberry pie left from last year. We will bake it while Jamie is here. He will like it. I hope is cools off by then. We are  going to cook in the back yard one evening. I don't know how much heat Everett people can take. Not much, I suppose. Oh my! The radishes seem to be swelling up in my stomach. 
We got word that Tommy has finished the first quarter at North Seattle Junior College majoring in data processing. He reports excellent grades. His classes included; QBasic, HTML and computer basics. He has three more quarters to go. Let us all pray for his success. JH

June 19, 2001, 10:19PM.
We are still here. In ten minutes I will try to encapsulate a ton of experience of the past few days.
We went on a planed short trip to Cody, Wyoming. The main events there were a Mark Russell show. It is with amasement that I find few people who know him. He is a commedian who does political satire. And very well. He did a benefit for the Park County Mental Health Center in Cody. It was an enjoyable evening. If you want to know more, just ask. The other event was, an accidental encounter of an indian Pow Wow. We enjoyed the singing and dancing of the indians, their colorful clothes and the ceremony. 
The other thing I would like to mention is that I have been working myself way too hard. I cut a couple of really tough lawns in the last few days and there are two more waiting for me tomorrow. 
Another thing I must mention, is that, Norma had taken a turn for the better. She has cut down on her medication and is much more energetic. She wants to do things. JH

June 13, 2001, 7:59PM.
We have had 2.8 inches of rain this month.
It seems like Seattle. I have been sitting in the house for two days waiting for the rain to stop. JH

June 12, 2001, 12:34PM.
No, we didn't visit the other 20 yard sales. In fact I haven't used any of the
merchandise I bought at the first five. The
mouse cable didn't fit my computer and I 
don't have a cable for the disc drive. The
pants are for work which I don't do much
of and I don't have the patients to read Treasure Island.
We are planning a big weekend this week. There is a benefit performance by Mark Russell for the Park County Mental Health Center at Cody, Wyoming. We have tickets comming, hopefully, they will be here by Friday and reservations at Super 8 in Cody. But, I suppose, in preparation for this little trip, Norma said to me as she went out of the house a while ago, "I am going to Shores." Do you know what that means? I do. Of course, it means different things to different people.  
It is cool and rainy today. I didn't say raining, but it might. We will take what we can get. JH

June 8, 2001, 9:45PM.
What a week we have had. 
First it was rain rain. An Inch and a half. I mowed two lawns and have our own to do tomorrow. We went to several yard sales today. There were 25 advertised in the paper for this week end. I bought an external 5.25 inch floppy disc drive. There was no cable with it so I may never get it connected. But if I do, I have some discs with something on them. Then I can find out what it is. Maybe not, but for 50 cents I'll take it. I also bought a mouse and a book, "Treasure Island". If you want to read Treasure Island, let me know. I also bought a pair of work pants. The whole pile cost me $3.10. 
We had some news from Tommy this week. He shared some of his school work with us. He is building some web sites for class. I don't think he would mind if you knew the URL's. http://www.nsccux.sccd.ctc.edu/~thecker/piano.htm and http://www.nsccux.sccd.ctc.edu/~thecker/researchpage.htm.
What is on the schedule for tomorrow? I think it is to visit the remaining 20 yard sales.JH

June 6, 2001, 5:15PM.
Four days ago I did a nice writting, but today it is not going to be quite so nice. I am going to describe the fluids emitted by the cat. The bad news is that he was sick. At 4:00 yesterday morning I was up and the cat didn't bother me. I thought something is wrong. At 8:00 when I got up for good, he was lying on the floor in the living room. Still let me alone. I knew something had gone terribly wrong. So, I took him to the vet. No obvious signs of what the illness was were found so she gave him an antibiotic shot. On the way home he pooped in the car. That is bad enough, but it was just a little puddle of slime. Want to go on? I said this was not going to be a nice writting. Well, anyhow, he did the same thing in the grass a couple of hours later. The good news, about time, was that he was showing more life. He has steadily improved. I am giving him little white pills that are supposed to end his infection and put him back in good health. Soon he will be bothering me in his usual way. 
Enough of that. We had a lot of rain. It is over now and the weather is really nice. I fertilized our lawn and this afternoon, I cut Mrs Baker's. 
We had a good time viewing Tom's web pages he has developed for his web class. Very good Tom. I see some improvements have been made even today.
It's that time of day. I am going to put a pizza in the oven. JH

June 2, 2001, 8:04PM.
I have visited with Tom, Joe and Jamie either by phone or e-mail during the past week. I have had e-mails or phone visits with Dick and Pat, Marty and Molly and Dick Mullins too. I like to keep my finger in as many lives as possible. You might say I should get a life of my own, but this is more fun. 
Well, I do have a life of my own. With my new business, computer stuff, and my household chores I am busy. First of all, I have six yard care customers. Three of them are regular customers and the other three are occasional. With my own yard, I am cutting grass four or five times a week. I am preparing a web site for the local cancer relay for life fund raising group. And I have to do my share of the housekeeping, water the yard and help Norma plant flowers. Sometimes I forget to say my prayers. It would be nice if I could get to the farm. That is a tiring trip to wedge into all those other activities. 
Just for your information; we are having a drought. The entire state is officially in a drought. We had 50% of our normal May rain and most other counties had less. The grass is still green but not very tall and probably stopped growing. I noticed the crested wheat has very few heads and it is real short. It should be good grazing. I saw, still today, a load of hay go through Miles City. There have been hay trucks going through all winter and spring. JH

May 26, 2001, 9:33PM.
If you go back to the beginning of May, you will find I expressed some consern about the month because it is the month of birthdays, mother's day and graduations. I noticed a couple of cards we have bought and they are still on the kitchen counter. If there is someone who didn't get a birthday or graduation card, it may be on our kitchen counter. Hopfully not. Anyhow, by the barest of margins I got through the month without gravely hurting anyone by forgetting an important date. I had some help. Thank you. If I forgot to send a card to anyone, just let me know by e-mail. I will e-mail a card with two bucks right away.
We are going to do a little gardening around the house today. After all it is spring. It is hard to tell. The drought is clamping down on us hard. The ground is dry, the prairie is stressed and the weatherman has no rain in sight. 
I got a nice e-mail from Molly today. She is fine, Eric and the baby are fine, and the newest picture of the baby is on this web site. 
Dick and Pat left Thursday and we are waiting to get an e-mail from them when they get back to thier little nest in Las Vegas. JH

May 25, 2001, 8:32PM.
I my last writing I mentioned guests. Well, we have had guests this past few days. These were Norma's brother and sister in law, Dick and Pat from Las Vegas. They came for the Bucking Horse Sale and a nice visit with their lovely sister. They had a wonderful time. There was the Bucking Horse Sale Parade, the sale itself, the shopping, and the cuisine was pretty good. We did it all. That is pretty much all there is to do in Miles City. That is why so many of us are fat.
This is the first writing since the 13th so it will be long. 
There is an item I would like to point out. A new picture of our newest relative has been posted and a dozen new 2001 pictures are on line. Just click "new pictures", I think and you will be treated to a sight. There is a picture of an old combine that some may be interested in. The rest may be pretty much nonsense. 
There is nothing else that needs to be reported just now. When there is, you can find it right here. JH

May 13, 2001, 8:57PM.
In my last writting I bragged about doing a number of things all in one day. That was nothing. Today, I hardly had time for my prayers. I got the variable speed clutch on my lawn tractor fixed, cut Mrs Baker's grass and installed three window air conditioners. Now I know what tired is.
Norma had a busy day too. She purchased a wonderful new chair. It is all wood with arm rests. It sits by the door in the living room. I think it is a guest chair. Appropriate. We have had guests on several occations lately, and enjoyed everyone very much, and expect more in a few days. JH

May 11, 2001, 8:35PM.
What a day! Just a little note to let you know we are busy.
I took the car to the garage, had my tooth fixed, cut a lawn and intertained company. All in one day, and that is besides garage saleing, shopping and making supper. what do you think of that? JH

May 9, 2001, 6:22PM.
Today's report includes some yard work and a car wash. We transplanted my china doll from the kitchen to the back yard. This plant has some history. I received it from the Bank while hospitalized in February of 2000. It was moved to the yard last summer and back to the kitchen last fall. It is about twice its original size and looking good. 
The car wash and interior cleaning was not so easy. I did the actual work.
Now I am going to take my bride out for supper. She has agreed to go with me to McDonalds for 49 cent hamburgers. Not so fast to condemn. This is to be seen in the light of a Mothers Day feast at Louie's Steak House. Tonight's savings will more than be offsett by the extravagance of the Mother's Day outing. My conscience is clear.
Norma is doing very well. Someone must be praying for her. She is getting livlier every day. We are having a wonderful time. 
One other item, before I forget it. We installed a new bed not including the box springs and mattress. OK, head board, foot board and rails. It looks great in our bedroom. JH

May 7, 2001, 5:25PM.
I am up to four clients. But I am still $80 in the hole. That is in one week. After this week, will I be $160 in the hole? This business is tough. 
We have Norma's brother Dick from Las Vegas comming next week for the Bucking Horse Sale. Anyone else like to join us? It will be a really big time. 
The weather is warming up for the horse racing on Saturday, the 12th. I am going. It may be necessary to skip the birthday and mother's day gifts if I don't win on Saturday. I'm a lucky guy. 
Norma has been doing very nicely lately. She has been more active. She asked me if I had noticed any difference lately. I said, "yes I have." She has cooked scallop potatoes and Enchiladas for us during the last couple of days. We're having left overs tonight. JH

May 3, 2001, 8:13PM.
May is here. The month of the Bucking Horse Sale, Norma's birthday, Jamie's birthday and Mothers day. This is great. I am going to start searching for gifts tomorrow. I want to express my thanks for all of the wonderful things that have happened in the month of May. 
Also, I have gone into business. I am now self employed. The sole employee. No one else has asked to join me. I am in the yard work business. I have three clients. Two yards have been done this week and another is to be done tomorrow. Boy am I tired. It feels good. Tired body; easy mind. That is what I always say. I am down $120.00 and have earned $35.00 so far. It dosent't look good financially but, hopfully, those are not recurring expenses and the income will start to catch up with the expenses. It is no different than any other start up business. You have to spend money to make money. JH

May 1, 2001, 12:59PM.
The month of terror is here. It contains two family birthdays and mother's day. What am I going to do? I don't know.

However, it also includes the Bucking Horse Sale, racing and the start of a nice summer. Speaking of the Bucking Horse Sale, we have company comming. Dick and Pat like the Bucking Horse Sale so much, they are driving all the way from Las Vegas just to sit out in the weather and watch cowboys get bucked off of wild horses. Well, everyone has to have his hobbies. Let us hope this year is different. We have to win some races. It is about time. Let the dirt fly. JH

April 29, 2001, 5:19PM.
It has been almost a week since my last writting. You might think nothing has happened. But it really was a busy week.
Art and Judy were here last week because Judy's Father died. He will be greatly missed. I went to the funeral at Forsyth yesterday and Art and I went to the farm on Friday. You don't think I would let a visit by Art go by without a visit to the farm. I can go out anytime I want, but it is a lot more fun when I can take someone along. We had a pretty good time. On the spur of the moment, we stopped off and inspected the old combine that Jackob had in 1927. It took 14 head of horses to pull and three men to operate. It is in suprisingly good shape after sitting out in the weather for 70 years. We stopped in Ingomar and had lunch. Margurite Franzel and Patty Erickson were working in the Jersey Lilly. There was a film crew there from back east to do a documentary for the owner of Ingomar. He is a manufaturer of burial vaults who hosts gatherings of funeral directors in Ingomar from time to time. I think the vidio was probably a part of his advertising. Anyhow, the place was jumping.

In my last message, I mentioned that I am practicing retirement. Well, I am still. But it may be that I am failing. I can't seem to get over the hill. There seems to be some tension between feeling absolutely useless and the fear of actually going to work. At this time I don't know which side I am gong to come down on. We will just have to wait and see. JH

April 23, 2001, 7:46PM.
I am still working at being a retiree. Something seems to be missing. I think it is a job. I would like to have a job, but I don't want to go to work. That is not possible. I do have a job. Learning to be a retiree. I learned today, that one and a half hours of yard work is going to work. Tomorrow I will learn a little more. I think I will assemble the stuff I will need to go to the farm. The weather is supposed to be warm later in the week so a trip to the farm should be pleasant. Retirees don't do things that are not pleasant. 
This writting was not well edited. That is probably Ok. It would have taken the real meaning out of it. There may have been nothing left. Probably just as well. JH

April 20, 2001, 1:48PM.
I have had word from a couple of distant relatives lately that they have read this page. On one hand I am gratified that I am not typing this stuff for nothing but , on the other it alerted me to the fact that I need to edit the content and spell correctly. I also went back and read about half of it. It is a pretty good account of how we spend our time and what our interests are. 
For an example, we went to the fifth of six special Thursday night movies at the local theater. Two of the movies, 'Dancing in the Dark' and 'Billy Elliot' were the  best I have ever seen, but last night it was 'Chocolat'. A two hour redicule of the Catholic Church in France. The heroine was a pagan and all of the villans were church goers. For a cradle Catholic it was sheer torture, or did I miss something.
A whole week has passed since my last writting but I can think of very little to say about it. I did some chores and jobs, but mostly not much. Maybe I am getting better at retirement. JH

April 12, 2001, 6:15PM.
We had a nice day so far. We visited the hardware store. Norma enjoyed it a lot. We made a small purchase of some knee pads for her gardening. A good thing too. Later this afternoon we discovered some flowers in the front yard. They are from the bulbs we planted last fall. It was a real delight to see our first flowers of the spring. 
In a few minutes we are going to the special Thursday night movie, "Billy Elliot". These are a series of six shows that are shown every Thursday. They have been pretty good. We have seen three of them. I say this is a good deal for me. I go to the movie with 500 women. It is not entirely true, but there are very few men there. Well, off to the movies. JH

April 11, 2001, 10:11PM.
It has been a while. But, I have been busy. I put in 22 hours helping at the hardware store, and that takes a big bite out of each day. 
Norma was in Billings today. I had to stay home all alone. She went with her friend, Lil, who had an appointment with the DR. The big event was, of course, shopping. I don't know the extent of the shopping. I was shown a few select items. It may have been the tip of the iceburg. 
I doubled the antenna length today. It, I think, improved my reception. It seems, I can tune to more stations. And they don't seem as sensitive to frequency variations. I don't have to tune as exact. When I shut this computer off, I will try my night tunning. You can't run a computer and a 65 year old battery powered radio at the same time in the same room. The computer makes the radio buzz. JH

April 6, 2001, 8:17PM.
We have had rain. I don't know how much. It rained lightly off and on all day. Kind of like Seattle. 
I helped set up tables and chairs at Sacred Heart Gym for a benefit breakfast tomorrow morning. We have a women's prison with a new chapel in Billings, but the chapel can't be used until it is paid for. So, we are going to raise a little cash right here in Miles City.
Speaking of work. I am going out to the hardware store in the morning. I think I have a couple of days work there. It is the same place I worked a couple of weeks ago. This is the real thing. They are moving this weekend. 
This evening was the last fish supper at the K. C. kitchen for this lenten season. We attended for about the fourth time this year. It was the best fish fry yet. I think it was the scallop potatoes that made it better. Potato uses the e in the plural but not the singular. JH

April 5, 2001, 10:45PM.
How time flies. I wasn't having that much fun. 
I got a nice note from Colorado. I am real pleased with that. I has been a real interesting day. The stock market went up for a change, that didn't do us any good, our funds have all turned into government securities, and I got the old battery powered radio from the farm to work. More or less. Jamie helped me develope a power source for it and advised new tubes be installed. Lo and behold. It worked. I listened to the news and a little music this afternoon. It's performance needs some improvement, so we are gong to study antenna and tuning. The next time you visit me we will listen to some radio.
We are going to make a trip to the farm soon. It is hard telling what that will require. Maybe some repairs to the windows on the house, sweeping out some dust, I want to put the table back together, start the John Deere and generally inspect the place. 
Otherwise, we are fine. JH
   
March 30, 2001, 2:11PM.
Gee, I haven't posted any wisdom since Monday. I guess I had better discribe the environment here so you can better discount anything I may write. The sun is shinning, it is warm in here, the cat is asleep, the stock market it up, the bond market is up, I am home alone, but Norma is to come back from the shop with refurbished nails any minute now. So, that is why I am in such a good mood. Forgot to mention, I sent off an order by the internet for five new tubes for the old battery operated radio. On Jamie's advice, we are going to replace the tubes and try the radio again. 
We went to the movie last night, we are gong to the KC's fish fry tonight and we are going to take an overnighter in Billings on Monday and Tuesday. JH

March 26, 2001, 9:22PM.
It was another exitin' day.
I guess the big news of the day is that we had a nice visit with Tommy. It seems he is going to be taking some classes to enhance his employability. And, I am sure, to find out what it is the great communications, computer, age is all about. Of course we wish him all the best in his endevor. 
The other thing was a drive to the Larsen Ranch bull sale. It was a pleasant experience. We were treated very nicely as we know we would be. JH

March 24, 2001, 10:53PM.
We had, yet, another visitor today. We have had visitors three of the last four days. First, it was Bob and Margurite Franzel, then Phil and Irene Messer and now Judy Hecker. We have been blessed. We enjoyed every one of the visits. Got invited, today to the bull sale on Monday. There was a promise of good eats and plenty of sun shine. Who would miss that?
I have some bad news though. Jamie and I attempted to operate the old Coronodo radio from the farm. It would not work. I am going to recheck the power supply and connections tomorrow. It is either that or the 40 or so years since it was used was too much. 
I hope you like the picture on the home page. It is an update of our newest relative, Mark Mullins Zimmerman sent by his proud mother Molly. Isn't he a fine looking boy? JH

March 22, 2001, 10:04PM.
More cousins visited us today. Phil and Irene Messer were here. Embarrassment. I was still in my pajamas when they came at about 11:00AM. I have yet to be dressed when Phil and Irene come. I don't know what they must think. What ever. We had a nice visit. 
The reason I was not dressed is that I was on the phone for a long time doing business. I am especially pleased to announce that we are about 90% out of the common stock business. I am a poorer but much happier man for it. Never again. JH

March 21, 2001, 8:37PM.
We had a nice visit today from cousin Bob Franzel and Margurite. They were in town to use our medical and shopping fecilities. They stayed over last night and visited us before leaving this morning. All seems to be well at Sumatra except the moisture. We are short of moisture out on the prairie. 
I did a little farmin of my own this afternoon. Tree roots are growing into my yard with, I suppose, the intention of starting a forest. I am digging them out. JH

March 20, 2001, 9:42PM.
Holy smoke, it is way too exciting for me. But, I have to stay. There is no place to go. About a week ago, I locked in half of the stock market loss we had suffered. For a couple of days, I was appalled to think I had done that, and now I am appalled to think I didn't move it all. Enough of that. I can still work for a living. Not without a job, I can't. Anyone out there who reads this and has a job for me, the address is jhecker@midrivers.com. 
We have had a few good days. Norma was feeling really good. We did a little shopping, redecorated the bed room with new curtains, new sheets, new bed spread and new pillow shams. It looks great. I had to learn to make the bed in a new and more modern way. Sure old people can learn to do new things. 
I am looking for something to occupy my time this summer if no paying job turns up. I will be making a trip to the farm. I have a new battery charger for the six volt so I can attempt to start the John Deere. It may provide some interesting activity for a while. The weather was to nice to stay in town today. It is to cool off over the week end. Maybe next week will be nice for a trip to the farm. JH
 
March 12, 2001, 8:41PM.
Well, here I am; unemployed again. Yep. They laid us part time temps off. We worked ourselves out of a job. Worked too hard. The move of the store is two weeks ahead, but the boss asked if I could help with the actual move on the first weekend of April. They are going to close the old store, move everything and open the new store. It is OK with me. I am tired of working. Seven part days is enough for me.
The stock market didn't drop any further today, but the people who know, don't give it much chance of coming back soon. Just one more tribulation in the life of retirees. 
Spring is just around the corner. It warmed up in the last few days but the weather man says it is going to get cold again. I am ready either way. The leaves from last fall are raked and the grass fertilized. Oh. I mentioned that in my last writting. JH  
March 8, 2001, 8:58PM.
The tempurature was, apparently in the 50's today. I didn't see a thermometer, but it seemed pretty warm. 
There is one more day in the sweat shop and then we are free at last, free at last. As for me, I am going to do a little yard work on Saturday. The leaves got smashed down last fall when it snowed and they are still there. They need to be removed and some fertilizer put on the grass.
I still have time to check the stock market, the mutual fund values and my e-mail. JH
 
March 7, 2001, 8:38PM.
Day three. There doesn't seem to be any weight loss yet. They are paying me a little, giving me something to do for a while each day, and if I could lose a little weight while working, it would be a triple win. Or double, at least. Well, I don't really want to work indefinitly. Supper was ready for me again today. What a deal. 
It is warming up. It is going to be 57 tomorrow.
On top of all the good news the stock market was up again today. JH

March 6, 2001, 9:38PM.
Day two. I completed my second day of work. And I intend to go back for more tomorrow. It seems to be good medicine all around. Norma is up, and has supper cooked when I get home at 6:00 PM. She is enjoying doing something without me in the way. It is easier for me to get through the day with a little bit of work in it. I don't have to entertain myself for the whole day. That is real work. It could be said that I am a failed retiree. How can you fail retirement? It can be done. And not just by me either. JH
 
March 5, 2001, 7;38PM.
It feels good to be tired for a reason. I got nearly five hours of work in this afternoon. It was a lot of stretching, reaching carrying and lifting, so I know my back is going to be stiff in the morning. But I don't care as long as I know why. 
Norma made a nice supper this evening. She seemed to enjoy her afternoon without me around. Does that mean something? JH

March 4, 2001, 5:39PM.
I had a nice visit with Jamie today and a nice visit with Joe, but Tommy got away from me. Jamie's life in the suburbs is going along just fine. The earth quake didn't have much effect on the people in Everett.
Joe is fine in the City. He was driving his fork lift at the time of the earth quake. It didn't tip him over or anything serious. Just gave him pause. Probably a moment of apprehension.
Tommy is job hunting. I hoped to get a progress report, but I always miss him. This time he was just leaving for trombone practice. Well I'll catch him later.
As for me, I feel like I have to get things done on Sunday evening because tomorrow is a work day. I mean a real work day. I am going to work at 1:00PM at the Ace Hardware to help with shelve stocking for their move. Work lasts until 6:00PM, so I will be home for supper. JH

March 2, 2001, 9:16PM.
What a day! The stock market evened out a little in the last couple of days and the Pontiac is out of the garage. As for the stock market, you may say why does an old guy have stock? Why not government bonds? I can't say. But it is a good question. It will be given some thought. 
The car is another matter. Once again the best course of action is to keep at it. It has been proven one more time. It all started with a thump when I shifted into reverse. Several thousand dollars, numerous anxiety attaches and about 15 garage visits later the only thing that remains between the Pontiac's performance and perfection is a little bit of power steering pump whine. Even that may be eliminated with just one more garage visit.
And to top it all off, Norma and I went out. She had a wonderful time. We had fish at the Knight of Columbus fish fry and drinks at the Elks. JH

February 28, 2001, 8:56PM.
The earth quake is over. Nothing left but the cleaning up. I am glad, for once, to be on the plains. Jamie and Tommy were at home safe and sound when it happened, but Joey was at work and may still be picking up boards. I will call as soon as some circuts free up. JH

February 26, 2001, 8:32PM. 
8:32 PM. Here I am, at home with Norma. Until about a year ago, I would have been in the computer room at the bank. What a scarry thought. 
We had a free lunch today. I am on the Relay for Life committee. I am not a real good prospect for a committee member, but last summer at the Relay for Life I checked the box on an impulse and here I am. So far I have attended one meeting and gone to the free lunch for sponsors. The committee expects some good from me, like making contact with the survivors to invite them to the 2001 Relay for Life. It is a fund raiser for cancer research. Good luck. We will see how I do.
Norma had a good time today. She went out for lunch with Lil. Her's was not free. Except for the utility bill, I have been getting by el'cheap'o.  
It is cold. The prediction is 10 below tonight. I hope not. A $299.00 utility bill just came in the mail. JH 
February 23, 2001, 9:52PM.
I just got home from the basketball game.  I had forgotten how darned uncomfortable the seats in the gym can be. But it was a short outing and I feel better for it. Next year I will do it again. 
We had a couple of outings earlier in the day. Norma had a manicure and a visit to the physical therapist this afternoon. JH
February 22, 2001, 10:04PM.
I got some news today. I went to the hardware store this morning and got a job. We will be moving the store, starting on the 5th of March and finishing on the 1st of April. I am working from 1PM to 6PM five or six days per week. The ACE hardware store is moving to the previous KMart building. What do you think of that? 
I have been working on a new picture display program for my old pictures from the farm. It is driving me crazy. Almost works. It is much better. It is the sort of thing that can take all of your time. It is much more fun when it doesn't have a dead line. JH
February 21, 2001, 9:17PM.
The e-mail link didn't show up, but it does now. Cool. Try it. 
Norma visited the doctor today. She got good news and bad news. Her Diabetes is not out of control. She has been able to keep the Glucose within bounds with diet, so she will continue that. Now for the bad news. Her foot hasn't healed so we are going to the hospital for a CAT scan and a visit with a specialist tomorrow. I will let you know about that. 
I have to tell you the late good news about the car. After its little checkup the power steering noises are, indeed, reduced. If I hear anything I just turn on the radio. JH

February 20, 2001, 10:16PM.
How is this? The new data is on top. That was a good idea, Joe. Notice the e-mail link? I hope it shows up.
Tomorrow is a big day. We are going to the doctor. Norma is going to have her foot inspected, and I hope, it is OK. She is walking pretty good. She has also been watching her diet. Her Glucose was high last month and she has been testing it every morning. If the readings are too high the doctor may recommend still another medication for her to take. JH 
January 14, 2001, 9:40PM.
Let us hope I can get this web site on line
 in the next hour and a half. I have found
 some new ways to design the pages and
 could not wait to see how it works. So
 far, the best part of it is the bottom 
section which plays an old 50's song. It is
 Tommy playing Via Condios from Joan and 
Mom's trove of sheet music. He found the 
music in a box upstairs in the farm house 
last summer. So far, I have about a half 
hour of music he recorded on tape for me.
 There is a lot more where this came from.
 Oh, I hope I am talking to 50's classic
 music lovers. I'm sure I am. Who else 
would read my web pages.
I will get some more stuff ready for this 
site, but not tonight. It is already
 10:46PM. JH

January 15, 2001, 9:50PM.
I can't get anything more on the web site
tonight either. It is almost ten and I need
to go to bed. This has been a busy day. I 
worked in the basement for a couple of
hours, did my regular household chores and,
this evening, went to a cancer survivors
relay committee meeting. I didn't have to,
but I am glad I did. It is the organizing,
organization for the annual cancer relay 
money raising drive in Miles City. The 
reason I say that is that outside of me 
and the radio station news man it was all
women. I am going to keep going to 
represent the male race. We can't let them
take over everything. They have gone too
far already. I have not been elected, I
have not been chosen, but I am going to 
keep at it. I have nothing else to do. but
for now, I have to check the e-mail and go
to bed. JH

January 16, 2001, 8:44PM. 
It has been another busy day. Here it is,
 8:44PM and I haven't gotten any computer 
time in yet. We went to the doctor today.
 Norma went to the foot doctor to see how 
long she will be hopping around. Her foot
 is comming along fine but she will be on
 crutches for another couple of weeks at 
least until her next visit with the doctor.
 I was examined by the oncologist for signs
 of lymphoma and he found non. But invited
 me back for another check in three months.
 So, we are satisfied with the out come.
 That is the reportable activity for today.
 JH

January 17,2001, 10:00PM. 
Finished painting the basement wall and 
have the floor ready to finish painting it.
This is my winter project. I can't wait to
get it over with. A new project has come 
up. This web page. I might as well make it 
decent. There are a couple of new links on
the left side. I thought they would give
the page a little class. I have some more
links in mind, but I don't know the URL
just now. And the must me some good 
pictures to post. JH

January 18, 2001, 9:57PM.
Norma had a good day today. She made me
 take her out for lunch, Wal Mart's Radio
 Grill, and she is still watching TV. Her
 foot is getting better too. Things are 
looking up around here.JH

January 19, 2001, 9:15PM.
I got the basement floor painted. Half of 
it was done a week ago, but the patching 
wasn't good enough. I touched it up and 
repainted it and it looks great in battle
ship grey. When it gets dry and hard enough
I am going to build a support under the 
basement stairs. They need a little help
in case a heavey load is put on them. As 
you know, the basement improvements were my
project for this winter. It is still 
January and I am getting close to a finish.
But, spring will be here before we know it
and it will be time to plant again. JH

January 23, 2001. 7:50PM.
Now we have something to write about. To 
get right to the point; a new member of the
family has been born in Glendale, AZ. His 
name is Mark Mullins Zinnerman. He is 21 
inches tall and weighs 9 1/2 pounds. His 
mother and father are Eric Zimmerman and 
Molly Mullins. He was born at
about 2:00PM on January 23, 2001. That
makes him about seven hours old.
Congratulations, Eric and Molly.
JH

January 28, 2001, 7:09PM.
It has been five days since my last message. A lot of water has gone under the bridge, but nothing serious. 
We had a session with the nutritionist to get information for a possible diabetic. Norma's glucose level was 136 a few weeks ago. The doctor was not sure she is a diabetic, so he has taken some more blood for testing and assigned a nutritionist to her, just in case. We have not gotten the results of the second test but we have gotten the nutritionist's information. So now, we have a broken foot and a diet. We have another visit with the doctor on Tuesday. Hope the foot is healed and the diet will not be needed. 
All pray for Joey. He is having his wisdom teeth extracted tomorrow. 
The Giants are behind 24 to 7 at the end of the third quarter. 
So far, I haven't given you much good news, but I am fine. And as far as I know, our new baby in Phoenix is fine too. I know he was born last week and nothing more, but as they say, "no news is good news." JH

January 29, 2001, 8:02PM.
There are some new links on the site. The Larsen ranch and both of Brett's sites. I haven't tried them yet, but if all goes as usual, they won't work. My talk back form didn't work either. So, I've got work to do. JH

February 2, 2001, 11:45AM.
My talk back form didn't work. That is right. But I have a promise from Midrivers that the software to process these forms is being installed soon. 
It is ground hog day and the sun is out fully. We have already had three months of Ice and snow. What is six more weeks going to hurt us? 
It is time to make a little lunch and then to the bull expo on main street for this guy. JH

February 3, 2001, 9:33PM.
There were bulls on main street yesterday. They are really big calves. Only a year old. But they are biiiig. The weather was wonderfull. We are having a warm spell. We hope it keeps up for a while. There is still a lot of snow in Miles City.
This has got to be a good day. I went to Mass twice today. To a funeral this morning and the week end liturgy this evening. Tomorrow, I am going to take communion to some shut ins. I want to go to heaven real bad. By all the do good, I am just trying to distract the Lord from my sins. Good luck.
Norma had an outing today. She got a chance to hop about on her crutches in two stores. We had a little shopping at Wal Mart and then a visit to the grocery store. I think it was good for her. JH

February 6, 2001, 9:16PM.
We had a little snow last night. It was nice and cool today. But it is still February. I did get my Sunday work done. I visited the shut ins, but Monday and Tuesday have been a little slow. The only reportable thing we have been doing is healing. Norma's foot is much improved. She has suddenly started using it to walk. Not to bare much weight, but it sure helps to be able to use it to keep her balance and to hobble along without the crutches. 
I had a nice visit with Dick and Diane this evening and can report they are fine. Dick is still selling books and Diane is enjoying her grandchildren. JH

February 7, 2001, 8:51PM.
Our activities for today; for exercise I shoveled a half inch of snow off the sidewalk and Norma did some limping at Wal Mart, for our supper we had breakfast at the 4B's, for fun I had a nice visit with Art of Ohio. 
There is still some evening left. I have some chores to do and a little TV watching. I always check in on the late night talk shows to get the news. I like their version better. JH

February 10, 2001, 10:14PM.
I think I am catching on to the retirement business. Three days have passed since my last little note and I can't remember a single segnificant thing I have done. Sure, I did my chores. One thing. I put some geranium stems into some pots to try to get them to root. I did that yesterday, or the day before and I haven't watered them. Got to do that yet tonight before bed. Busy, busy busy. Cooked. We had baked chicken for supper. It was pretty good. I have been busy. JH

February 11, 2001, 10:43PM.
Boy! I worked hard this evening. I put nine pictures from the farm on three additional pages. I am going to bed. JH

February 16, 20001, 11:04PM.
After dating my checks all day with the 15th, I found out this evening that it is the 16th. Does that happen to all old retired guys? I hope so. 
The weather has dealt us a bitter blow during these last few days. To have lost a day is good. It gets us one day close to spring. Getting back to the weather. It was cold windy and snowy. It didn't snow much, didn't get very windy and wasn't too cold, but it was auful close to it. You can tell this winter has been too long and I have cabin fever. 
I am going to plant my kitchen garden tomorrow. JH

February 19, 2001, 10:11PM.
What a day! I took the car out to the garage for an oil change and a little checking of squeeks and grones. The squeeks and grones have been reduced and the examination was pretty good. In other words, no vital organ desease was found. I am a happy man.
Norma got her Easter table decorated. She has an Easter tree with lights and more. Pictures are in order. 
Speaking of pictures. The camera went on the fritz and is at the hospital. This is of great enough importance to buy a one time camera. I have already checked the prices. JH

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Created on ... January 14, 2001