Between2 - Thanksgiving conversation

Thanksgiving was one continuous conversation. With four Snyders and assorted other guests it couldn’t be anything but a ‘talk fest.’

Wade, the elder brother, had to catch us up on his plans and continuing education to become a gunsmith and move to Coos Bay to be nearer to the family. He and the younger brother, Jeff, are intending to go into business together. Jeff has been trading knives on the internet since he became disabled. It is something he can do in the wee hours of the morning when he can’t sleep because of the pain.

The sister-in-laws both seem to get along. They enjoy each other’s company and the break from their husband’s obsession with weapons. I swear the guys talked guns until my eyes glazed over. I thought I talked a lot about my writing and gardening, but at least I have two topics not just one.

Melissa did a great job with dinner. We had it Wednesday night so we could eat up some of the leftovers on Thursday before we all left on Friday. I even caught the boys in the kitchen helping, one making the mashed potatoes and the other stirring the gravy. It looked like some scene from a movie made for TV about a family holiday.

Jeff’s bird, an African Gray named Meken, and their dog Mason kept us all entertained in the few breaks of the conversation. I was trying to get Meken interested in Queen. He likes music and dancing, but his tastes run more to Rod Stewart. Mason is easy to please. She has a ‘ball’ obsession. Throw the ball and she is entertained until she tires enough she flops down in her bed or your arm gives out.

Dad enjoyed the gathering, but missed quite a bit because of his hearing problems. He can’t understand anything when everyone is talking at once and that was just about all the time.

I got the group to slow down and shut up long enough to take pictures of everyone alone, in couples and groups. They all moaned and complained, but you know they all asked me to send copies to them when I left.

The bus ride down and back was better than driving for both dad and me, but it was still long. I think we will wait until spring to make another trip that direction. Jeff asked me to come back in May to see the rhoadies in bloom. We’ll do our best.

Now it’s time to settle into the Christmas hustle and bustle. All the weekends between now and then are planned with something. It is going to be a wild holiday season. Hopefully, we will keep ourselves busy enough we will only miss mom when we slow down for breaths between events.

Between2 - Thanksgiving Build up

This will be short today. Dad and I were invited down to my brother and his wife's home in North Bend for Thanksgiving. It was a long ride by bus (6 hours), but we arrived yesterday and will stay through Friday.

Brother Wade and his wife Ellen will be joining us today. They are driving over from Nevada.

It will be the first time the three of us kids have been together since 1992.

Wish mom was here to enjoy the gathering. There was nothing she appreciated or loved more than family.

But we should be thankful on Thanksgiving. I am. I am thankful that we still have dad with us.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Between2 - Loden my new trainer

I should know better than to turn on the TV in the wee hours of the morning. Of course, some of my best finds have been during these pitch black hours.

I have found dad such handy tools as the 'duel head drill driver', the 'total trolley' and the 'ultimate coffee pot.' (Though I admit the 'ultimate' only lasted a year.)

This morning I was surfing the channels with no intent in mind and came across 'The Abdoer’ – a  piece of exercise machinery. It was hard not being sucked in. Like a black hole in space just waiting for a victim – I came, I saw, I bought.

My history with exercise machines is not good. I have had treadmills, stationary bikes, a Nordic track and something called a "Gazelle". All have worked as advertised, but alas, my body just cannot stand up to repetition an exercise machine demands.

BUT, I am always looking. With Oregon being in the rain nine months out of the year and me being a fair weather walker, I have to find something. The Pilates are great, but get boring.

So this is a machine that does not put demands on my delicate knees and feet (birth defect not taken care of when I was young, no fault of mom or dad, just didn't know how to rectify it back in those days).

So come 10 days from now I will be the proud owner of a 'Abdoer". I will have to give it a better name. How about "My trainer - Loden - from Norway?"

Between2 - Veteran's Day

Dad and I had a late lunch out today. He is a veteran with five honorable discharges and Applebee’s was hosting a free dinner for all veterans and active service men.

We chose to go mid-afternoon in hopes of missing the crowd. Not a chance. The place was packed. As I gave my name to the hostess and she asked if there was a veteran with me, I noted she was keeping track and every name on the list had at least one veteran, and up to four, with their party.

You really don’t realize how many people were and are touched by our armed forces. I saw hats on veterans stating they were from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Didn’t see any Iran, Gulf or Afghanistan but I bet there were many among the crowd.

Dad and I both thought how wonderful this meal was for the many we have heard of that are homeless veterans. We hoped they had heard about it too.

How incredible that Applebee’s and many other restaurants chose to honor our men and women with military backgrounds. I saw total strangers thanking the older veterans for their service.

Another really impressive act was that the restaurant had worked with the local schools to have the children make thank you cards for the veterans. We whiled away the time waiting for a seat by reading through a handful of these cards with sentiments that made your eyes tear up. These were children that are being taught to appreciate the sacrifice these wonderful men and women had made to keep this county free.

The afternoon was spent among friends we didn’t know, eating a dinner that was hosted by people we didn’t know, but we were all one community, one nation under God.

Between2 - Dreaming about Kansas

Fast forward to the end of September, dad is healed, the porch is close to finished and I have lost 49 pounds.

I was agonizing over which raincoat to take to Kansas. Dale said I should bring a light coat. I don’t have anything that fits. I’ve gone from a size 24 to a 14 – six dress sizes. I gave one hundred and forty-five pieces of clothing, size 24, to ‘Transitions,’ a charity that helps women from abusive relationships get back into the workplace. Little did I know that I would not need a coat. I should have taken shorts instead. It never got lower than 75 degrees during the day.

Dad and I were on our first vacation together without mom. Kansas was not entirely what I had expected. Western Kansas is still relatively flat, but it has trees – lovely sycamores and oaks. They have beautiful structure that I longed to paint. If I go again I am going to take my paints.

I loved the little town of Council Grove and all the people in it. It felt like home. There is an empty movie theater in town that I would love to get my hands on. I wish I had an extra couple of hundred thousand, I would buy it.

There is a need for entertainment for the young adults in the town. I am told that the kids in town have plenty of events and activities available to them until they graduate from high school, then it is a vast wasteland. The closest place for even a movie is 45 minutes away.

I would invest in the youth of the community. I love the college age kids.

Let me dream a bit.

The theater would be a gathering place for the 18 to 30 somethings. Just a cover charge at the door and everything would be available to them except food and drink (non-alcoholic).

Let’s tear out half the seats and put in tables between the rows so you can eat your pizza or fries as you watch the movie.

There is evidence, from the building of a Life Center (gym), that the town’s folks seem to be able to pull together. Perhaps I could get the Pizza Hut, Sonics and Dairy Queen to alternate “guest chef” night. They supply the food to match the event and we sell it for them. I like the idea of working to assist everyone in the community.

While we’re redecorating let’s tear out the seats closest to the screen and install a dance floor. On the nights there was not a film, there would be music and dancing. Maybe showcase some local bands.

If there is a basement, I would convert it into a giant gaming room with a 50 foot screen on each of the four walls. Lots of comfy chairs and couches in the middle to make gaming hours fly by.

Maybe there would be a time we would share the space with adults in the form of bingo afternoons and romance movies for those who are interested. Perhaps there could be an afternoon when mothers with children are encouraged to come without worry of a child crying.

We would take advantage of every holiday to have a cool event to prepare and attend. The week of Halloween we would show nothing but horror films and have a costume ball.

Thanksgiving we would show films with a message and have a turkey trot or a Sadie Hawkins dance. Christmas we would bathe ourselves in the season of giving with films and fantasy, and host a ‘winter white’ dance with all those old romantic songs we are afraid to admit we like.

How about we decorate to lift spirits and create a cool atmosphere. Paint can take us a long way. I love doing murals. Maybe there are some young artists in town that would loan their talents to the theatre for a few weeks of free admission and to feel the buy-in of having their art on the walls of their gathering place.

And, let’s talk about employees. We could use some young adults to keep us on top of the latest games that need to be purchased, the latest trends in what the younger set would like to see, and folks that can help handle the crowd because they know the players.

Ah, I love dreaming. No limits - just an over active imagination with an out-of-reach goal - for the moment anyway.

Between2 - 9 Lives

The surgery went well, but the aftermath was difficult. Dad spent an extra two days in the hospital trying to get the pain level under control. He is allergic to so many painkillers.

He really needed to have his gallbladder out. The surgeon said it was full of little black stones – the kind a person’s body wants to sluff off. There would have been further emergency episodes.

I told dad that between him and mom they are fast using up my 9 lives.

Mom’s fall where she hit her head on the porch step – end of my 1^st life.

Mom’s fall where she hit her head on the antique rocker that required six staples in her head, and brought a tea party to an abrupt end – end of my 2^nd life.

Dad’s flu episode where I found him prostrate on the floor of the bathroom at 2:00 in the morning, thinking he had another heart attack – end of my 3^rd life.

Dad’s bout with shingles that appeared to be another heart attack – end of my 4^th life.

They were beginning to pile up, and not in my favor.

Then there was the latest ‘dad episode.’ That leaves only 4. I told dad I needed some for my old age, he was going to have to stop doing this.