Westmoreland Asays

Meg recently wrote that she would love to host more huge parties at our house (although she didn't say that the weather was nice and much of the activity flowed outside--our house isn't that big inside). Contrast that to what I'd rather do .

Saturday at Schreiner's Edward spent much of early Friday morning throwing up (which was sad because he ate so much food at dinner) every few hours. His stomach eventually calmed down but he was pretty lethargic for much of the day. By Saturday he seemed just fine, so we told the boys we would take them to Red Robin if they would first go to the iris gardens with us (they get coupons for free meals every time they visit the dentist)--it's no Applebees (quoth the Aaron), but they like eating out and could not resist. The cold and rainy weather has caused the iris to bloom late this year, so even our end-of-May visit was a tad early for peak bloom. I spent much of the time visiting with Steve Schreiner (who remembers what we discussed as digging partners as far back as 1989) and met the largest grower of iris in the UK. Steve still knows how to spin off the most obscure, obscene, and original metaphors I've ever known; his off-base humor is one of my fondest memories of the p...

I enjoyed being in election limelight for the week--a good thing, because we Oregonians probably won't see this for another 40 years or so. I found it interesting that Obama won the urban areas so easily--except Salem, where it was neck-in-neck--so my vote was in a sense even more important (at least in my mind). During this last week, I received probably 10 phone calls from the Democrats asking for whom I was voting (and one in-person visit); most were from the Obama camp, but one representative from the other group insulted my intelligence and tried to shame me for my choice--I could totally feel the love. I really hope Obama doesn't pick her as his running mate . . . I see no way that WarMonger II wins Oregon in November (save all Portlanders die in an apocalyptic firestorm)--he'll probably lose by double digits--so this was probably the last attention we'll get. But it was a fun ride while the fervor lasted.

At least, that's what the boys would say--hey, it's one of the few scriptures I've memorized, so I like to quote it whenever I can. My friend Brent (and his boy, a friend and peer of Aaron) picked up WeThreeBoys after work on Friday, and we drove to Fishermens Bend, about 30 miles east of Salem, for a father-and-son campout. Even though temperatures were hovering in the 90's for most of the day, it felt refreshing to spend so much time in the open air (although it was noticeably cooler away from the valley, especially near the Santiam River). The boys showed off their personalities like I would have expected: Aaron immediately found friends to play with and was literally running around playing games until about 11:00 p.m. At one point he found me at the tent and told me he was having trouble breathing, but he was fine after taking his asthma medication. Most of the kids were strangers to him and probably a few years older, but that has never stopped Aaron from socializi...

With the mistress still out of town, I wanted to have some long-overdue fun with the boys--especially after having to dump them off at a friend's house three full days this week so I could work. We dumped the kids off at someone's house last Saturday so we could go to the temple, and that family was going to take Aaron to one of their son's baseball games. Because of some problems, he wasn't able to go--and it really disappointed him. So I thought to make it up to him with an even better brand of baseball: Saxon (who are first in league and top 10 in state). I picked up the boys at their friends' house around 4:00 p.m. (where they were both reported to be rather sad for much of the day; even though they haven't mentioned their mother at any point during her absence--not even a "When's Mom coming home?"--I think they long for her return). We were all so hungry, we ate at Arby's (well, we got take out anyway). The baseball game had just started w...

I became a Democrat today--at least in the eyes of the state of Oregon--breaking a string of 15 years of faux loyalty to the other team. At heart, I consider myself an independent and vote as such. I hate party politics and honestly strive to pick the best man or woman for the job. Because Oregon will (for once) help determine who runs for President, I decided to re-register so I could help decide the second part of the equation in this year's election smackdown. I've yet to decide for whom I will cast my vote, because it depends on whom WarMonger II's opponent will be (and, to some extent, whomever WarMonger II picks as a running mate). My boss is doing the same thing, only he's doing it to vote against a certain woman (meaning he doesn't like any of the candidates, but he definitely doesn't want her in there).

Aaron brought home a sheet of paper with an eight-question interview that he gave to one of his "buddies" at Sprague pre-school today. I'm not trying to make fun of his understanding at all; I just found it interesting to experience the world from his eyes. Where does the sun go at night? The other side of the earth, because the earth turns . [He learned that from watching Blue's Clues, Meg tells me] Why do we have snow? So that we can build a snowman and to let us know that it is winter . Why do birds sing? To let people know it's day time. How do flies walk on the ceiling? Their feet are sticky [Sounds right. Not sure how he came to that conclusion.] Why do you have a bellybutton? I would have a hole there without a bellybutton. [I found this one laugh-out-loud funny--it's like it was screwed onto him in a soda bottling company.] Why are you ticklish? Because other people tickle me. Why do the stars shine? So there can be light. And the moon too. Where do ...