Family, friends, food and foolhardiness ...

Shelton weather: At 7:30 am it is just 58 degrees and cloudy. They are forecasting some morning showers but so far, nothing here. This afternoon it is supposed to get up to the low 70s but no more rain. It did shower some yesterday a.m. but the wet stuff was gone by the time I got up … late … at 9:30 am. Phil was long gone, checking out the Saturday garage sales. At ten o’clock he called me and I quickly got dressed. He picked me up and we met friends, Gloria, Les, Andy and Millie at the Little Creek Casino for a great buffet breakfast. We sat around until nearly noon drinking coffee and visiting afterward. Then the fun began …

Phil and I went to a parking lot flea market out by Spencer Lake when we left, where we were promptly ripped off due to my stupidity – here is the back story.

I have been trying to bring my sister, Dixie into the modern computer world for a very long time. She has an old one (donated by sister, Robin when she upgraded years ago) but is not on the Internet and she has no idea how to do anything and is barely able to retrieve e-mail from her free account. Computers scare and frustrate her and without one on one instruction, nothing is going to change. I had hoped to resolve that this year.

Since Dixie broke her hip she has not been able to go upstairs (where the computer is located) once she did come home on weekends. Fortunately, they have a second master suite on the main floor where she and her husband, Paul have been sleeping since she was released from the nursing home. Yesterday, at the flea market I found a two/three year old Compaq for $100 that the vendor swore worked fine. I thought, “Great! We can install this one downstairs and start teaching her some basics.” Impulsively, (which is so NOT my style) I convinced Phil to buy it and the seller said with a straight face, (since we were in a parking lot without electricity) he would guarantee it and give us our money back if it didn’t work.

To make a long story short … we came home, Phil and Les put it all together and you guessed it … it didn’t work. We quickly drove back to the flea market to get our money back and again, you guessed it … that fellow was long gone. The phone number he gave me goes immediately to voice mail, and again, you guessed it … it isn’t set up, and I only have his first name … “Tony.” Do I feel stupid … well, what do you think? Phil has refrained from telling me “I could have told you as much” – bless his heart! I guess he knows I feel bad enough already without any help from him. We are thinking about what to do next and will go to the sponsor of the flea market to see if they can identify this guy and if not, maybe we will take it to a computer shop for an estimate to get it running. Stay tuned, we haven’t yelled “uncle” yet!

Last Sunday we had a wonderful family get-together (more than 30 of us) for food and catching up on all the latest news at niece, Tammy’s home in Olympia. Getting the whole bunch of us together for a picture was a real test of my patience but I will share a couple of them in spite of the obvious lack of cooperation. Why are most people so afraid of the camera?

Phil and I both had our eyes examined (I said EYES—not heads but maybe I should rethink this after my recent fiasco) last week. He has a bit of a pressure problem in one eye and my cataracts are to the point where surgery could be done but they told me I could put it off for another year if I so decided (I do) … maybe two (they weren’t so sure about that) so we will see. Phil will go back in a week or so for another pressure check and if there is no change, will get drops for his eyes.

Phil and Les got out on the lake one day for their usual catch and release marathon and I went on a shopping trip in Olympia while he was gone; got some good bargains and had a great time.

Today, we are taking nine-year-old, great granddaughter, Carly to the Mason County Fair and Rodeo. I love small town fairs and the rodeo and I hope she enjoys it too. I will tell you all about it next week.