Holiday Season, 2021-2022

After a fairly frantic two weeks here in our SoCal home in the SE corner of L A County, we seem to be settled into enjoying Christmas, here on the 24th of December. Events were the usual blockage of our septic system, first approached by the pumping of our septic tank and cesspool, followed by the cleanout of the pipes under the house, and finally the identification of ivy roots invading the thin ABS line from the house to the tank, followed by digging out the break and replacing it with an inverted Y cleanout connector. As is evident, ivy is the predominant ground cover on our non-orchard property.

Next, I developed atrial fibrillation in my almost 83 year old heart. Fortunately, I had the mobile number of a very fine and compassionate cardiologist, who saw me at UCI the next day and started me on metaprolol and elequis, beta blocker and anti-coagulant. My rhythm has been converting between NSR and AF, depending on my level of the beta blocker. Seems that I do best with a pulse of 55-60. I purchased a Kardia-L device which allows me to make a 6 lead ECG whenever I wish

After 4 trips to UCI in two weeks, I can now send my ECG to Dr. Allen, which I just did. If only all physicians could be so kind, caring, and available. Truly the qualities that Jesus Christ wished we all could emulate.

I have included the main part of a Holiday card from the Jim Thompson family, who this year lost Margie, the foundation stone of their family This caused me to think about the brief time we have here on this earth, and my own and my family’s mortality. Margie was a beautiful and remarkable woman who dedicated herself not only to her own family, but to the well-being of those in her community and state. There are few individuals who make the same impact on those whom they serve. My condolences to Jim and his family who will miss their remarkable mother.

Unfortunately, Holiday Letters from octogenerians often deal with death of friends, and I am sorry to say that Fay’s middle sister Corinne died this summer after a fall in her home, an immediate death due to a basal skull fracture. The family, all the Weber’s and remaining Strand’s, gathered in Saint Paul for a celebration of life for this beautiful 85 year old lady, a retired nurse who probably worked into her late seventies. Also some of my Minnesota cousins, my dad’s brother John’s son Paul and daughters Jane and Mary Ellen came to spend time with us in the Twin Cities. We got together on a boat in the Mississippi and had pizza and beer in a restuarant and brew pub in the abandoned Hamm’s brewery.

We also got together with Fay’s nephew Kent for a dinner at a Tiki restuarant on the banks of the Mississippi, and of course, had lots to do with the other nephew, Corrinne’ son Eric, daughter-in-law Tammy, grandson Nicholas, and Kent’s wife Annette. I don’t have a photo of Eric and his family for the memorial gathering at the Drury Plaza Hotel in downtown Saint Paul. Eric is COO of Drury Inn’s. a private Missouri corporation.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find a photo of Eric’s family in the Twin Cities, so I have included a lovely photo of the lovely Christoffersen sisters taken at my 80th birthday celebration here in California. Maybe Kent or Eric can forward me a photo of our activities with them, and I will add it to this letter.

I guess I wrote a holiday letter in 2020, and we spent most of the year semi-isolated in Anaconda in our Montana home. The high points were visits by our sons and their family, Chris, Carla, Julia and Sydney for winter sports in the winter/spring, and summer visits for hiking and visiting. Julia and Syd took a side trip to Liberty Lake, WA to visit my sister Shirley and Chuck Rodman. Mike and Belle also visited in the summer, once by air in 2020, and once Mike drove my Jeep for me to keep in Montana in 2021. I took my boat out on Georgetown Lake once late in summer of 2020 and not at all in 2021, although I did some fly fishing on the banks of Warm Springs Creek in Anaconda both summers.

Belle and Mike on the trail to Twin Lakes in July of 2020. Our dog Sparky led the expedition.

Chris and family came both in summer 2020 and early spring 2021 for skiing.

In addition to being with all of us during the pandemic, Fay was engaged both as President of Graduate Women International, a NGO service group for the betterment of women, and as a member of the Saint Paul Lutheran Stephen Ministry, with special attachment to the needs of less fortunate members of the local community. Because of covid, most of her meetings were on-line, by phone, or on many Zoom meetings, where she organized and chaired the GWI virtual annual convention. Included ia a screenshot of one of the sessions of the convention. Can you identify Fay among the participants?

I almost forgot, that 2021 was remarkable in that the entire family made a trek to Alaska, where we stayed in a beautiful home on a lake near Wasilla and made several trips, including fishing in the lake, and a bus ride into Denali National Park, where we got to see a beautiful view of Denali itself, as well as few caribou, tiny bunnies, and bears. Julia’s boyfriend Ethan was with us, as were Mike and Belle, and Syney’s boyfriend Micah.

Ahem! That’s NOT Denali, and Syd’s boyfriend is the one with the red hair, and his name is Micah. Julia’s boyfriend Ethan has dark hair, as does Mike’s wife Bell. The girls and I are the ones with long hair. And this was just another of our Alaska hikes, half-way up the pass, which was snowed in.

THIS is Denali, and few who make the trip get this good a view, and you can see by the road ahead, that we could have gone closer. Maybe we did, but sometimes the best way to view something is from a distance, which gives you a sense of perspective. Maybe one should look at the future from a perspective viewpoint, especially at our advancing age. I wanted to end on a high note, so I decided to add this cute card and darling photo Carla sent me December 23, from their Montana trip with us. We all were on cross country skis near Discovery Ski Basin, the Echo Lake Trail.

Back to Christmas 2021. I noticed when reviewing this published blog that I did not have any photos of our grandsons, Mike’s kids. That is largely because we only get to see them on Tuesdays and Saturdays and they have not been allowed to come to visit us in Montana with Mike and Belle, or unaccompanied. This year Christmas was on a Saturday, so we had them all day. I made some videos of them, but no still photos. So here is a couple of screen grabs from a video on Christmas.

Cameron, age 12

This is Cameron, who is more introspectuvem and is very coordinated and interested in sports.

Casey. age 10 1/2

And this is Casey, more outgoing, more interested is things and “stuff”, opening some baseball cards.

Skiing in Montana

I’ts really nice to get together with the family. I hope all of you were able to get together with your families as we did this year. Best wishes for a healthy. happy, and hopeful 2022. Jack & Fay Weber

December, 2020, a year that will live in infirmity.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and I hope my Jewish friends enjoyed Hanukkah, which ends on December 18. We spent Christmas last year in California with my son Michael and his bride from Australia, Belle, and had many nice meal and visits with them before and after the wedding, which was a surprise for me at my 80th birthday celebration on December 23. Oh my, that must have been in 2018. How time flies!

We spent Christmas in 2019, 2 days after my birthday in California, with our grandsons, Fay’s sister Kay, and my sister Janice.

Mike and Belle were there, and we opened gifts with the boys and Fay made a nice dinner.

We ate turkey, dressing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and the rest of my Birthday cake.

I did not realize there was great snow in the San Gabriel Mountains, and I guess I was so carried away with our Christmas guests and the wonderful warm weather in the Santa Ana and San Gabriel valleys that I only went skiing once late in the season at Mountain High. I bought a 1979 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited on January 1st but never got a chance to use it to take me up to the area again, as the snow quickly disappeared.

The early part of the year 2020 was spent with the family and friends as well as church activities. Fay was active in Stevens Ministry through Saint Paul Lutheran Church and entertained the entire group and the minister at our home in February.

We spent a lot of time with the boys, who were always anxious to go out for a treat.

We had planned on continuing the ski season in Montana at Big Sky, where Chris had rented a condominium for both of our families, but that was not to be. COVID-19 ! We arrived in Montana around March 9 in preparation for the arrival of Chris and his family, but with all areas closed by the governor, Chris cancelled his family’s trip to Montana.

The rest of the winter and spring was spent cross-country skiing around Echo Lake near Discovery Ski Basin, which lasted into spring until the snow melted in April.

We met with our local car club, Vintage d’ Fenders for a late spring tour and picnic to Lost Creek, always a favorite of ours for its steep cliffs, waterfalls, and cascading creek. We also made a trip to south of Hamilton to visit the Babcock’s impressive collection of vintage cars and Mrs. Babcock’s barn collection of Montana crafts and memorabilia.

We returned to Anaconda over the Skalkaho Pass, topped by the Skalkaho Falls.

Chris to drove his family to Montana in the early summer, with a drive through the South Dakota Badlands, and we all had a great time visiting, hiking. and enjoying Montana’s beautiful resources.

After Chris and his family left, Fay and I and Sparky drove up to Storm Lake, a beautiful place we went to several years ago with our faithful and lovable former dog Downy. This time I did not bring fishing gear, as I had not got into fishing this early in the year.

Michael and Belle were the next to drive up to Montana to visit and hike, and we did a lot of both. This time we decided to hike to the Twin Lakes, but Mike was the only one who make it all the way up to the lake and back. I came within a mile, and the ladies were about one half mile behind me.

While they were here, they set up a recording studio in our 3rd floor “ballroom”. Since they did not bring their dancing shoes, the went barefoot so to not scratch the floor.

Sister Jan visited with Jon’s girlfriend from Southern California who had spent a few days with Jan at her condo in Bigfork on Flathead Lake. Haley also visited Jan and her dad in Kalispell, and Jon later returned for hunting with his dad.

Tavie McKay visited in August, and brought a bunch of great chocolate chip cookies. Her daughter Bryn visited later with her boyfriend and made us a great New Mexico breakfast at our house on Hickory Street. Fay’s sister Kay was also at the breakfast and had come up from Casper with a friend to Billings, and Fay picked her up in Billings and dropped off Michael to float the Yellowstone River in our inflatable kayak.

By late summer I finally got around to taking my boat out on Georgetown Lake for a day of fishing with Fay and Sparky. We caught no fish but I got a chance to try out the engine after I replaced the water pump impeller the previous winter, and it took us all the way across the longest part of the lake and back without a problem, but no fish.

Fall eventually arrived, and we drove down to southwest Missouri to spend time with Chris, Carla, Julia, and Sydney at their lake house on Table Rock Lake and to spend Thanksgiving with them in Springfield. Sparky had a good time with their dogs.

Carla made a lovely traditional Thanksgiving dinner in Springfield with strict masking and social distancing all the time were in Missouri. She served from the kitchen, and the turkey was smoked and the stuffing was gluten free.

Julia sat with her boyfriend Ethan from southeast Missouri who is a music student at University of Missouri at Kansas City, while Julia, also a senior, is spending her senior year in isolation in Springfield taking her final courses on line.

Sydney sat with her parents at the dining room table, and we sat at the entrance of the dining room in their living room. Carla served second helpings if we wished them.

Sydney is completing her senior year at Missouri State University in Springfield, maintaining strict isolation and distancing protocols while having a very nice girl who has been her dorm mate throughout her college career. All these ladies should have a very different graduation in the spring of 2021.

We drove back to Montana after Thanksgiving with our Missouri family. We will spend Christmas alone in our home in Anaconda and expect to join our California family after we get our Covid-19 vaccinations. We hope you can join your family and friends for Christmas in the future. In the meantime, we hope you have a joyous and holy holiday season, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year from Jack and Fay Weber

An obsession? Really?

Having a Foley catheter in my bladder on a permanent basis has focused my attention on an area that has always been dear to me. Historically the source of pleasant sensations, it has become a focus of my thoughts. No longer useful for its intended uses, it is only a source of pleasant sensations. Urination being hardly unique and barely pleasant, the only joys are sensations from exploration , touching, and feeling.

From its entry the catheter goes through the urethra and prostate into the base of my bladder. Unable to follow it all the way to my bladder because of the intervening structures, I can feel it through the soft and pliable skin of my scrotum with my finger almost to its entrance to my prostate. This deep and soft penetration by my finger is almost like I would experience with insertion of a finger into a vagina. A woman would feel similar sensations in her vagina. The skin of the scrotum, always warm and moist due to abundant sweat glands, is constructed of similar stratified squamous epithelium underlain by involuntary smooth muscle like the vagina.

I don’t intend to offend the reader by mentioning these bodily structures and functions, common in the discussion of human anatomy and sexuality. Inability to perform these functions and how to deal with it has led to this discussion. Declining performance and ability is a reality common to ageing. Feelings of inadequacy are relieved by stimulating the sensations enjoyed since early youth.

A urethral catheter, either indwelling, or repeatedly inserted in a clean and semi-sterile manner, is the associated with a risk of introducing bacterial infection. Urologists favor insertion of a suprapubic catheter through the skin, fat, muscle, and fascia of the abdomen as a way to reduce the risk of catheter induced infection. If there is reflux of urine from the bladder into the ureters, the tubes draining each of the kidneys, there is the risk of introducing infection into the kidneys. Chronic infection of the kidneys, like chronic obstruction of the ureters, can eventually lead to kidney failure. Introduction of bacteria from the urethra to the bladder is more common in women, due to the short length of the female urethra. In any case, whether through the skin of the abdomen or the urethra, strict cleanliness and hygiene must be practiced to reduce the presence of bacteria at its entry site and surroundings.

A catheter left indwelling in the male urethra, variable from around eight to twelve inches is much less likely to result in an ascending infection of the male bladder than in a woman. Men have a unique set of glands, one on each side of the urethra as it exits the prostate called the bulbourethral glands which function to produce mucus to wash down the urethra and a flushing of both bacteria and urine as well as lubrication for intercourse prior to ejaculation of semen originating from the prostate. Secretion of this productive and useful mucus is initiated by both mental and physical stimulation. Teenagers first notice that this secretion, present in both men and women from similar but different sources in a woman, is stimulated in abundance during the course of heavy necking or petting. This very natural lubrication is preparation for the act of intercourse, designed for reproduction.

Self-simulation, either mental or physical will stimulate this bulbourethral secretion. In youth I was shown a deck of playing cards, which when “flashed” showed an animated depiction of sexual activity. Other mental stimulation resulting in physical reactions were reading pictorial magazines such a Playboy, and later sex videos available on VHS tape in the back rooms of video stores. One can now find all kinds of similar videos from sites dedicated to very soft or very hard core porn on the internet, as easy to find as a google search.

On the subject of the catheter and its relation to my anatomy, I assumed that viewing internet pornography would stimulate the “flow of juices’, the secretion of mucus by the bulbourethral glands. This produced downward flushing of the urethra for protection from bacterial colonization. With meticulous care and cleanliness there have been no infections with the same catheter inserted by the nurse in the urologist’s office two months ago. I went to go to the office for a change of the catheter this week, which was performed gently and without contamination. While scheduled for another catheter change in about two months, I could also do it myself.

Maybe I’m obsessed…….

A month ago I decided to go to the local urologist because I was having difficulty emptying my bladder. He had done an excellent job removing a stone from my wife’s ureter, the thin tube that drains the kidney into the bladder. My 49 year old son had a similar experience in California, and this was how I was introduced to urologists in both California and Montana. This was not my first experience with urologists. As a first year medical student at Stanford I noticed my urine was pink and checked it out under my microscope. My urine contained both red blood cells, red blood cell casts, granular casts, and hyaline casts. I worried that I might have some form of glomerulonephritis, a chronic kidney disease. I consulted urologists at Stanford and they determined that I did not have acute or chronic glomerulonephritis based on the lack of protein in my urine, no evidence of infection by urinalysis and culture, as well as a normal blood count, BUN, and creatinine. The condition seemed to clear on its own.

Near the end of medical school, I was required to undergo a physical examination and urinalysis as a condition for applying to the Unites States Public Health Service and the Indian Health Service as an alternative to military service in Viet Nam. My microscopic hematuria turned up again and the service required I undergo a cystoscopy to determine the source of this condition. I felt this might be too complicated as well as painful and declined this option. Instead I was accepted into the Berry Plan, which would allow me to complete my service in the United States Air Force without requiring a cystoscopy.

I went on to do a straight surgical internship at the University of North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel and elected to continue and complete my general surgery residency at the University of New Mexico Hospitals in Albuquerque. While in New Mexico I became close to a urologist who suggested that I have cystoscopy which was done under local anesthesia following rounds on the urology service. He told me that I had a slightly contracted and trabeculated bladder due to hypertrophy of the muscles at the neck of the bladder. The cystoscopy was painless with a little topical anesthesia and we went on with our urology rounds. I ended up with 9 month total training on the urology service in New Mexico.

After completing my surgical training I was assigned to Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in South Carolina, and following that I returned with my family to Great Falls, Montana. After 10 years of practice in Montana, I decided to upgrade my skills in General Surgery to Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, and selected the University of California College of Medicine Hospital and the Long Beach Veteran’s Hospital. Finishing this training, I elected to remain in Southern California and practice General and Thoracic Surgery in La Habra. California.

There I began to have symptoms of urinary frequency and urgency with a diminished urinary stream, and sought urology consultation again. Surgery was recommended after about 10 years of medical treatment with Cardura, an alpha 2 blocker which relaxed smooth muscle and was also used for treatment of high blood. I did not have hypertension but elected to have surgery because of the effects of the medicine on postural hypotension and shortness of breath. A transurethral resection of the bladder neck was performed under cystoscopy and I was required to have a Foley catheter for a week following surgery.

I had no further problems following this procedure and required no medications for about 10 more years, when I began having similar symptoms, by now practicing in Anaconda, Montana. I consulted a urologist for the third time, and using the modern slim fiberoptic cystoscope in our shared office, determined I had a urethral stricture as a result of the prior surgery. He this treated with an internal urethrotomy, done under spinal anesthesia in Missoula, and again a Foley catheter was inserted for a week following the surgery. With mild symptoms of urgency and what I interpreted as a small bladder capacity, I seemed to get by for another few years up until the present time. In the interim, I had practiced in Southern California, for a total of 20 years, consulting urologists there for prostate biopsies for an elevated PSA ( prostatic specific antigen) and I was found free of prostate cancer on a total of 6 transrectal biopsies the first time, and 12 transrectal biopsies the second time. I had another cystoscopy in the urologist’s office and he prescribed FloMax for my urinary symptoms.

This brings me back to the beginning of my story. Because of recent difficulty voiding requiring me to put pressure over my bladder, called a Crede’ maneuver, the local urologist performed cystoscopy and urodynamic studies showing the muscles in my bladder were stretched and ineffective, and there was no stricture. There was some enlargement of the prostate, but not enough to cause obstruction, His opinion, and the opinion of what I have read, is that I would probably require catheterization to empty my bladder for the rest of my life. Following the urodynamic studies a very capable urologic nurse inserted a Foley catheter, which I retain to the present time. I have found it is much easier to leave this catheter in place rather than “sterile” self-catheterization with a straight catheter, which seems unduly complicated and would have to be done every 4 to 6 hours to avoid over-distention of the bladder. In addition, there would be the risk of introducing bacteria into the system when done under less that completely antiseptic hospital or clinical conditions.

At this point, I should add that as a child I was a “bed wetter”, perhaps from the ages of about 6 to 10, This history of childhood bed wetting might be related to bladder dysfunction later in life. From the time I was able to get out of my baby bed, about the age of two years, I noted that my penis would on occasions become firm and stiff, and touching it was pleasant and a source of pleasure. I remember this because some of my earliest recollections were getting out over the rails of my baby bed, sitting on the floor, and bouncing up and down the springs on the rods allowing the bed rails to be lowered, and in my case, since I went over the rails, they were up, and the springs provided hours of fascination while they were bounced up and down.

I found that such and up and down motion on my uncircumcised penis produced hours of fascination and pleasure, beginning at this early age. I first thought it was due to retracting the prepuce from over the glans of the penis. Lay terms would be “hood” and “head” of the penis. This may be where the term “giving head” came from, although I did not hear this term uses for more than 20 years later. “Blow job” or “going down” seemed to be more common terms by the time I was around 16. My fascination has continued from these early experiences until today, so that I why, when I decided on a “title” for this blog, I decided on “Maybe I’m obsessed” rather than “My magnificent obsession”, which sounded too pretentious. The presence of a indwelling Foley catheter in my urethra has only heightened my awareness of this obsession. It is not a wholly unpleasant experience with a focus on this important part of my anatomy. Information from both my reading and from my urologist has led me the the conclusion that this may likely be a permanent situation.

Having been raised in a moderately religious Catholic family, I have always been aware of the proscriptions of the church against “touching oneself” or other activities of the human genitalia not related to procreation of the species. There is the implied guilt engendered by church, parental, or societal teachings, although I can only relate to the feeling of guilt only by society or reading, not from the church or my parents. The pleasure still remains, occasionally with fantasies which occur during the act. I don’t feel there is any unconscious psychological need for this activity other than it provides a sense of sexual pleasure, as it has for years. I have what I consider a normal heterosexual sex life beginning with my first interest in the opposite sex at about the same time of my developing sexual maturity, maybe even before then. I will go into my more personal thoughts, experiences, and fantasies at a later entry.

La Palma 44th Annual Meet May 27, 2018

This gallery contains 104 photos.

Christmas Greetings 2017…..

This is for our relatives and friends, at least those who are facebook friends and those whose e-mail address I have.  Interesting placement of the verb at the end of the sentence.  I see from my archived blogs on Word Press, that I’ve gotten a slightly earlier start than last year, or really, this year, as “last year’s” (2016) greetings were written at the beginning of this (2017) year.  So best wishes for a happy holiday season.

Fay has run out of the photo cards Carla ordered for us in Springfield, so I will try to include photos that were on that card, which featured the time we spent at the graduation of our two grand daughters, who carry the Weber name but do not carry the Y chromosome….probably much for the better. We are very proud of these beautiful and smart young ladies, separated by 18 months, who graduated together from separate schools in May.

We returned to Springfield in October for Fay’s left “total knee” surgery, which was performed in Bolivar at Citizen’s Memorial Hospital, where Chris has one of his clinics.  The surgery went really well, and Fay was out of the hospital in three days, with minimal pain and maximum physical therapy, supervised by Chris and as a outpatient at the Mercy Hospitals facility in Springfield.During Fay’s physical therapy sessions at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, I was able to explore Springfield by car, watch the new “Blade Runner”,  and take Sparky to the dog park, which required getting his vaccination records from California.  We had quite a few meals out, largely at the family “Thai Peppers” restaurant and, for me, two meals “Cafe’ Cusco”  a Peruvian restaurant in old South Springfield, one with the Weber family, and two at the Missouri State University dining facility (self-service buffet-type) with Sydney, who attends that school on a “full ride” scholarship, including a paid year in Europe.  We also got to visit her room in the dormitory and meet her three room mates and several other international  friends.  We had quite a few meals at home, some also with “Syd” who made it a point to keep in touch.

 

Julia also came home from the University of Missouri in Kansas City, and was very happy to take back the family Lexus hybrid SUV to K.C., at least until Christmas Vacation.  The above photo was taken after high school graduation, and included Syd’s high school boyfriend.  This did not last when she went to college, as he was still a senior at Glendale High.  Syd jumped a year ahead of him since she spent her last five years in the accelerated student program at Springfield’s Central High, where she graduated as a “Valedictorian”  and “Summa Maga Cum Laud”.  I might add that Julia is still a “vegetarian”, thus eats many of her meals from a box.  Not a turkey kid at Thanksgiving, for sure.

Fay was in New York City prior to her surgery, and flew to Springfield.  I was left home in Anaconda with Sparky, who has matured into a good adult-looking dog, although only 11 months before I left with him. Another “Travels With Charlie” road trip where we took the opportunity to visit cousins, in-laws, and outlaws, on our way to Missouri via northeast Montana, Highway 2 to northern Minnesota, where we enjoyed the hospitality of Fay’s cousins Dave, Bailey, Shelly, and Caroline in Froid, (pictured above), and with John and Sandy Weber in Grand Rapids, Minnesota and Paul and Sherry Weber, in Sauk Rapids.  There we (Sparky and I) discovered the pleasures of a “dog park” beautifully situated on the banks of the clear and mighty Mississippi.

The above photo is of my namesake, John P. Weber, Jr., whose hospitality, with his wife Sherry,  I enjoyed for 2 days in Grand Rapids, with his daughter-in-law, wife of John III, his son, and newest grand-daughter, in front of John 3’s home.  I also visited Paul and Julie Weber, and Paul took me on a tour of Saint John’s College (where my Dad played hockey) and a hike around it’s beautiful lake and a visit to the campus and new chapel, pictured with Paul.

Next was a stop in Rochester and the Woodruff family home hosted by Jim and Sandy, and their two collies, who provided lots of fun dog activity for Sparky.  He also got to (accidentally) try to herd their llamas, who chased him out of their pasture.  Jim and Sandy hosted me again for lunch at the lovely Rochester Country Club, then provided a tour of the Mayo Clinic proton beam accelerator facility, where Jim received the most advanced treatment to his prostate. They are lucky to be in the best place in the country to receive medical treatment.  That is also where my Dad had his aortic aneurysm surgery in 1985 after his high school class reunion in Chisholm.

Also included was a night in Zumbrota, just south of Rochester, for lunch, dinner, and overnight with Rose and John Perra, my mother Marge’s only surviving cousin.  He is a healthy 92 and almost ready to fly his reconstructed airplane, and Rose is as sharp as ever just a few year’s younger.  We had dinner at a local restaurant with their son Jim, who now is in charge of the family’s Bank of Zumbrota.  (Not the bank of the Zumbro River.)  And another trip to the dog park south of Rochester with Sparky.

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, I was unable to visit Fay’s nephew’s wife Annette in Saint Paul, who I always enjoy seeing.  Another road trip for sure.  Then a straight drive from southern Minnesota to southwest Missouri, which I have already covered.

It seems I am going backward through 2017, since the two highlights of the year were my 60th Great Falls High School  class reunion, in Great Falls, of course, and the Montana Folk Festival, in Butte, of course, Montana’s “Festival City” and a leading candidate for “Montana’s Party City”, as well.  The next photo is from the reunion, and the following one from the Folk Festival, where we were again joined with cousins and second cousins, Connie (Flynn) Greishaber, and Ann (Collins) Antonioli.

We spent the spring and summer in Montana, which was again plagued by forest fires after a moist and rainy spring and a very dry summer.  Because of the poor air quality, I did not get out for a lot of fishing, but did a lot of hiking through the local hills with Sparky, but absent Fay, who was limited by her (then) bad knee, which is now 100 per cent good.

There are lots of “cultural” events in Montana in the summer, like “Art in the Park”, the opening of the “Smelter City Brew Pub”, the Phillipsburg Brewery and Pub, and the 4th of July Parade, followed by fireworks, which add to the smoke in the air, which we have now become used to.  I always drive a car in the parade, this year the Lincoln Zephyr.  My grandfather Fred Perra also had a Lincoln Zephyr during the war.

That guy to the right of the car is me.  Lost some weight on purpose but will have to work on the posture to alleviate the protuberant  belly.  Oh, I almost forgot, another highlight of the summer was the Total Solar Eclipse, where we travelled to Casper, Wyoming to stay with Fay’s sister Kay, and her 2nd husband, Merle Kennedy.

A review of 2017 wouldn’t be complete without a few photos of the eclipse……

Or of those viewing the eclipse….

Or of the eclipse itself…..

So this seems like a good time to end this massive missive….with a dog photo…of Sparky, who by now is a full grown dog, just over a year old,

Isn’t he pretty?  And a photo of our two grand sons bearing ………..the Weber name and the Y chromosome, either their good fortune or misfortune, time will tell….  We have not seen much of them since they are now involved in a custody battle initiated by their mother, to our, and their, probable detriment.

So on this somber note, I will end.  Best wishes for a blessed and holy Christmas with your families, and a Happy and Prosperous New Year, 2018.

Jack

Another Christmas, 2016 has come & gone… and I may yet finish this blog.

It’s taken me a long time to get around to writing this Christmas letter, maybe because we’ve only been back in Montana for a week…… [Now it has been 2 weeks since Christmas, and I have still not finished this blog, which I hope still can serve as my holiday letter, if you can make it through.]….We left around November 14 and drove to Casper to visit Fay’s sister Kay, now a Kennedy, along with her new husband Merle, who greeted us on arrival with a big family gathering featuring giant pot roast with special oval onions, potatoes, and carrots.  Gary Sundheim was there as well as his steady girl, Linda, and Merle’s son Rodney and his wife  .  The next day we took a tour to  Lion’s Park and Casper Falls, then up to the top of Casper Mountain, then down to Alcova Dam and Resevoir, then back to Casper, where we said goodbye and set out for Denver.

(If you want to skip the details of this long cross-country trip, just skip the next few paragraphs, look at the photos, and refer to my last holiday letter, 2015, which for the months preceding this adventure will be identical to this year’s activities.)

We made a fast trip down I-25, ahead of a snowstorm, where we met my cousin Connie and son Eric, nephew John and his girlfriend Jill, and niece Jen and her husband Jeff at the Yard House restaurant/tap beer joint in Littleton.

We all had a great time, with excellent food and drinks. Then on to Connie and Gary’s house south of Denver before the snow fell.    Gary was on a trip and arrived through the blizzard  from the airport after we had gone to bed, but we got to see him in the morning with coffee before we left on slippery roads, heading east toward Springfield on I-70.  Another long and fast trip, running out of snow by the time we hit the Kansas line, and eventually arrived in Springfield around 10 pm.

Chris, Carla, Julia, and Sydney (pictured in the greeting above) greeted us around 9:30 pm with a nice meal after helping us carry all our luggage in, as we were planning to stay for a while.  We went to church with them on two successive Sundays, interspersed with parties, one at their church friends at Joannie and Mike Scott’s home, a candy swap with delicious food and comradeship.

We had family meals at home, at Thai Peppers, and Steak & Shake.  Another party at Chris and Carla’s with their neighbors, and lest I forget, Thanksgiving dinner. We watched Sydney (center of photo) race in an area breast stroke relay, and before we left, Fay and I drove down to Bentonville, Arkansas for the original Sam Walton’s store and museum and the spectacular Crystal Bridges Museum.

The next day we left early in a light rain, then drove in a driving rain for the rest of the day to Memphis, where it continued to rain as we walked in the rain to the museum of Rock & Soul, and after it stopped raining, walked along Beale Street, stopped into a few bars or clubs, ending up at B.B. King’s club. where we enjoyed a great meal of fried catfish (me) and barbeque ribs, Memphis style (Fay).  A three piece band played rock & roll music and the lead guitar player gave a great historical retrospect on the history of the genre.

In the morning we visited the spectacular Memphis Pyramid, now housing the equally impressive Bass Pro Shop, with bass, sturgeon, and alligator ponds, plus all the other sporting goods, with waterfalls and artificial  trees extending to the top of the pyramid.

Next we drove to New Orleans and drove into the Vieux Carre’ to the quaint and historical Hotel Le Richeleu, and after getting our room, had a few drinks at the bar and talked to visiting couples from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and Melbourne, Australia.  Then we walked down Decatur Street to Coop’s Place, a cute little “hole in the wall” restaurant with lots of atmosphere with lots of “Nor’leans” specialties.

Fay had an oyster dish and I had a gumbo. then we walked over to Bourbon Street where we walked the length of the street, stopping in a few places where the bar girls tried to seduce us into buying inflated priced Hurricanes.  We returned to the hotel on Decatur Street, and should have stopped at the Café du Monde for chicory coffee and beignets, but it was late and decided to stop there in the morning

We needed to drive to Sarasota, Florida the next day, 709 miles, so we left over the causeways along Lake Pontchartrain, I-10 then along the gulf coast, past Mobile and the U.S.S. Alabama in Mobile Bay, stopped to get a map at the Florida rest stop,  then drove I-74  by dark at night and arrived at Fay’s sister Corrinne’s Florida home.  We spent a few days with Corrinne and her neighbor Bob, who took me to look at some expensive cars, Bentley’s, Ferrari’s, and a bunch of American classics.  Fay and I toured the Ringling Museums and mansion on Sarasota Bay, and went to an excellent production of “Guys and Dolls” at the Asolo Repertory Theater. Corrinne took us out to brunch at the University Park Country Club.

It took us two days to get back in the middle of the country to Louisville, where Fay and I attended a conference on Human Trafficking which lasted three days.  They provided a nice continental breakfast and regular lunch, and the final evening we had a nice meal with wine on the roof restaurant of the Hilton Garden Inn, with several of the presenters of the conference, sponsored by the Louisville United Nations Association, and organized by several members of Fay’s Women Graduates-USA.

Then to Saint Louis where we spent a night at Fay’s nephew Eric and wife Tami, after stopping at Washington University (Saint Louis, to you Westerners)  where I took a few photos, including one of my fraternity house, Phi Delta Theta, still # 9 Fraternity Row.  The SAE House has been relocated, just as the one in Bozeman has, to a newer building sitting at the end of the row, at right angles  to the rest of the row.  It used to be # 10.  The Beta house and the KA (southern branch) have been occupied by other frats.

But I digress….. We spent a nice evening with Eric and Tami, had some of his vast collection of fine wine from his large temperature and humidity-controlled cellar (though not as vast as Irv’s) then drove to a nice Irish pub for dinner.

Tami at her piano.

After a “continental” breakfast with Eric (Tami had already left for work) we left for Springfield, Missouri, to spend another few days with our wonderful southwest Missouri family. We rested for a day or two, had an Indian buffet with Chris’s family, and drove back to Montana, with a night’s stop in Rapid City, South Dakota,  We beat the first blizzard of December back to Anaconda by an hour, dry roads all the way.

All this occurred in about four weeks from mid-November to mid-December.   We [were]  in the midst of the second blizzard of December, hoping Chris, Carla, Julia, and Sydney, who [were] stranded in Salt Lake City by Delta Airlines, might be able to make it into Montana today, Christmas Eve.  Delta just cancelled the flight into Butte today, December 24, which is not unusual for Delta.  Boy, do we miss Western Airlines, “The Only Way to Fly”, which existed for 62 years serving the west before being bought  by Delta  in 1987.

[Note, they did change their flight from Butte to Bozeman  Delta sent a large jet with many open seats on to Belgrade (the Boz Angeles International Airport is in Belgrade) and I drove through a snowstorm over two mountain passes to deliver them to Anaconda late on Christmas Eve. More about the visit later..]

At least this gave me some time to complete my 2016 Christmas blog, [not so]  which I can do by saying the previous ten and one-half months of 2016 were very much like those of 2015, shuttling between Anaconda and La Habra Heights (LA) California, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF:  1)  Fay made a 3 week trip to South Africa for the Graduate Women International triennial conference,  focusing on global education of women, and 2) my 15 year companion and best friend (except Fay), Downey died after we left him at the Anaconda vet place for boarding when we went up to Froid.  He probably had a little cough which developed into pneumonia, which went unnoticed until it was too late.  He came home for less than six hours before he died of respiratory failure.  His strong heart beat on for another 10 minutes before it stopped.  I will miss him a lot.

Mike arrived with his friend, Olivia in Butte after Christmas. Chris and I and his girls (Julia and Sydney)  skied a day at Discovery Ski Basin (Anaconda-Phillipsburg’s local ski area) on what must have been one of the most crowded day of the year, although the slopes were not crowded as most of the holiday skiers spent their time in the food line in the lodge.  The line was long and there were not enough tables and chairs to seat everyone at once.

Mike and his musical collaborateur  went skiing together after Chris’s family left, and  Fay cancelled her solo flight to LAX as her friend from Nashville, who was going to stay in our SoCal home, got sick and cancelled.  We left Montana on New Year’s Eve ahead of a blizzard and prolonged arctic freeze  to beat the storm, and had dry roads all the way to Las Vegas, where Mike (yes, he returned with us, along with his musical collaborateur.  Mike decided we should drive straight through to California after we found all hotels in Las Vegas were $200 plus and the Strip was blocked off to all traffic.  Not wanting to park and walk to the Strip, we spent about an hour at the “off the strip” Stratosphere

The highlight before we left Anaconda was the arrival of our “Downy Replacement” puppy, which I had named “Sparky” before we saw him.  I had visited Fay’s “nice” (actually 2nd cousin) Laura Christoffersen Nelsen (Jens) on a hunting trip to Froid and had stopped with my hunting buddy “Nick” at Culbertson  and was impressed with her smart and beautiful English Shepherd.  She said a new litter of the same lineage was in the offing in early November, so I was given the “pick of the litter” and chose the 2nd smallest dog in the pack of 16 with a “spot” on his head and a full tail with a white tip.  Chris and I drove to Bridger Bowl to ski the day before he left, and Laura and Emily delivered the pup in Bozeman at 5 pm.

So now we are back at 2089 East Skyline Drive in La Habra Heights, California, and it is January 7, 2017.  Mike’s boys Cameron and Casey have spent the night, alternating playing with “Sparky” who loves to chase and “herd”, biting at their heels, and is faster than either.  They have never had a puppy so they are learning to beware of the sharp teeth and claws, and I am trying to get them not to try to lift the puppy.  Sparky is better behaved and learns quicker than Casey, who requires repeating requests to behave like a 6 year old rather than like a three-year-old,  although he is (slowly) improving. Cameron has developed into a rather nice, thoughtful and (almost) well-behaved 7 and one-half-year old.

I guess I am destined to remain the “Grumpy Grandpa” until either the boys get older or until I “bite the dust”, or “pass over”, or “pass on”,  ei., Die, although I have no plans to do so…yet.

Everything that occurred prior to this writing is just about the same as detailed in my “2015 Christmas Letter“, out of town visitors, trips to the lake (not frozen in summer), up to the falls (Lost Falls, not Great Falls) and such, like sitting in the house watching TV.  Refer to that blog if you feel you are missing out on something I forgot to mention.

Jack

Oh, and Happy Holidays, in a non-denominational way, which, by now referring to the upcoming Epiphiny,  Valentine’s Day, (or lover’s day, so we don’t mention that mythical saint,)  National President’s Day…would that include President Trump?;  Easter, both eastern and western (Roman),  Irish Day, both green and orange, celebrating the absence of snakes and the abundance of beer in Ireland, and later Memorial Day, Flag Day, Arbor Day, Aber Day, etc. etc.

A few more photos I have to share, better than the foregoing drivel…

and:

That’s all folks!

I wonder if I will ever see Mercury? Or, “Here Comes the Sun”.

Today is 30 years exactly after the crash of Challenger, and it made me feel happy I was not on that ill-fated voyage. I have always made the safe choices, and though interested in the stars, our galaxy, and the universe, I have never ventured far from my home. In my last entry, I was sitting at my east window waiting for the sunrise, and although the sky started out in red and gold hues, the sun rose south of my viewpoint, and I missed the sun. For many years I have also awakened early to see if I could see Mercury, the small sun-bleached planet closest to our son, but have never seen it. There are times when it might be visible just before sunrise or just after sunset, but in Montana, and probably here in California as well, there are mountains to the east and west which would obscure its rise so close to the sun.

At this time, if one was a flatlander, one could observe all five of the visible planets in the sky in the early morning just before sunrise, starting from east to west, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter, not exactly in the order of their distance from the sun. There has been another planet hypothesized by the same astronomer who downgraded Pluto from a planet to just another hunk of ice or rock orbiting in the Kuiper belt. This planet circles our sun in a markedly elliptical orbit much like a comet, and is probably a giant ball of gas like Jupiter and to a lesser degree, Saturn. It goes beyond the Kuiper belt, and may some day, like a comet, become visible to our naked eyes. Or maybe not. Or it may collide with our earth and destroy everything we have known. Or probably not, I don’t know that much.

Anyhow, I was thinking of the song, “Here Comes the Sun”, written by George Harrison, whose sister I met with my family in Branson, Missouri. Did you know George visited his sister a year or two before the Beatles came to America?  We were in Hamburg in the spring of 1964 and everybody there was talking about the Beatles, who were still unknown in America. That was when we were young, only 25 years old, long before “Here Comes the Sun” was written. It must have been after “a long cold lonely winter” that he wrote it, but he said “it’s all right, it’s all right, sun, sun, sun, here it comes.” And it was beautiful, and he was all right. He wrote the song just a few years later. That was 42 years ago, and now 30 years after Challenger, we are still all right.

On that same note, I guess I am all right, no longer having pain in my right big toe and leg, and having had a negative biopsy (the third) of my prostate gland since I last wrote I had a MRI of my spine and foot, and a generally good blood count and chemistries, although cholesterol and liver tests could be a bit better. But no more alternating doses of acetaminophen or naproxen, both good pain relievers but each having adverse effects on either kidneys or liver. And don’t drink so much of that chokecherry wine vintage 2015, which is the best I’ve ever made, so delicious and beautiful. And not very much of that Neversweat bourbon made in Butte, which is good either neat or better in a ditch. Moderation in everything, the story of my life.

Waiting for the sunrise…

“Dear One, the World, is Waiting for the Sunrise”  a favorite song of mine when I was about 15, by Les Paul and Mary Ford. I awoke early today, December 29, 2015, and the family is gone from the California house. I sat by the picture window waiting, but it arose south of my eastern vantage point. I awoke thinking of friends who are also gone, Daryl Soltez, Jon Krug, Patty Kalitzke, Vicki Slanger, Janet Lee, Louise Vender, Jack Burkland, Penny Bresse, Sharon Tietjen, and Stan Tolliver, who broke my nose when I was fifteen.

These were my first friends, and classmates, then I met others, and I am sorry they are gone.  Then there were newer friends, Dick Dailey, Jerry Truax, Terry Niels, Susan Howard, Bob Goff, Carlin Onstad, Don Bloom, Mary Daly, and others who are gone.       And I wonder whether where some of the others are and if they are still alive, Danny Lesh, Sarah Bogden, Patty Chaon, Eldora Nelson, Gary Gruel, Jerry Meagher, who I frequently tangled with.  And Jael Whittaker, Eldora Nelson, Dorrine Door, Diane Busick, and JoAnne Matteucci. There have some I cannot recall now, but memories of them will come back some early morning.

I have been having mysterious pains in my right big toe and foot, which I initially self-diagnosed as gout, but it has persisted in spite of the proper treatment with medications but without wholly forsaking wine, beer, and meat.  Then my son, the physician cast doubt on my diagnosis.  Why does it occur only at night, and only while lying in bed?  And then I think of cancer, and those that have passed away, and I wonder….?

Where are the others, and what are they doing, and how are they feeling?  Do they wake up and wonder if they will ever see their old friends from the past again, and hope they will come to the next class reunion?  Will I be alive then, and how many sunrises will I witness?  Life has a lot of questions we cannot answer.

Christmas Letter 2015

 

 

I just lost the entire letter I had written, so let me wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2016 before I lose it again.  The photo was sent to me by a good friend in Anaconda, Montana yesterday.  We live in Anaconda most of the year but come down to California for the holidays because of the prohibitive cost of flying into Montana by our families.  Mike, our younger son (49) lives just down the road in our former house with his 2 boys, Cameron (6) and Casey (4) but he only has them half-time, sharing them with his ex-wife, step-father, and step-grandparents.  He seems happier than when he was married for 14 years.  My sister Janice (60) has a condo in Carlsbad and usually spends Christmas here with us and her daughter Hailey (23).

Fay flew down before Thanksgiving and I drove down with Downy (14) two weeks ago.  I am writing this the day before my 77th birthday and 3 days before Christmas.  This year is just about a repeat of last year, when we drove our 2014 Chevrolet Impala LTZ with ALL the bells and whistles to Quebec City from Montana via Springfield, MO, Springfield IL, South Bend, IN, Lansing MI, Toronto ON, and Montreal QC.  This year we drove from Montana to Springfield, MO, where we again left Downy with Chris’s family and drove to Baltimore, MD, via IL, KY, PA, and NJ, then to NYC (Chelsie, Manhattan) where we stayed with Fay’s sister Corrinne  and her daughter Christine .

Following that we drove on rural roads to Niagara Falls, NY where we rode on the “Maid of the Mists” and then went on to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and back through KY and IL where we picked up Downy and visited with Chris (51), Carla (49), Julia (16) and Sydney (14). We did not travel much in Montana this year, but made one trip up to Fay’s home town of  Froid where we stayed with her cousin David and his wife Shelly, then went on to Glasgow where her sister Kay (84) got married to a long term friend of her son’s Gary (63), named  Merle, (80)  then we helped them pack her stuff in a trailer and they took off for Casper, WY.

This is where I add that our grandchildren are both beautiful and intelligent, just like their parents and grandparents, and are engaged in many activities appropriate to their age and multiple interests.

We spend most of the year in Montana, where, if there is enough snow, hope to return to get in some good skiing.  Fay will probably stay in California, since she has had several injuries which she can blame on slipping on ice, including a medial meniscus removal which has left her a little knock-kneed and an ankle fracture with plate and screws.  I have been more lucky, only suffering minor head injuries leaving me with only minor brain dysfunction.  Our homes in Montana and California are both beautiful and comfortable.

You can refer to last year’s Christmas letter, written by Downy (spelled wrong) in that letter’s title, for a whole lot more photos of everyone, and to the 2013 letter which has a photo of our Anaconda home in the winter, just for contrast.  We do just about the same things every year, so if you read and look at my previous letters and musings, you will get some idea of what our life is like.

Please write to us via e-mail, jnfweber@gmail.com or faycweber@bresnan.net.  I have tried unsuccessfully to get her to use Google Mail.  Oh, the reason we went to Baltimore this year is that she was the presenter for a section on human trafficking, and she will become the president of the organization she presented for wg-usa.org  (use that as the address of the organization. Look it up, and ladies (women) join up, if you can.  It is a good organization, and you can spend a lot to time talking to other women on line, on “webinars” or by phone, to advance women’s issues (human issues) on a global scale.

Come visit us at 218 West Seventh Street in Anaconda, MT 59711, or 2089 East Skyline Drive in La Habra, California 90631, or write us at these addresses, or send us e-mails at the above.  This is probably not the format or content Fay would have chosen IF she had written this Christmas letter, but again, have a Happy Christmas and a healthy and purposeful  year 2016.

Jack & [Fay] Weber   December 22, 2015  4:45 pm PST