A Sense of Doubt blog post #4105 - Letter to Dad #35 - Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4105 - Letter to Dad #35 - Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff

Hey Big Guy, Check out that picture above. It's from 1975. It shows me and my sister at the start of the school year, me for eighth grade and Lori for first grade. Already, the Bicentennial celebration had begun as the photo envelope is decorated in "spirit of America" promotions.

1975 was still during my Wacky Packages phase as that lunch box is a custom one that we painted gold and I covered with Wacky Packages stickers. Not sure what those patches on my jacket are from, but they could also be Wacky Packages.

If you're a reader, and have never heard of Wacky Packages, well... here's an example:

Also, Wacky Packages Wiki and the Topps Index (see all the stickers).

I have never done a full blog post on these, which is weird, so I should add that to the to do list.

Not sure when I had my entrepreneurial phase in which I bought cases of Wacky Packages and sold the packs to kids with less of a mark up than in the stores. I also had a phase of selling yo-yos and vampire fangs, both of which were very popular. But the Wacky Packages were my number one seller, especially with my clever undercut of the store's prices.

I think all these sales were prior to my eighth grade year. I fell ill that year and was out for several weeks. Pneumonia, I think.

I didn't give you any update last week, Dad, as I just wrote about the Pistons. I don't feel like writing much about the Pistons today as they have lost three in a row and are now down 2-3 in the series. To win the series, they now have to win two in a row with the next game, number six, in Cleveland tomorrow night and then, if they win it, game seven back in Detroit on Sunday. I think they can win two in a row. They did to start the series. And they came back from down 1-3 against Orlando by winning three straight. But will they? Cleveland is a better team than Orlando. Even so, Detroit nearly won last night's game, which went to overtime. Even if they lose the series, the season was much better than last season, so that's some consolation.

We had a nice Mother's Day here with dinner in Portland, though not at the number one choice. Some shopping before hand at Powell's Books, where I found the next Eddings novel.

The hot weather has cooled, and we have some rain in the forecast. It rained a lot yesterday, but so far, only a little today. I haven't watered yet since plants got so much water yesterday, but I should water later. Also, dog walks, which they have not had for two days.

Ellory has an ear infection. After a couple of weeks of cleaning, I took her to the vet.

I took Ellory and Essel to Paradise Point Park Friday, along the Lewis River, which was stupid because Liesel was out of town, but it was fine. Essel had never been there, and Ellory had not been there in YEARS (maybe 2022? 2023?). I figured the water level had receded enough that the close trail (along the river side in an area that gets swampy) would not be flooded. The other trail is high above the river and there’s another trail that goes up to a small waterfall.

In case you are curious, pictures here (and a map):

https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2018/03/hey-mom-talking-to-my-mother-992.html

https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2021/07/hey-mom-talking-to-my-mother-1227-sod.html

Well, we get there, and there’s a big sign at the trailhead DANGER and PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. The sign said the trail was under repair and had many hazards. Remembering the trail from years ago, I figured the worst case would be we’d have to turn around, so I plunged on ahead!! There were a couple of trees down. The dogs went under one, though I had to help Ellory. Then Essel impressed me by going over the other one. I thought I would have to lift her. I did have to lift her over a gap due to a lost board in one of the bridges. But they did great!

Then, the water fall! So, you walk up to this lookout, and then there’s a steep decline to the waterfall. I didn’t think I could navigate both dogs down the decline and keep my feet, so I took off their leashes. I was most worried about Essel running off or getting too close to the waterfall as we are above it, right where it drops. But they both stopped when I said STOP or NO, and they were very very good girls!!

So, good outing, though I was a little sore after and should have take ibuprofen before bed.

I am back to grilling food when Liesel reminded me that we have a grill. LOL.

In other news, I finished school with a 4.0 again to keep that GPA overall. I finished final grades at Park University, and I have been applying for jobs.

I have a phone call with a member of the faculty from Walden University in a little while and have to start my INTERNSHIP application because I have a site, a I have an internship!! I misread the requirements and couldn't sleep last night (I was also upset about the Pistons) . I am very relieved that I misread the requirements and all is well. It's not easy to get an internship! Now, I am hoping to request my favorite professor to be my supervisor.

I have been doing better with task switching, too. As I have been composing this post, I have task switched to do several other things. The task switching method seems more efficient than my usual project-based, singular focus.

I should start investigating all the internship field experience stuff before my call.

More next week!!

Love you, Big Guy,

~ christopher

This is an old picture of Ellory, but I think it's from Paradise Point:

Essel Buttermilk 2603.19

Satchel post grooming 2604.17

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2605.14 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3969 days ago & DAD = 623 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.