Greetings When We Arrive in Virginia -- The Hermit

21 April 2013; Virginia Estate--

Our arrival at this palatial setting on the banks of Maddox Creek was highlighted by a greeting from the Guardian of the Grounds, Mad Dog Grouch. This Old, One-eyed fuzz-face was fierce-looking, fierce-talking and fierce acting. [I was led to believe that he had once schooled a gang of thugs in Maryland by demonstrating the fine art of using a pistol to shoot clay pigeons out of mid-air. This shooting demonstration/lesson taught these young thugs to better be able to terrorize the neighborhood -- in a location other that in which Mad Dog lived.]

Meeting this wild-looking visage of a humanoid was alarming, to say the least; being met by him on the way in to visit my Daughter-in-Law and Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren was hair-raising!

After assuring this Old Man of our honorable intentions, Uncle Bob and I were allowed to venture deeper into the wilderness in which the Main House is sited, and subsequently provided every courtesy, including some of the strongest coffee -- short of Starbucks! -- that is available in the Free World. We were even permitted to stay and sleep in the comfort of a bedroom with an inner-spring mattress and running water, the latter surprisingly available in the tidy shack at which we first encountered Mad Dog.

 Upon arriving at the Main House, where my Daughter-in-Law lived, we found her proudly protecting her personal car, a vintage four-wheel drive Jeep. [Unfortunately, this otherwise very capable vehicle was handicapped by being equipped with "four-on-he-floor" gearing. Such are the kinds of cruel deprivations imposed on this lovely woman by the Man who thinks he is in charge.]

If this introduction piques your interest, stay tuned for more sequels to this Saga of the Senior Citizens in Virginia.

 

 

Free Ride Down to Estacada to see Six Great Grandchildren

5 April 2014; Estacada Oregon --

Late this first week in April, my oldest daughter, Su., invited me to accompany them (Her, Her Husband, Stn., and their youngest daughter [my Granddaugther], Ra., aka, "Piano-Fingers") on a one-day trip to visit my Oldest Granddaughter, Ay. Since Ay. is the Mother of six of my 31 Great Grandchildren, how could I say anything but a hearty "YES!!"?

Leaving Grumpy's Castle at the unholy hour of six a.m., we ventured South hitting the Interstate -- with my Granddaughter Ra. at the wheel!! 

Since I was instrumental in giving Ra. her first opportunity to drive on public highways in Nebraska and South Dakota, I felt proud of the excellent job she did in navigating the on and off ramps at the interchanges and ignoring the distractions, but avoiding the hazards, of other traffic passing on either side and sometimes pulling into her lane in front. Her Dad and I meanwhile rested peaceably in the back seat, with nary a word of alarm or advice needing be emanated from either.

Enroute, we stopped at "Country Cousins" restaurant in Centralia for a late breakfast. This was a welcome stop in this nearly four-hour trip; we were able to empty and refill our coffee reservoirs, as well as update our nourishment needs. Our cooperative waiter agreed to take this photo of our little group.

Upon arrival at Ay.'s place in mid-morning, we were greeted by lots of Great Grandchildren -- all handsome boys except for the beautiful Elianna. Here she is, adoring and lovingly holding Su.'s smallest Yorkie -- the only child among this troop with whom this little dog would abide!

The youngest, Sam, attracted -- and demanded! -- much attention; he is an exploratory crawler and promises to be a real hand full for all when he starts walking [The oldest, Malachi, announced that he had witnessed Sam stand!] Mother, Ay., took this news with total aplomb; she had seen it before? Certainly at least with the other five.

Here he is with his Grandpa Stn. with the very happy face he presents to all who meet him.

And here he is greeting Ra.'s young Chesapeake *Newfoundland, Erard. Both were curious about the other. This exchange was both friendly and supposedly "delicious" -- they both wanted more!

And, lastly, but not leastly, here the young Sam delights in the arms of his Grandmother Su.

Before we left, Great Grandpa had to play a little "catch" with Malachi. The opportunity was too short; next time, I will have to engage in this little exercise earlier in the visit; at the rate he is growing, his pitches may soon be too "hot" for Great Grampa Z's hands to hold!

*Note the correction to the breed of dog to which Ra. "belongs"!!

A New Hip and a New Walk

27 February 2014; Up "Nawth" --

As a belated Birthday Present, younger daughter, "Nancy Nurse", underwent her long-awaited surgery to replace the hip joint that was injured about 25 years before. She had been "too young" for the artificial implant previously, but this was probably just as well as the technology has improved over the intervening years such that this implant will last for the rest of her life. The "prothesis", as it is called, is made of sintered metal (Titanium?) so that in the natural bone-healing process, the bone "grows into" the pores in the sintered metal and thus becomes a permanent part of her hip. In the similar surgery a couple decades ago, the prothesis was a solid metal part and was "glued" into place using something like Dental cement. This cement weakened over time and the attachment became loose and required a second surgery to ream out the Fibia and replace the metal part with one slightly larger.

As most readers of this BLOG know, "Nancy" had a decided limp [progressively more pronounced as the years went by], due to the pain [also increasing as the years went by] associated with the deterioration [also increasing as the years went by] of the bones in the two intersecting body parts: the Fibia and the Pelvis. Her Physical Therapist told her that the most important reason for her to faithfully use her walker to move about during her rehabilitation was to help her overcome the "habit" of limping.

As a caring Father, with nothing to do but interfere in the affairs of my Children, Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren, I went up "Nawth" to spend time with "Nancy" when she came out of ICU. [I would have been there earlier, before she went into surgery but her Surgeon moved her time to earlier in the day before she could let me know.] She countered with an offer to have me stay overnight in a luxurious suite in the hospital, reserved for special donors to the funds to build this new facility.

Her room, on the 10th (top) floor had a view of Mt Baker to the North.

And down the hallway on which she took her first walk later that same morning, she had a view of their Buffalo Farm (Bisondalen) across the Snohomish River and its sloughs, one of which their acreage abuts. See center of the photo on left.

Her first walk was not recorded because the camera's owner forgot to bring it up from the parking garage! But by the time she was doing her third walk (still the day of her surgery!) I had my camera handy for these images. 

Although she was having some pain (from the "carvings" on her skin and muscle to gain access to the hip joint), she declared that there was no longer the deep, grinding ache of the bone-on-bone irritation that she had suffered with so long -- and as recently as earlier this morning when she came into the hospital for the surgery! So she stopped to "ham it up" with this "glamorous" pose (right).

Finally, no adventure involving one of the Zimmerman Clan is complete without at least one photo of the subject in the "Classic Zimmerman Pose" -- one foot up on something: a rock, a log, ... a hospital bed rail?

A 59th Birthday Dinner for Ruth

22 February 2014; Ivar's Mukilteo Landing --

Our youngest birth daughter, Ruth, was born at about 0200 on Valentine's Day 1955. Her nickname was "Little Pat-Pat" because, when I held her and hugged her when she was a wee baby, she patted me back! She was the most actively loving child that we had, [Her older brother was probably the most aloof! It seemed like he didn't want to take the time to sit on his Daddy's lap or put up with any of that cuddly stuff!!]

Anyway, it had been agreed some time ago to get together with my now-called "Nancy Nurse" to celebrate her birthday by having a delicious meal at one of our (mutual) favorite restaurants: Ivar's Mukilteo Landing.This time, I remembered to bring my camera!

The morning dawned -- at least the chronological clock said it "became daytime"! -- with threat of snow in the air. [The usual Seattle/Wet Coast kind of day, at least with "rain, showers and periods of drizzle".] Ruth called in mid-morning to discourage me from driving up for the occasion already reserved at this scenic restaurant site. Ivar's of course, is a restaurant establishment well-founded in early Seattle history; always a light-hearted  atmosphere with phrases such as "keep clam", and,  in the original "Ivar's" on the Seattle waterfront, a display of the ancient tools, such as a "Clam Gun", for harvesting the tidal-area dwelling mollusks like Razor clams and Geoducks (pronounced "Gooeyducks"). A dinner visit to Ivar's is always well-rewarded for the dedicated gourmet of sea food of all kinds; Ivar's clam chowder is actually loaded with clam bits!

I was not to be deterred, however, from celebrating this historic day with my daughter. After all, besides the thought of the delicious seafood dinner, there was the realization that this would be the first and last 59th birthday this daughter would have!

We [I had invited Margaret Mitchell to come along, since she and Mitch were Ruth's godparents] encountered fairly heavy downpour of snow just as we topped the hill on the west end of Paine field on our way down to the waterfront site of Ivar's Mukilteo Landing. I noted that the outside air temperature displayed on the Red Rocket dashboard advised that it was 38 degr Fahrenheit. I assured Mrs Mitchell that that meant that the snow could not remain; I was also aware that downhill next to Puget Sound the air temperature would be further modified by the "warm" [50 degr?!] salt water.

We got there later than I had intended and Ruth and Paul were already seated at a "perfect" table next to the windows. This called for a photograph as I had intimated at the beginning of this POST.

Our waitress kindly obliged, taking this flash picture looking into the bright background of the water and sea gulls who were outside hoping for a handout from one of the  diners inside.*

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* A Seattle city ordinance forbade tourists and others from succumbing to the temptation of feeding seagulls, which can cause them to become a nuisance as a result. Ivar [since deceased] responded by commissioning a sculpture of a pair of seagulls being fed by a little boy, now prominently on display outside his namesake restaurant on the Seattle waterfront.

Some Thoughts by the Old Thinker

04 January 2014; Grumpy's Castle -- 

I am sitting around on this beautiful sunny January day, and I got to thinking about my children -- and Grandchildren, Great Grandchildren and of course my little Great-Great Grandson. I treasure each chance I have to be with them. I also enjoy the opportunities I have had and will have to experience adventure, including the amazement of people who think I am too old to be capable of anything other than sit in a rocking chair pronouncing wise -- or inane -- advice to my descendants.

I saw a cartoon the other day [when I get the chance, I will ask its owner for permission to get a color scan of it to include in this BLOGPOST]; the cartoon showed a half-grown kitten frantically clawing to get itself out of an open-top aquarium into which he had fallen while trying to capture a goldfish that resided therein. The caption at the bottom struck me as very appropriate for myself and others who may be approaching old age, or who are looking forward to same:

• To live to an "Old Age", one must first survive "Young and Stupid".

Here is an old photo of me on the right when I was about 6 or 8 months old. I was "captivated" in this old wooden apple box. In the "olden days" apples were shipped to the grocery stores in these wooden boxes. [I'm quite sure that "Red Delicious" were not invented yet; they would not have survived this kind of rough and unprotected treatment.]

And here on the left is another photo of me when I was 17 years old, a Naval Aviation Cadet in the U.S. Navy Reserve. 

Any resemblance to the cute baby in the first photo is probably due to Photo Shopping which was a technique that required the photographer to use his skill prior to the exposure of the film to the object. Ask #2 Son to explain this process; unfortunately I revealed to him one part of this photography trick long ago with a small fish that I caught.

And, finally, here on the right is a recent photograph of me  about 86 years later than the one in the box, standing on top of the snow on the hillside of Mt. Hood in Oregon.

Now, I believe I have survived the first part -- I have survived the "Young" part.


Now all I have to do is survive the "Stupid" part. Please, everybody, let me enjoy that part.

Love to all,
Dad/Grandpa/Great Grandpa/Great-Great Grandpa Z.

A Newly Minted Great-Great Grand Pair Give Thanks

Thanksgiving Day 2013; At a Daughter's Home --

Having received an invitation to join her burgeoning family in the Northern wildernesses of another County, I gratefully and speedily accepted! And why wouldn't I? I would have an opportunity to see a significant majority of my 31 Great Grandchildren*, and -- even more exciting -- to see my first Great-Great Grandson together with a complete complement of his four generations of ancestors!!

Although the weather was good for flying, I chose to use the Red Rocket ground transportation mode for this visit in order to minimize the potential for interruption of the gala get together which the presence of free airplane rides might cause. [I'm going to have to endeavor to do something about my lack of recent flying time!! I might not have the luxury of the Mooney availability in the New Year.]

A Mutual Admiration of Great-Greats

A Newly-Minted Great Grandfather!

The Total Line-up: The Patriarch; His Oldest Daughter; Her Oldest Son, holding
the First Great-Great Grandson, focus of attention; and the New Mother,
 oldest Daughter of the Oldest Son

In this first photo the two new Great-Greats (Grandson and Grandfather) appear to be "sizing" each other up. Perhaps each considering whether or not this rather rare circumstance might be of some future value. A share in an inheritance for the youngster? A caretaker for the elder 15 or 20 years hence?

The fact that this "Old Guy" (left photo below) is now a Great Grandfather, made me realize that I am now the Father of a Great Grandmother!! Egads!! Only recently I was married to a Great Grandmother. Oh well, such is life if you live long enough. [I just wish the Grand Mother could have lived to enjoy this event as much -- or more! -- than I am. She would have been so proud of this young Mother and her choice of Husband. Of course she would also have participated handily in the inevitable spoiling loving of this handsome little boy.]

When presented with the opportunity, I was never one to pass it up. Thus, when it came to pass that the Grandfather of the Fifth Generation Offspring arrived to complete the complement of the Five-Generation photograph, I took advantage of the occassion. Now I came to realize that, in addition to becoming the Father of a Great Grandmother, I am now the Grandfather of a Grandfather!!

Oh yes; a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner was prepared by the Woman of the House and gratefully eaten by those fortunate ones** who stayed to partake. That was the title-subject of this Post, but somehow it seemed more important to show what seems to be the real news of the year.

So that's what I have done.

*Unfortunately, the major contributor to Great Grandchildren reported that their family were suffering from some respiratory infections and would not be able to join the festivities. [I had especially shaved off my almost year-old beard to honor a promise I had made to my Great Granddaughter from this family.]

**Grumpy, Oldest Daughter (Woman of the House), Husband of the House, Pianist Granddaughter, "Nancy Nurse", "Nurse's" Husband, a Guy named Scott, and Andre "Son" of "Nurse".