The Dynamic Duo

I have decided I must have an extremely short attention span. After I wrote that last post about the beginning of my trip to Idaho, I sort of lost interest in the whole thing. But as an exercise in maturity and to put off doing any actual house work, I have decided to write a bit more. Not sure how MUCH more, but some anyway. So, without further ado, here it is: GO TO HOWE Part Deux
It was last October when I was last in the place where I lived for more than 30 years (Howe), but it seemed as if I could have left in only last week. Murphy seemed to feel the same, and got more and more excited the closer we got to the house. He seemed puzzled, however, that there were no longer any cats for him to chase and bark at. From not being fed or watered for more than 1/2 a year, the 20 or so outdoor cats we used to have had all moved on to mousier pastures. What I hadn’t remembered, but had been afraid of, was that I had left so much STUFF in the house when I moved. This was, ostensibly, the purpose of this trip: clean up and clear out!
The day after we arrived, we went over to Chuck (John’s brother) and Joy’s to watch the new hunting video (more about this later) t, and then Murphy and I went to visit Debbie, my best Idaho friend, and her family. I brought the Bocce balls with me and we had a lot of fun. When I got home, Jim had fixed a delicious lunch of elk steak sandwiches and oven fries. I think we may have played a little pinochle that afternoon, and then it was off to Bill (John’s other brother) and Patty’s for a salmon and halibut barbecue. It was fun to see all the changes they have been making to their place, including taking out their bathtub, painting some of the walls red, and landscaping with gigantic rocks. It all looked great. After dinner was the GRAND showing of the hunting video.
SIDEBAR: THE HUNTING VIDEO
Several years ago, when Johnny first got his video camera, he and Jim made a video. Jim, who was in his long hair, bushy-beard phase, dressed in camos and let us look in on his “hunt” for mountain lions. It was a hilarious spoof on television hunting shows, as he sneaked around the corner of the house following house-cat tracks, and using various techniques to find the best “trophy.” One of his trophies was 6-month old Murphy, but I’m happy to say he seemed none the worse for wear. This video was funny, but pretty rough. And so, about a month ago, the boys decided to make a new episode of “Crazy Jimbo’s Crimes Against Nature,” as they entitle their hunting series. Jim was the author, Johnny the film editor, and both had starring roles in the video. The premise is that Crazy Jimbo, in order to “pay off some fines” and support his “alcohol habit” is going to take one lucky hunter on the hunt of a lifetime. To be fair, he chooses the applicant with the most money! Johnny plays the client, who undergoes a rigorous training program and ends up bagging a large Alaskan Black Bear, played by “Gunny Sack”. I can only hope that another sequel will, someday, be in the offing.

On Sunday, I went to church, and it was great! I especially loved the music. Nathan Bailey plays guitar and sings, and there are several other guitarists, one drummer, a keyboardist, and several other singers. It was so terrific to be where “Everyone knows your name.”, as they say on CHEERS. Anyway, Sunday passed right by, with Johnny going back to Boise. On Monday, Jim had to go back to work , and John and I spent that day visiting with Heather and Heath. They live in a nice, new townhouse in Chubbuck, ID and we had not yet seen it. It looks great, even with the lack of furniture. Probably most of the furniture from their previous house had become contaminated with that black mold, so they didnt’ want to move much of it. The cats liked the new place also, but didn’t seem to like so well having Murphy visit them. His way of relating to cats is to bark in their face until they run so he can chase them. Fun for him, but the cats don’t seem to like it so much. We watched our copy of the hunting video; then the kids took us out to lunch at a very good Chinese Restaurant. Then Heath had to go to work, so Heather helped us take care of getting the items on Jim’s shopping list, then home.
And that was it for that day….........

NEXT TIME: We might actually do some work.