A new grand daughter - February 24, 2009

Grandchild #7 - grand daughter #3 - Elizabeth Susan-Ann Robertson, 8 lb 2 oz, 19", was born at 6:59 PM, Tuesday, February 24, 2009, at Sierra View Hospital in Porterville, CA.    Mother, Jennifer Robertson, and baby are doing fine.    Photos will follow when I get them.

OK, it's now March 2nd and I received photos today:  Elizabeth; the five Robertson kids - Aaron 23, Eric 19, Ian 12, Emily 4 and Elizabeth 6 days; and the whole family - poor David, he looks like he is the one who just had the baby. 

The Ant - Sunday, Feb 22, 2009

For Christmas, my sister Susie and her husband Russ gave me one of those wooden animals to put together - an ant.    I finally put it together Saturday and after I saw how cute is was, I decided to name her Ant Susie, after the wonderful person my children all call Aunt Susie.

A special lunch - Thursday, Feb 19, 2009

Sometimes, when one is retired, one has some extra time on their hands.  So, today, I decided to make a special "DD" egg salad sandwich for DeeDee.   

OK, OK, OK, but at least I thought it was "special".

Not much new to report

There is not much to report, but I don't want to get in trouble with our daughter Amber for not keeping up with the Blog.

The weather is still being weird for this area, according to the weather forecasters on the TV and people who have lived here for a while.    The total snowfall this year was much more than in past years and the over all lack of rain is also not normal.    We have had a few days of really nice, clear skies this week, giving us a taste of what Spring will be like and how beautiful it is here.   It is still getting down to 30 or lower each night, which means frost on the ground and cars left out overnight, with day time highs in the low to mid 40's, and the occasional 50 to 53.

We went to Parent/Teacher conferences last Friday at Scappoose High.    The AP History and Chemistry teachers were not available, so we were able to only meet with Hanna's AP Calculus, English, and Spanish teachers (two Advanced Placement (AP) classes is really something).    As with the conferences during the first trimester, Hanna's teachers love having her in class and really appreciate how hard she works in class, which shows in her A's and high B's.   Several weeks ago, Hanna gave presentations at two other History classes (classes that are taught by another teacher whose History class Hanna was in last trimester) about the Holocaust in WWII.   Her presentations were well received by all the students and teachers in attendance, and had a big impact on several of the students. 

Last trimester, Hanna was in Spanish I, taught by Eric Carman.   This trimester, Hanna has Spanish II, taught by Carol Herscovitz.    Carol asked Hanna to speak to the class about American and German cultural differences.   Apparently Mr. Carman heard about Hanna's presentation and asked her to speak to his Spanish II class also.  When Hanna gave her presentations, she took a batch of the same wonderful cookies she made for us at Christmas to each Spanish class on paper plates, decorated with small German flags.  And, of course Hanna was required to make enough cookies so that there would be sufficient cookies left at home for us too. 

In a few weeks, Hanna will also be speaking to the Scappoose High students who will be going to Germany later in the Spring as part of the Scappoose High GAP program (German American Program).   SHS participates in this program with a sister high school in Germany, where each year several students from the sister German high school come to SHS in the Fall for four weeks and then in the Spring selected SHS students go to the school in Germany for four weeks. Hanna's presentation to the SHS GAP kids will also be about the differences in American and German cultures to which they will be exposed.  When I was in high school, I would have been terrified to give just one presentation, let alone the five or more Hanna will have given, but Hanna loves it - more power to her.

Driver's Education goes well for Hanna, except for having to be at school by 7 AM three days a week - it seems that getting up and ready for school on any given morning is not Hanna's favorite thing to do.

We are anxiously awaiting the birth of grandchild #7 (grand daughter #3).  Daughter Jennifer Robertson  (Springville, CA) is due with their 5th child any day now.    When I talked to Jen last week, she said she sure is ready and really looks forward to not waking up pregnant each morning.   I guess they have not picked out the baby's name yet.

As you know, our 23 year old grandson Aaron Robertson is in the US Marine Corps.  Following graduation from Recruit Training in Nov 2007 and Advanced Training in Jan 2008, in Feb 2008, Aaron was assigned to the US Department of Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, CA, to learn Russian.   Aaron has been promoted to the rank of Corporal and will graduate from DLI on Feb 26th, after which he will have a short period of Leave.  After Leave is over, Aaron will report to a base in San Angelo, TX for additional training, following which he will be assigned to a base in Hawaii, and after Hawaii possibly Northern Afghanistan - but hopefully assignment to Afghanistan is still quite some time away.

On a final note, we have no idea how many grandchildren we will have by the end of 2009, as Amber and Christopher finally have a date for the embryo adoption they have been planning for some time.   Next month in March, Amber and Christopher are going to San Diego, CA, where Amber will have three embryos implanted in her womb, which hopefully will result in a successful pregnancy and birth of one to three new grandchildren.

Well, I think that's it for now. 

The Four Freshmen - Wednesday, Feb 11, 2009

Before we moved to Oregon, DeeDee worked for International Ventures Incorporated, a musical celebrity management company, located in Valencia.   One of IVI's clients is The Four Freshmen (click for link).      We had attended several of their concerts in the past before DeeDee "retired" from IVI.    We learned that the Freshmen were scheduled to perform at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, OR on Feb 11th.   DeeDee was excited to go, not only to see the Freshmen perform again, but to renew acquaintenaces with them, as she had worked closely with them at IVI over the past years.    After leaving Salem, where we had stopped earlier in the day, we arrived at UCC (Umpqua Com. College) around 3 PM.   Hanna was excited about being able to wander around on a real college campus. The campus is not too large, so we were able to see most all of the buildings and grounds.    The Umpqua River is just off to one side, which I was able to capture in a few photos.   The campus is very new and is really beautiful.   As we wandered around, when Hanna would find an empty classroom with the lights on, she would try the door, and if it opened, she went in and looked around.   In one such room Hanna corrected a wrong answer to an algebra problem on the blackboard; in another room, she wrote out a math problem; and in yet another room or two, she just sat at a desk looking around.   As we walked around, we enjoyed some more of the Oregon State Weather - RAIN.

We left the campus around 5 to go into Roseburg for dinner.    We stopped at IHOP, another first for Hanna.    She had a real problem deciding on what to order, since it all looked so good, but finally settled on bacon, scrambled eggs, and hash brown potatoes, with all-you-can-eat pancakes - she managed to put away two plates of three pancakes each along with the rest of her meal.

Back at the campus after dinner, since we still had time before the concert, we went to the campus library, where Hanna did some calculus homework, looking like any other student there.   When the auditorium finally opened, we went to the concert.    The jazz that the Freshmen play is not really my favorite type of music, but I did enjoy seeing the guys again and found that I liked more of their music this time than at past performances.    Hanna is not into the Freshmen type of jazz at all, but overall I know she enjoyed the experience, going to her first live music concert, and going back-stage to meet with and talk with the Freshmen.   Then the long 3 1/4 hour ride home (we got home at 1:30 AM), all the time dreading the fact that Hanna had to be at school for Driver's Ed at 7 AM in just a few hours.     (And yes, Hanna made it to school on time at 7).   

A visit to Salem, OR - Wed, Feb 11,2009

On Wednesday, Feb 11th, we drove to Roseburg, OR, about 195 miles south of Portland, to attend a concert performed by The Four Freshmen at the Umpqua Community College.  On the way to Roseburg, we stopped in Salem, Oregon's State Capitol, to visit the Capitol Building.  We checked exhibits on the main floor and then checked out the Senate and House of Representatives Chambers.   Hanna thought the carpet in the Senate Chamber was not very attractive.    I agree - it is a weird pattern of squares of either a Chinook salmon (the State Fish) or wheat for the State's agriculture.    The carpet in the House Chamber was not much better, but at least was a little more pleasant to look at - diamonds of a Douglas Fir (the State tree).   I also took photos of the Senate Chamber, but the lighting was not bright enough for real good detail.  The House was in adjournment until Thursday the 12th, but the Senate was scheduled to go in session at 11 AM, so we stayed and watched the session open.

After exiting the Capitol Building, we walked around (in the rain) on the Capitol Mall across the street from the Capitol, reading plaques imbedded in the sidewalks.    Many depicted State things, like the State Bird, State Insect, etc.   Hanna remarked that the Oregon State Weather is RAIN.  

A visit from the plumber - Monday, Feb 9, 2009

The grandkids stopped by to visit today.    While he was outside on the back patio inspecting some very important dirt, Isaac did his "Isaac the Plumber" imitation.

There is a new driver on the road - Saturday, 2-7-09

Hanna came home from school Friday and told us she and another student had a Driver's Education class from 9 to 11 Saturday morning, during which SHE WOULD BE DRIVING A CAR ON THE STREET for the first time.    During dinner she said something to the effect of, " I can not believe that tomorrow I shall actually be driving a car."

When Hanna got home a little after 11 AM today (Saturday) she was really excited.    She drove for about 45 minutes to an hour, driving back roads from Scappoose High School to St. Helens (8 miles away) and then back to Scappoose on Highway 30.    Back in Scappoose, the other student drove around for her half of the session.    DeeDee and I were watching TV while Hanna was off driving and since we didn't see any traffic alerts come across the TV screen, we were pretty sure everything was going OK.  

The only car Hanna is allowed to drive while she is here as a Foreign Exchange Student is a Driver's Ed car during an authorized Driver's Ed class through school.  So if I let her have some lessons on the side, shhhhhhh, I can't tell any of you about it, which means there would not be any photos of her driving my Camry either, cause how could there be pictures of something that never happened?

Adventures at the Oregon DMV

January 09 included five trips to the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles in St. Helens. Both DeeDee's and my California Driver's Licenses were due to expire on our birthdays in 09, Jan 24 for DeeDee and May 26 for me.   By January 12th we decided we really needed to get DeeDee's Oregon DL ASAP and that I might as well get mine at the same time.   Off we went to the DMV Office.    Since we both still had valid California DLs, all we had to do was to just pass the written test to get our ODLs.   It only costs $5 to take the test.   Being the giving person that I am, I decided that since Oregon, like every other state, is in dire need of extra income, I should help the State's fiscal condition by taking the test twice, thus donating an extra $5 to the DMV instead of being a piker like DeeDee who only took the test once.    I guess you can read between the lines that, yes, Mr. Ex-Police Officer me failed the written test the first time.   I am sure I pressed the correct answers on the computer screen, but I suspect that there was a computer glitch on Machine 3 and somehow my "correct" answers were miss-read.    But since 13 is also a lucky number for me, maybe I was destined to have to wait until the next day, Jan 13th, to pass the test, which I did with 100%, and we are each now both officially in possession of our Oregon Drivers Licenses.

The next adventure began on January 16th.   Hanna had signed up to take Driver's Education at Scappoose High, which was scheduled to start on January 27th.   In order to take Driver's Ed, she has to be in possession of an Oregon Instruction Permit.   To get the Permit, Hanna would be required to pass the same written driving test we took.   Hanna studied the handbook from DMV and on Friday Jan 16th I picked her up from school at 3:15 and we went to DMV.    Hanna was at the computer from about 3:45 until a few minutes after 5.   She finally got up with the same look I probably had after my first attempt at passing the test, because the computer had shut down on her, due to too many wrong answers.   There are 35 questions and the minimum passing score is 80% - if you miss 8 questions, the computer automatically shuts down at the 8th wrong answer.   Fortunately you can take the test again on the next day.   So back to DMV we went after school on Tuesday the 20th since DMV was closed on Monday due to the MKL Holiday.   I guess Hanna, like me, wanted to do her part, and more, for Oregon's fiscal state, so she donated a second $5 to the DMV by again missing too many questions.     The staff at the DMV Office is really friendly, unlike California DMV employees.    The lady suggested that when Hanna came back to take the test the next time, she might want to ask for a printed copy of the test, so that she would not have to deal with a one time choice of an answer on the computer, and because it might be easier for her to read the questions on paper than on the computer screen - once you commit to an answer on the computerized test, it is locked in, whereas with the written test, Hanna would be able to go back and change an answer later if she wanted to.   Either way, I was just amazed that she was doing so well reading and comprehending as much as she was.  The lady also told Hanna she could come back up to the counter as often as she needed if she did not understand the meaning of any of the words.  On Wednesday, Jan 21st we returned to DMV when they opened at 9 AM so that Hanna would not also feel any time constraint to finish by 5 PM when DMV closes.  The examiner gave Hanna a written test to take and she passed easily - too bad we didn't do that the first time.    

So now we three are all the proud holders of either a valid Oregon Driver's License or Instruction Permit, in addition to Hanna and I going the extra mile by donating $15 to the financial coffers of the State of Oregon - isn't fiscal stewardship a wonderful thing?