Week One of the Weight Watchers Diet

Well, there wasn’t a lot going on this week because Jan and I started our diets and we quickly realized everything we do revolves around eating and drinking which created a pretty grumpy weekend.

 

 

Monday, Jan and I started our diets and mine came to an abrupt end when, for dinner, I just had to finish the leftover breakfast burrito in the refrigerator (waste not, want not).

 

Tuesday went much better.  I stayed true to the diet but my body was in constant panic that I was starving even though I actually was full. Yes, the food withdrawals were upon me. As I ate my chicken salad, I was dreaming of bacon, chicken fried steak, onion rings, potatoes, cornbread, and chili.

 

 

 

 

Fuji and Mooch spent some time in the kitchen eating a large amount of catnip that had them flipping about like fishes out of water.  They definitely had too much!

 

 

Over the weekend I washed, waxed, and added a protectant to the Jeep soft top. Jan and I finished painting certain exterior areas of the house that needed touch up work and tried to finish the spare bedroom cabinets to no avail.

 

 

Well, one week later I must say, after all my suffering, I’ve lost some weight. My daily weight has been:

 

Mornings – 192, 193

 

Evenings – 196, 197

 

Now, Sunday evening I weighed in at 190 and Monday morning I came in at 189.

 

That’s right, I’ve broke into the 80s baby!

 

 

-Mike and Jan

Bachelor Weekend

Jan bought our cats new litter on Thursday and Fuji and Mooch showed just how much they disliked it by biting a hole in the bottom of the bag (Mooch) and dragging it under our bed (Fuji).

 

 

On Friday Jan drove to Portland, flew to Seattle, and caught a connecting flight to Chicago to take the “realtime court reporting test.”  I declared it “Bachelor Weekend” which of course means tinkering with the Jeep in some way. The plan was to remove the hardtop on Friday, roll topless on Saturday, and install the soft top on Sunday.

 

Friday-Backing the Jeep into position.

 

 

Removing the front panels.

 

 

Disconnecting the wiper power and fluid.

 

 

Backing into the final position for the winch.

 

 

Hoisting the top off.

 

 

 

When the hardtop comes off it means it is officially spring and that is worth celebrating. So after a cruise around Spencer’s Butte with no top, I stopped at Safeway for some ice and so began “Rum and Pineapple Night” with crazy kitten wrestling.

 

done

 

Diana was drinking wine that evening so I hung out with her over the phone and we watched crappy television, shot the breeze, and made plans I don’t remember.

 

Saturday morning I got up and took a load to the Goodwill then I went to Cornucopia and got a breakfast burrito. Afterwards I power washed the back patio, deck, and furniture (after my last water debacle, I was actually scared to attempt this one) and let Fuji outside for about four hours. I then declared it “Margarita Night” and chatted on Facebook with Vicci.

 

 

Jan made it home safely around 2am; I tried to stay awake for her but only made it until 1:30am.

 

Sunday we got up and decided to let Mooch outside for the first time. She had more moves than Barry Sanders which made it hard to get a picture.

 

Sebastian keeping a close eye on Mooch.

 

 

Mooch on the go.

 

 

Then Jan and I took the Jeep into Junction City to Johnson Brothers Garden Center.

 

A stop at Dari Mart for some much needed caffeine.

 

 

Johnson Brothers

 

 

Liquid headache

 

 

done

 

Once we got home we let Fuji out and Sebastian shared his catch of the day with her.

 

 

 

Then, sadly, I had to install the soft top to get ready for work in the morning.

 

 

 

All and all, it was a pretty good weekend.  We had sun the whole time.  I wish Jan had been here to share it with me.

 

-Mike

City Council Skate Park Meeting

 

Monday I grabbed my twenty year-old skateboard and drove down town to the city council meeting in support of building a skate park under the Washington-Jefferson Bridge one block from the Tactics store. I parked in the Oregon Electric Station parking lot on 5^th and Pearl and walked to the public building three blocks away on 8^th and Pearl. Halfway there, I helped guide two young boarders roughly four feet tall to the meeting so our voices could be heard. It was a pretty good turn out, a full house.  There were 33 public speakers who had three minutes apiece to state their case but only four were for the skate park issue.

 

One long, grey haired hippy man tried to convince the council through a series of Dr. Suess rhymes that Eugene should grow marijuana as a source of income. Other people bored the council and me with a barrage of rapid fire facts and figures that seemed to make everybody lose interest. One council member, “Betty Taylor,” who must be around eighty-six years old, fought to stay awake while a speaker accused her of not improving the roads in her district since 1901.

 

I slipped out of the room after the public speaking so I don’t know how they voted but I do know I parked too far away and my feet are pretty sore this morning!

 

-Mike and Jan

Happy Easter and Masters

 

Well, the Masters has come and gone and I was suckered into watching all four days of coverage again. I love to root for Tiger and against Nippleson (oh, I mean Mickelson) He’s the Charlie Brown of golf and he didn’t disappoint when he mentally crumbled on the back nine Sunday right when he had a chance to come back and win the green jacket (thanks, Lucy). Tiger struggled badly the first three days (as did my blood pressure) and made a run at it on the fourth day but he simply had positioned himself too far back to overcome Chad Campbell, Kenny Perry, and Angel Cabrera.

 

Sunday, Jan and I picked up Heather (Devon and Anette’s daughter) and drove to Devon and Anette’s house for the much anticipated 3:00 pm “Masters” party. Devon was in great form showing off his new Sony big screen T.V. and Anette had cooked up a fantastic traditional homemade Masters menu. The highlights included:

 

Pimento and Cheese Sandwiches

Barbequed Beef Brisket

Barbequed Pork

Macaroni and Cheese

Collard Greens

Peach Cobbler

 

I had three huge plates, a giant plate of cobbler, and was thankful my slacks came equipped with an expanding waistband.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a side note: Paula brought two massive Easter eggs which I spotted right away (but there was never an Easter egg hunt I was aware of) and Tara broke the news that she was breaking up with me on Facebook (we got together at a party and ended on a party. Hmmm…party slut!)  What a double crusher!!! Sean Kelly had one beer, a plate of food, and immediately passed out next to Scott and me on the couch.  Man, we’re getting old! The kids had their own golf game organized in the backyard and miraculously managed to play through a pretty good downpour and, like real “gophers,” left a few broken clubs out on the fairway.

 

To Barley, thanks for being such a good companion to the Spickard household and sharing your last day with us.

 

-Mike and Jan

Braden likes cars and vacuums

 

Thursday, the fans and humidifier were finally removed from the house and things started to return to normal. Jan and I took care of Braden for a few hours while Rich and Kristi went to Turtles and Highlands for dinner. Fuji was surprisingly tolerant of Braden carrying her around the house a few times but after awhile Fuji and Mooch would just run for their lives when he tried to pick them up.

 

 

After a fine corndog, French fries, corn, and chocolate brownie dinner which Braden prepared and microwaved himself, he expressed his need to play some whimsical game. Jan and I don’t really have any games for children but we did find out he really likes to drive cars.  So we broke out the old PS2 (Ok, Ok, so it’s really old. PLEASE no laughing from the peanut gallery). It was really cute.  Every time he would crash his car on Grand Turino, he would say, “Oh man” in a dejected voice.  His his favorite thing was doing 360s in his race car and watching the smoke billow from the rear tires and fill the air.

 

 

We tried other games as well like Pac Man, Pole Position, and Jak and Daxter but if they were too complicated he would quickly say, “I don’t like that game.”  After we went through every game we owned (that was suitable for children) some catnip spilled on the floor so Jan broke out the vacuum and we discovered that Braden REALLY likes to vacuum and did most of our top floor.  (There aren’t child labor laws against this are there? We didn’t work him more than a half hour.). Braden would even create more messes by dumping more catnip on the floor to extend his vacuum time so I would have to wager that the cars game and vacuum were about a tie on the ol’ fun meter.

 

 

Too bad Kristi and Rich came home.  I’d been wanting to put a gazebo in our backyard and I think I found just the right person or, shall we say, “little person” (we are an equal opportunity employer) to do the job for peanuts…well, popcorn at least.

 

-Mike and Jan

House Crisis

 

 

Monday was a beautiful day, high 72.  Spring was in the air and a barbeque seemed definitely appropriate. But fate had other ideas. I let Fuji out back, hooked up the hose to the soaker hose to water our new Coral Bark Maple, and took a seat by the screened door with Mooch to enjoy the day.

 

I heard a funny water sound coming from the inside of the house but I was doing laundry and assumed that’s what it was. Less than five minutes later, water started running underneath my patio chair.  So I checked the faucet for a leak but really didn’t find one. I followed the water trail and, to my horror, found it was coming from the inside of our house!

 

I quickly shut off the water, went inside, and found our dining room hardwood floors under water. I ran downstairs to get some towels and water was pouring out of the utility room door. Upon further inspection, it was also coming out of the fan in the ceiling in the half bath. I went into the garage to get more towels and water was coming out of the ceiling and pouring out of the garage door. I quickly got the water off the hardwood floors, franticly called Jan (not a good call), then I went over to Rich’s house and he came over to survey the situation and give us advice on who to call (thanks, Rich).  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuji is still wandering around unsupervised and in my mind I was thinking “I’ve flooded the house and lost a cat” but at a certain point I did see her come back and lay on the concrete of the back patio happy as can be. This put my mind at ease somewhat. After getting the water off the hardwood floor, I started on the utility room floor. I was removing the water by putting down bath towels, letting them absorb the water, then wringing them out by hand in the utility sink.

 

My hands were sore, I was exhausted, and then I heard a cat fight brewing. I ran upstairs and saw Fuji all puffed out ready to take on the killer black cat in the neighborhood who, just last week, split Sebastian’s head open and wounded his chest and belly. The killer black cat started running when I exited the screen door yelling my best battle cry that I was sure might have a few neighbors reaching for their phone to call 911. This only made Fuji think she had the upper hand and started to chase the killer black cat through the backyard, around the barn, out the gate, and into the front yard of our neighbor’s house. I was thinking, “I don’t know these people very well.  I’m not in a very stable frame of mind. If they come out, this is going to be one hell of an acting job”.

 

I managed to retrieve Fuji from under a juniper bush and as I carried her through the garage into the house, she thanked me by putting one of her claws into my chest. I finished cleaning the utility room floor which had become full of pine needles and dirt from my shoes that I tracked in from the garage. I opened the closet under the stairs which is packed full of music equipment, pictures, holiday decorations, you name it, but now it was sitting in water. Right when I thought I was going to get to rest, everything under the stairs closet was now going to have to be removed and sorted. It was a mess and really destroyed my morale. Fortunately, the water just missed my guitars by about an inch.

 

Jan called the insurance company who in turn assigned us to Servco, the water disaster clean-up crew to remove all the existing water caught in our walls and floor.  They brought in Gary’s Rooter and Plumbing Services to cut a hole in our dining room wall and repair the busted pipe that was indeed caused by a freeze.

 

  

 

 

 

Jan and I are now going to Costco or Video Only to see if we can replace the T.V. that died in the bedroom about five days ago. It didn’t seem all that important at the time but now it seems critical.

 

Well it’s nice to know that some things were completely unaffected by our crisis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a year. It’s got to get better, right?

 

-Mike and Jan

Seattle Off Road Show

 

 

It was a great trip to Seattle. Friday, Paul, Jan and I picked James up at the Sea-Tac airport in the new Jeep. We then went to the Space Needle while Steph was at work and took some cool pictures (ironically, James and Paul took very similar photographs. Hmmm…).  

 

 

Picking up James

 

 

 

 

Bottom of the needle

 

 

 

Top of the City

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We met Steph back at the house and while everyone had some cocktails, Paul and I went to pick up Zach and Nate from daycare. Around six, Pat the babysitter came over to take care of the kids while we all went to Jak’s for steaks, potatoes and drinks followed by a cab ride home. Steph had a bit too many Cosmos and wine at dinner  that led to her trying to sleep it off in the bathroom (a precautionary measure, I’m sure).  

 

 

 

 

Saturday, Paul caught a flight to Dublin, Ireland for business and James and I hit the truck show which wasn’t that impressive but it didn’t cost us any money either. Then we headed back into West Seattle (about 40 miles) for lunch at Springhill, a trendy place that makes an awesome burger. We then headed back to the house, picked up Jan, and went into downtown Seattle to the Science Fiction Museum, the Pop Music Museum, Pikes Market, and an underground adult tour of Seattle’s seedy past which was by far the most interesting event of the weekend. It was a lot of walking and my feet definitely had their moments but they did pretty well considering.

 

Off Road Show

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Museum

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pop Music Museum

 

 

 

 

Seattle Seedy Underground

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, James, Jan and I took Zach for a ride in the new Jeep to a fantastic French bakery whose name eludes me right now. Paul, I wish you could have heard your son saying how much he would rather ride in Daddy’s car than the Jeep but I guess it will have to remain one of those elusive moments like seeing you jog or seeing me speed.

 

Thanks, Steph and Paul, for all your hospitality once again.  I know James had an awesome time as did we.  Paul, come home soon.

 

 

-Mike and Jan

 

 

 

New Jeep Purchase

I decided to put about $8,000.00 back into the silver Jeep Unlimited X in a new TeraFlex suspension lift, tires, wheels, heavy duty drive shafts, and gearing. After a lot of research I realized with all the discounts Chrysler was giving I could actually get into a new Jeep Unlimited Rubicon with $7,300.00 over the price of the vehicle for about $1,000.00 more than what I paid for the base model.

 

I found a green one up in Beaverton (about 20 minutes west of Portland) verified it was there then called Jeep in Cottage Grove (about 30 minutes south of us) who was willing to make the deal. Everything went smoothly I paid $500.00 of good faith money to have them bring the Jeep back and on St. Patrick’s Day I got the phone call to come pick it up.

 

When I arrived they were washing a silver Jeep and my heart sunk, I really wanted the green one and had told everyone I was getting it. They told me it had sold and there were no green ones closer than 500 miles away which would cost me an additional $2,600.00 to hire a truck to bring it back. I had them check twice for a green Rubicon and after a call to Jan and James (who didn’t answer) I made the decision to sign for the silver.

 

After two days of driving it curiosity got the better of me and I made a call to N.W. Jeep in Beaverton who told me the Jeep was still indeed still on their lot. I was angry and disappointed, I called Kendal Jeep up and expressed my dissatisfaction and they told me they would work on getting the right Jeep for me. After a day I called back and realized I was getting the run-a-round and a call to N.W. verified nobody was even calling them about it. I had resigned to the fact I was going to be stuck with the silver Rubicon when a miracle happened.

 

On Tuesday the 24^th of March I received a letter from my bank stating that the financing had fallen through on the Jeep. After calling the bank the said they were only authorized to loan $5,000.00 over the price of the vehicle and financing would have to be obtained elsewhere. My dealer still felt it was going to go through so I had the bank call them a straighten things out. I also called all my friends for legal council (thanks guys you know who you are) because I had know idea what my rights were in this situation. By contract I had to give the dealer a chance to obtain financing elsewhere but in the end they couldn’t find financing that matched exactly how the contract was originally agreed upon.

 

This allowed me to return their silver Rubicon, take back possession of mine. And go one day later and buy the green Unlimited Rubicon that I originally wanted. Oh yeah this one came with the soft top as well as the hard top (not just the hard top), the DVD player worked, and they are writing me a check for $5,000.00 rather than keeping my money and making me fax for a P.O. for merchant payment. Oh and it was $1,000.00 less, thanks N.W Jeep for the enjoyable experience, Kendal kiss my ass!

 

 

 

 

And of course here’s some cat activity around the house.

 

 

 

 

 

done

 

-Mike and Jan

 

 

 

More New Kitten Pics

The cats (tentatively Fuji the black one and Mooch) are all getting along rather well even Sebastian’s having some fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas in Seattle

Saturday, the drive to Seattle took five hours which wasn’t bad considering there was snow on the road from Salem through Tacoma. In Salem we had to stop at the Jeep dealership for new windshield wipers and were warned of snowy conditions affecting the Portland area. Though it was snowy, we actually encountered the least amount of traffic we have seen through the Portland area. I even managed to take a little nap though the drive was stressful and I did yell at Jan quite a bit not to drive too fast or follow too closely.

 

The Jeep did great and Jan did a fine job driving. Once there Paul and Steph got Pat to baby-sit and we drove to downtown west Seattle for dinner at Springhill restaurant. Paul and I got clam chowder and bacon cheeseburgers which were excellent.  Jan had some fish and Steph sampled some appetizers. As we dined, the blizzard rolled in and the snow fell like confectioner’s sugar and found a way to get into your clothing and chill you to the bone. As we left the parking lot, Paul jumped the minivan over a snow-covered concrete parking block which made us laugh like hell as well as the power sliding around the corners on the way home.

 

Waiting to go to dinner

 

 

 

done

 

This is one of many walks that Paul took that night. Look how happy he is!

 

 

Sunday I awoke around 7:00am and snapped this shot out the back door.

 

 

Then I went out front and took a look around.

 

 

 

 

 

Paul and I had chili for breakfast then drove down to the park to take some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

With all the snow on the ground, the curbs were not visible and Paul drove up one while trying to get gas.

 

 

We all watched Paul shovel the sidewalk.  He’s pretty obsessive about anything being on his sidewalk so he shoveled it every day while we goofed around in the snow.

 

 

 

Jan got the kids a whoopee cushion for Christmas that she let them open early and it goes without saying it was the hit of the week.

 

 

 

 

 

done

 

 

 

 

done

 

 

 

After a nap Paul and I took the Jeep to the beach for more pictures and I got passed by a Prius on the main drag for doing fifteen mph for about three miles (how embarrassing).

 

 

 

 

 

Steph and I took Lou out for a walk and watched all the people skiing through the street. When we got back I cooked up some linguica and we snacked and indulged in cocktail hour.

 

Paul made an Irish coffee and I made hot eggnog with rum and we walked the neighborhood streets at night through the snow smoking cigars. We took shelter at a bus stop for about forty-five minutes then we walked home and watched “Badder Santa.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

We quickly developed a massive shoe pile and Paul had to lay out a blanket to keep our wet shoes from ruining the hardwood floors.

 

 

Here’s Nate and Zach waiting for their bedtime story. What hams.

 

 

It snowed another four inches overnight and Seattle looked beautiful in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

done

 

We got bundled up and Zach and I took turns pulling each other on the sled. Well, actually, I pulled Zach and he cried. Then I made him try to pull me but that made him cry too.

 

 

 

 

 

done

 

 

Jan and I had a morning ritual which consisted of getting bundled up in our warmest gear then four wheeling the Jeep down to Starbucks and seeing all the cars stuck in the snow. We would bring back coffee for all and donuts for Nate and Zach. That particular morning I had chili mixed with bean dip for breakfast…hmmm.

 

 

 

 

Here’s Nate waiting for Zach, Jan, and Paul to bring Grandma back from the airport.

 

 

 

Once they arrived, we all had “El Siesta Breakfast burritos” for brunch and Paul was a little reluctant to give any of his away.

 

 

 

Tuesday we all went out front and tried to show the kids how to make a proper snowman. It wasn’t the best looking snowman on the block by a long shot but I think they got the idea. Paul had fun throwing snowballs and afterwards we all displayed our different techniques of sledding. Steph’s technique got the award for looking most like Eddie Murphy in “Trading Places.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zach got a bedtime story from Grandma as the day came to an end.

 

 

On Christmas Eve we got dressed up, cooked some food, and enjoyed some cocktails. Then we all took pictures by the tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a picture of Nate reacting to Uncle Mike stealing some food off his plate.

 

 

Once Zach and Nate were asleep, Steph put together the kids’ play table then we all brought up the presents. Well, all but me because I accidentally poked myself in the eye causing my contact to get lodged way up in my eyelid.

 

 

 

On Christmas we were up, showered, and dressed by 6:00am expecting the kids to come bolting from their room but the video below shows how it really went down.

 

 

 

done

 

 

 

Here is Zach getting the Wall-E toy he really wanted from Santa. After that he wasn’t really interested in opening anything else.

 

 

 

done

 

 

 

And that concluded an awesome snow-covered Christmas in Seattle. Thanks, Paul and Steph, for having us.  We expect it to snow every year now!

 

Mike and Jan