Travels with The Rayman

Recalls happen. Just so happens we have two recalls. One for the Honda and one for a neighborhood. Let me expound. Before I expound, this is a blog I forgot to publish. A bit dated, Feb. 13 to be exact.

Did I mention it is cold outside today? And foggy? I know this because we had to take the Honda in for the recall which I appreciate. A big corporation finding a problem and fixing it can be a beautiful thing. So off we drove, Rayman leading the way with me following behind,,,unable to backseat drive. It turns out following the Rayman in morning traffic is fun. Like when he signaled he was turning left but turned right. Or when he drove into the Ron Tonkin dealership for Chevrolet instead of the Ron Tonkin dealership for Honda. Or when he left the house, drove a half-block, pulled over, signaled me to cozy up next to him so he could tell me he forgot his driver’s license. 

I’m pretty sure he was discombobulated because of yesterday’s trauma. Half our life is stored in a POD in north Portland (PDX). We drove and drove through the industrial section of town and discovered PDX has a port! We knew and yet…very interesting, nonetheless. We drove to the POD storage area and visited our POD. Foolishly we forgot to remember where our pink slips were as well as our passports so we were on a mission. For those that have never had a POD before, let me describe them a big rectangular box. When you open the door, it’s like a garage door in that when you slide it open. the door slides up into the top of the POD on the inside. After you open it, you exclaim, “HOW ARE WE GOING TO FIND ANYTHING.” The POD was stuffed with stuff. After some consideration, we climbed into the POD by using a ladder that was sitting on the top of the pile (that was very helpful). You can probably imagine the scene. I went first and almost fell off the boxes that were stacked at the front of the POD. Then Rayman hoisted himself aboard emitting moans and groans as he inched toward the interior. Here he is.

Thank goodness he didn’t have his camera because my yoga pants started inching down my legs and by all accounts, my plumber’s crack was exposed for all to see. Luckily it was misting and no one was around as I tried to right myself. Huffing and puffing was heard. Lest you forget, we were on the ceiling of the POD and had I fallen out, I’d probably be in traction right now…or worse. No telling about the Rayman. I disembarked first so was there to help him pry himself loose and inch his way down to the awaiting ladder steps.

Today was a good 10 degrees colder than yesterday, even with the fog. However, the fog lifted, the sun came out and the temperature rose a bit. So after we picked up the car at Ron Tonkin’s Honda dealership, we headed to Vancouver, WA to visit our boxes and furniture that are currently hanging out at our kids’ garage (as a reminder, we rented two PODS).

What about recall number two? We are looking for another house at a couple of golf course communities for 55+ people in the suburbs near Beaverton. Our reasoning is that it would be a great place to meet new friends. One of the communities is located in King City, OR. As we drove around Sunday looking at the neighborhood, we discovered that King City is having a recall election. Every other house had a Vote Yes to Recall signs or Vote No to Recall. Whoa. That turned us off. Neighbor against neighbor is not going to enhance personal relationships in a positive way. We nixed that place. 

With any luck at all as spring approaches, we should find a house in the golf community of Summerfield which is located in Tigard, OR south of Beaverton. It is a community centered around a 9-hole course which has water, sand, and old people driving around in golf carts. It appeals to us.

You are probably wondering why we don’t stay in PDX. PDX proper has a huge amount of three story houses. The bottom floor is underground with windows at roughly dirt level. Middle earth has the kitchen, dining room, living room usually. The top floor has bed and bath. And garages are unusable for a variety of reasons. The streets are not wide enough in most instances for two cars to pass each other because of all the cars they park on the street because of their unusable garages. So in two words PDX houses are too big and garages are too small…oh, and streets are very narrow. 

In the suburbs, the homes are younger, many don’t have basements at all, and many have garages. When it is 35 degrees out, wind blowing, and sidewalks slippery, a garage is more than nice to have. It is to our way of thinking essential. 

That’s all folks. I’m trying to decide if I should discard by newly cooked garbanzo beans. I’ve cooked them about 3 hours are they still aren’t perfect. Luckily we found Dungeness crab at Costco for $6.99 a pound, uncleaned and uncracked so we will have that tonight instead of the soup I had planned. 

Hope you had a great Valentine’s Day yesterday. With hearts aflutter, I bid you a fond adieu.

Dianna