A beautiful Saturday...

Jodie and I with a free Saturday. Eric is finishing up his mission trip to Las Vegas with the high schoolers from church.

Jodie wanted to go to the fair. The Washington County Fair has free admission, that is always a draw to us. Funny though, I think those six dollar corndogs probably covered the admission price. They were really good though - footlong, deep fried...not the kind the Obama girls would ever be allowed to eat.

Part of the fun of going to the fair for me is parking in the disabled parking lot and seeing adapted vehicles of all kinds. A guy who parked near to us had a small truck with a crane in back. He used it to hoist out a powerchair for his wife.

We usually take Eric to the state fair in Salem. We go pretty much every year. Jodie has her powerchair, I have my scooter, and Eric gets tired...;) He use to ride on my lap when he was tired, but now he is over six ft. Today, Jodie and I were free to go and not have to wait for our able bodied son.

Jodie and I watched a couple rides. This one ride raised the riders a few stories off the ground...and then dropped them...one time and the ride was done. The ride next to it was much longer and seemed like a much better ride for the buck. It was a roller coaster in a circle. The cars kept going higher and higher on each side until it went clear around the circle with the riders upside down.

We enjoyed a dog show. We kept hearing Clint Black tunes (no vocals) coming from the amphitheater area. We would have loved to have seen his show, but we did not want to stay that late.

We did take in a western show in one of the side tents - the Marty Davis show, The Legend of the Pioneers. He was very good! He did a great job with "Ghost Riders in the Sky." It was pretty hot outside. This guy moved a table for us so that Jodie and I could get in, then he offered us water...really nice!

We went through a couple barns to see the animals. Twice we saw cows relieving themselves. I guessed I had never witnessed it before, but with their rear ends pointed toward us, it was, well, gross!

Before we left, Jodie wanted to get some kettle corn. We circled the fairgrounds looking for it. Jodie wanted to give up looking, but I knew we would find it somewhere...and we did.

On the way home we stopped at Buffalo Wings for dinner, then we watched a Cary Grant movie when we got home.

It was a beautiful Saturday!

Pass around the blessing...

I was in my final years of college.  Annette, a dear friend of mine who helped me find Jesus and who took a bus up from Ashland just to go to my prom with me - she had come down with Hodgkin Disease, a form of cancer that had taken her dad's life.

I took a train up to Tacoma to see her and cheer her up.  I met a guy on the train named Wes.  We hit it off and we talked the whole trip.  He was going to Oregon State University also, and he was on his way to see a friend also.  Wes was from Hawaii.  When we got back to OSU, he invited me to a luau.  It was a beautiful production put on by the Hawaiian club.

I'll never forget the night that Wes came by with a buddy with his buddy's 4 by 4 classic black Cadillac.  It was four feet off the ground!  Needless to say, I was hoisted in!

Anyway, me dear friend Wes sent me a Facebook message with the video below.  Wes lives over in Hawaii.  He is a triathlete like the one guy in the video.   I am like the other guy with cerebral palsy...not quite as bad.

Wes always says that I inspire him.  That always makes me feel a tiny bit squeamish.  My foibles are many...just ask my coworkers who have all abandoned me, leaving my side of the building empty!

Wes inspires me.  He runs marathons and triathlons, but he finds inspiration in a guy like me for whom getting out of bed in the morning and getting to work is like running a marathon.

Watch the video.  The song it plays, "I can only imagine" is one of my favorites...it chokes me up a bit. Each man in the video is a inspiration. Together though, there is power...a miracle is born...there is blessing.

A very lovely first of July scene

On our way home from the baseball tourney today, we wanted to stop by the river and see the scenery. We tried to do this in Hood River, but we kept going the wrong way and could not find a place.

As we headed home, we stopped off at Cascade Locks. We found a boat ramp with people, all shapes, sizes, and colors - they were lining the banks fishing.

A very lovely first of July scene:

Jeez!

Our son has a baseball tournament in Hood River this weekend.  Today was day one.

The games are being played at Hood River Valley High School.  Other than having to maneuver Jodie's powerchair and my scooter (with a weak battery) over a bunch of grass to get to the jv field, accessibility was not bad.

After the game, we stopped at Shari's Restaurant to eat and, well, Jodie and I don't do outhouses.

Jodie went into the restroom.  The handicapped stall was not large enough to accommodate her powerchair.  She parked it outside the stall and went in to do her business.

As Jodie was making her way back to her powerchair, a lady came into the restroom and was mad because Jodie's power chair was blocking the other stall.

"Jeez!" the woman said, very upset.

Jodie hurried as best she could.  She was not able to wash her hands an that really bothered her.  We are going to get hand sanitizer for her to pack on her wheelchair.

Disability is inconvenience...there is no question about that.  We work hard to make sure that it inconveniences us only and not other people.  Sometimes we cannot pull that off.

If we were to stay home and go nowhere, we probably could pull it off.  God has blessed us with a rich life filled with many gifts that does not give us that option.

Next time we are in your way, blame God.