I've moved in with Mer at the Lorenzens' to keep her company housesitting, although now Tess's brother and friends have been visiting and they're older than me so I feel pretty young and inexperienced... Haven't been updating... But I don't know how to get online there, since we don't know how to check the voicemail so AOL would just get a busy signal if I tried to sign on. SO, here's a summary:

Yesterday, to mark the 4th and "Celebrate my independence," I woke up at 6:30 AM with Mer, ate, did chores, visited the Fosters' place for the last time, and then headed into Hood River. The plan was to see Dad for the parade in town, collect candy thrown from fire engines, and have a picnic. Here's what actually happened: Dad was pretty slow to get going, Scott and Ardith (uncle and gf) showed up, and later Margy (dad's ex) dropped by, too. We managed to drag Dad away for the parade, which was long. We collected no candy, since little kids, you know, are like snapping turtles around candy. We left early, and Mer and I were hungry since we had those mini cereal boxes for breakfast (the ones that fill up about a quarter of a cereal bowl and whose boxes have the boldness to claim it's a "serving") and it was nearing noon. SO, we left. Grandma's house was being packed up and it was a little strange just sitting there. Seems to be a common situation now that one's body lingers for years after the mind or soul or whatever you want to call it has gone, so all of one's belongings are sold to keep the body ever more gripped by science... But Ardith still thinks we should visit, she's holding out that somehow she knows we're there. I don't think so.

Anyway: Mer and I went to Andrew's pizza, and ate, uh, pizza. And a triple layer raspberry chocolate brownie which is right on the level as an Otis Spunkmeyer cookie. We went home and were just sitting around when Mom called -- Tim wanted to go up to Cooper Spur to ride the chair lifts. I guess it was a free-ride day, for PR with Hood River since the ski resort wants to expand. We had to wait awhile to get going, so I napped with Kiki the black furry cat.

Of course Tim had to take the '56 Bel Air up the mountain. The lifts were great for a view, you can see Mt. Rainier to the left of Mt. Adams on the way down. Mt. Hood's at your back at that point (although you're kind of ON it, too). Then we had a picnic at Sherwood (where they recently found the skull of a one-year-dead woman). I had salmon and a bit of a hamburger... like the good old days at MHC when me & Kathleen & Lindsey met up for salmon at Wilder and Prospect... Then Mer and I headed off to town for the fireworks. Dad didn't feel up to it, so we headed down alone. Mer backed into a parallel spot (an accomplishment) in downtown Hood River. We walked and walked to get right under the fireworks. Brosch (I always wondered how people would spell that nickname, so I may be wrong) recognized us, but we couldn't find anyone we knew down on the pier. But the fireworks were lovely, and we even got to see the obligatory brush fire. On the way home we got caught in a sea of pedestrians, but we did get through, finally. Back at the Lorenzens' I took a long bath, and slept.