Real Items Found in My Dad’s Mailbox

Posted on March 8, 2026 by Pamela Rentz

This isn’t the first daffodil I saw nor the first from my garden. But, this is the first I remembered to take a photo of. The orange cup are my favorites.

In case there is anyone reading this who doesn’t already know, my dad is 95 and lives in a retirement home.

Item #1 — He received an invitation to a free meal at a nearby Red Crustacean (name changed for privacy) and a free seminar on cremation. Then there is a list of what will be on the menu — popcorn shrimp, garlic shrimp scampi and a few other choices. There will be three sessions.

People attending this seminar will be planning ahead to take the burden off their loved ones.

I did a little research into this company because of its ridiculous name and learned that the founder used to be with a different cremation company but was let go. Also, there were numerous terrible reviews that referred to this organization as a ponzi scheme.

Dad is gonna miss this one.

It took three sessions but I cleaned up the berry patch. I was pretty aggressive. Hopefully I will remember to take some photos to compare when the berries are in full season. Our favorite time of the garden!

Item #2 — He received a flier asking as a renter, if he’d ever dreamed of owning a home. The home buying team will go over first time buyer programs, what the process looks like, how to tell if you’re truly “ready” (quotes, theirs.)

Bob and I got a good laugh out of that one.

I’m going to guess that they must buy a mailing list of renters and whatever they paid, it was too much.

I should have one more for the rule of three but I don’t and I don’t want to keep these on my desk hoping a third item will show up, so that’s it for today.

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Gym Fan

Posted on March 1, 2026 by Pamela Rentz

We did our semi-regular visit to Corvallis to watch an NCAA gymnastics meet.

I wish I could take better pictures of gymnastics. This was Stanford visiting Oregon State. Stanford is ranked tenth and had one of the highest scores in NCAA last week. It was amazing to be there. Gymnastics is like a different sport in person. Oregon State is currently 25th and in a rebuilding year. They have some really great gymnasts but it’s a young team and they are missing some of the details.

The band seemed like they were having a lot of fun. I counted the tubas. I think there were 12. That seems like a lot of tubas.

We’ve seen a few other meets there. We’ve seen UCLA (which is my favorite team) twice and Utah (another of my faves) once. One time we had tickets but we were both sick and I think one time we had tickets but the weather was too dicey.

We’ve done it as a day trip but this time we had a nice dinner and spent the night. I didn’t bring a laptop and stayed mostly offline except to peek at my phone for gymnastics scores.

In other news, my teeth love me so I had the opportunity to get 2 cavities filled and one crown replaced and one new crown prepped. It was about as fun as it sounds. I’m not an expert on dentistry but it is my understanding that I didn’t inherit the greatest teeth. My dentist insists they are great teeth, they just need extra care. I could have taken a very, very nice trip on the amount of money I’ve put into my teeth.

Finally, I already put 2 days into cleaning up the berry patch. I’m going to try to take a photo because I feel like I’m really cutting them back but it seems like I did that last year and I had huge bounty. Fingers crossed for the same!

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Rainy Day in Feburary

Posted on February 22, 2026 by Pamela Rentz

“A Pie Eating Contest” Sandie Wendell Mitchell artist, Library of Congress, I’m not clear if the artwork is from 1909 or that was the date it was added to the LOC collection.

All weekend I intended to bake something. My top candidate was Cookie Butter Blondies but I never managed to get started on that project. I have all the stuff ready for next weekend. I did make a new batch of granola for my breakfast and I baked a loaf of bread that we will cut into tonight.

Today’s Dad quote: I’m fine, I just feel like shit.

All these tech bros who want to live forever haven’t spent much time around people who are in the process of living forever. Seems kinda hard.

On Wednesday, Mom and Dad will have been married 65 years. Wow.

This weekend I finally tried using that spicy bird food that’s supposed to keep the non-birds away. I am cautious about using it just because I imagine getting it on myself and in my eye and creating a new problem. At one point I spotted a squirrel sprinting across the yard and then stopping and rubbing its face. It felt mean to trick them. But also, they kinda ruin my enjoyment when I restock the feeders and I have 4 fat squirrels parked out there stuffing their faces. Later, I saw a squirrel in the fly-through feeder so maybe the rain made it tolerable or maybe it was a squirrel with a palate for high heat foods.

I spotted a woodpecker on my suet feeder and now I am looking to try to identify it and I wish I’d paid closer attention. It was small and raggedy looking (it was raining) and had a small red marking on it’s head. The bird ID websites that are coming up are garbage but maybe it was a downy woodpecker? I’ve seen a woodpecker on the utility pole in the backyard but never on a feeder.

Today I did some tree pruning. I intended to be aggressive — it felt aggressive but I think for a real tree pruner it barely passed as pruning. I may take another pass and I didn’t do the front yet.

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Food Cart Culture

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Pamela Rentz

I don’t remember why I took this picture and then took the time to upload it into the photos for my website.

We’re always looking for new places to try and we kept walking by an intersection that had different food trucks. My colleague found a website that tells us what schedule is so now we can plan.

This was a Filipino BBQ cart – I’m not much of a food stylist because I think the food was yummier than this looks. I had noodles and vegetables and lumpia and brought what I couldn’t finish home for Bob.

I will return.

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Ode to a Coffee Cup

Posted on February 11, 2026 by Pamela Rentz

Sadly, my favorite cup died. I was so traumatized I didn’t even take a picture where you can see how it broke. If you could see the other side, the whole cup broke in two.

This was a perfect large-sized mug that said: “Streiss ist alles was nicht … wenn Kaffeepause ist.”

Or something close to that — more or less: Stress is for nothing when it’s a coffee break.

Tante Irmgard gave it to me on one of my Germany visits — I think right after I met Bob so 30 years ago. I think there’s a picture of me in our first apartment where I’m sitting with this mug.

I knew its days were numbered because it’s the only cup I use at home for my tea and I’ve banged it into the sink or other dishes or appliances over the years. It had a big chip and a crack line.

I knocked it off my desk and that was the end.

RIP favorite cup.

The good news is that the other coffee cups all get a turn now.

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February Garden

Posted on February 8, 2026 by Pamela Rentz

Here are some views of the garden and one of the raised beds on a frosty February morning.

We had unseasonably warm and dry weather last weekend so I ran out to try to get some clean up done. I didn’t get too far before there was a Dad situation and I had to run over to the retirement home.

He’s fine! He’s 95 — which is the first thing he will tell you. “I’m old.”

If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of trying to navigate medicare, and all the related accounts and services, for your aging parent, or for yourself– count yourself blessed.

I had to set up something for Dad and now I’m trying to figure out if we paid this month and all evidence of the account I set up is gone. I keep getting sent to new dashboards that want me to create an account and are ominously run by giant investment companies. How did we get here?

I have not solved the problem and I don’t have any more brain juice to keep looking at it.

I think I say this every year but I am considering really cutting back on the garden this year. Just to make things easier on me in terms of watering and keeping up. We’ll see.

Today is giant football game. I don’t care but it’s a fun thing to do with Dad so we be eating pizza and watching the show.

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The Books Post Part 2

Posted on February 1, 2026 by Pamela Rentz

There is no good way to show my digital TBR so here is a screen grab that shows part of it. I purchased or downloaded for free a total of 97 books on Kobo last year. If you are keeping track, I read 38 so you can see the evolving problem.

But wait, there’s more.

Do you know about Humble bundle?

Do you know about Story bundle?

I purchased from them, too, not part of the 97 book total.

I know! I have a problem.

Screen grab of a portion of the Humble Bundle — I think it was 65 books but some are novellas. (To clarify, the 67 Humble Bumble is part of my 2026 purchases. Not part of the 97 I mentioned above.)

Then there is Bookbub.

Bookbub is a daily newsletter. You pick the categories you want, for example: romance, non-fiction, mystery.

Every day they send you a list of book in those categories that are on sale or free.

You can also follow authors and when they have a book on sale or give a book recommendation that’s on sale — you get a newsletter for that, too. Most of the books are $2! Why wouldn’t you buy a book for $2?!?!?!

That is the bulk of my book buying. And the sad part is that I often resist buying a book. I open the tab so I can buy the book but I wait and if I still want it at the end of the day, then I buy it. You can’t dillydally too long because the books go off sale. And I end up wanting most of them.

I almost forgot. Do you know about Standard Ebooks?. These are classic public domain books that you can download for free although donations are appreciated because they make the books really nice. I also downloaded a few from here.

I also read a very small quantity of library books. I am currently reading a YA for my book club with some writer friends. I am not loving the book so I won’t name it. Next I’m going to read a Colter Shaw Tracker novel so I can finish my fan fic. The books on the top of my to read next pile are: Fan Services by Rosie Danan (also for book club), These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean, and I am paging through Korean American, a cookbook by Eric Kim.

That’s today’s book report. Hope you are having a reading kind of day.

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The Books Post Part 1

Posted on January 25, 2026 by Pamela Rentz

First a quick update on the ocean rolls to tell you that this is still a project. I actually made them last weekend but I messed up and used the wrong kind of yeast. When I took them out of the refrigerator after the first step I was thinking: this is just cold dough. But I went ahead and did all the steps. They didn’t rise. When I baked them, it was basically boiling them in butter.

Did they taste good?

Yes, amazing. But visually and texturally they left a lot to be desired. I will try again but not for awhile.

Now: the book case.

I have probably posted a photo of this book case at least a half dozen time in the last 15-20 years and I bet some of the same books are still on it. I try to stay on top of them but I don’t do a very good job.

I’m not sure the last time I took a photo of this bookshelf. The two on this post are my main shelves with the “to read” or “I intend to read” or “Sure, someday I’ll get to it.” I don’t often take paper books on the bus just because I already carry so much stuff. I’m always in awe of the people who carry hardcovers on the bus. I want that to be me.

When I look at the books I already own, I always want to read them. It’s always a thrilling moment when I finish a book and it’s time to pick the next book. What am I in the mood for?

Besides the books I already own, I have a huge list of book that have been recommended that I want to read. I foolishly listen to the Fated Mates podcast where I could add a half dozen more books every week. I have friends with great taste in books. What about the Reactormag website recs? Defector also has good book recs. I also recently went back into my Goodreads (and penname’s) and found a whole bunch more books I wanted to read that I forgot about.

What an amazing problem to have.

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Winter Cam Update

Posted on January 22, 2026 by Pamela Rentz

I had coyote visitors how up on two different nights at the beginning of the year. I haven’t caught them on camera for awhile.

I wish I had better shots but I have to do with what I have.

Look how fluffy they are.

Also the opossum climbed on the deck. Look at it’s feet!

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The Snack Boat and Other Updates

Posted on January 18, 2026 by Pamela Rentz

We got a gift basket from some friends for the holidays. I joked that it’s not a gift basket, it’s a gift boat.

Tonight we are building our dinner around opening this up. I think it’s going to be fun.

I got a puzzle caddy for Christmas!

I already finished one puzzle and this is a second my brother-in-law loaned me from his stash.

I have never had such a challenge doing the edges. Usually I do the edges first. But the edge is almost entirely black or very dark and some of the pieces look like they fit together but then maybe don’t fit together so I went from the top down. Now I’m at the very last hardest part.

I listened to a bunch of podcasts and saved TedTalks and I finished an LLM class on how to write prompts. And I finished the wonderful The Ministry of Time.

Final update: my bootie is better!

Last month I wrote about how I injured a muscle that resulted in severe bootie pain. It hurt to stand up, sit down, and lie down. It was hard to walk. At 8 weeks I am at a solid 95%. It does spasm or ache sometimes and there is still limited mobility and strength but it’s getting better every day. I am faithfully doing PT strengthening and stretching exercises. And whew! Because that has been very unpleasant and I do not recommend.

I have been trying to write a longer post about books but I’m not getting very far. Hopefully I can posts next weekend.

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