Gray Max

Greetings from Cupertino, from the house of my karate/jujitsu sensei. I used to get beaten up in the garage here. You may better know this family as the world-traveling Lee Family or as the family who decided to build a home themselves in the California gold country.

Long story why I'm here in the greater San Francisco megapolis. I'll be here until Wednesday.

But getting here wasn't easy.

Earlier today, back in Oregon, in my home office, just as I was closing up my computer and preparing to walk to the other side of the house to wait for a friend to pick me up and take me to the airport, the neighbor's cat showed up at the back door. He adores me - and I adore him. His real owner calls him Max, but I call him Gray Max. Gray Max was abandoned by someone and taken in by my schizophrenic probably-meth-addicted neighbor, along with three other cats and two dogs.

Gray Max is the most loving cat I've ever known - I don't feed him, so he's not expecting food ever - he just wants to be petted and talked to and held and talked to and talked to and talked to. He'll come lay on the back porch or my lap for hours listening to Stefan and I talk on warm evenings. On cold days, I've wrapped up and gone outside and let him snuggle on my lap for as long as I can stand the cold.

Thinking, "Oh, isn't that sweet, he's come to say goodbye," I open my back door in my office, pick him up, put him on my lap, and start telling him how much I love him and I'll miss him. And he's purring away and "making bread." And I'm reading something on my computer. And then I feel bare skin, so I look where my fingers are. And I notice that he has a GAPING  HOLE on his's side, about the size of a freaking' NICKEL.

Right then, the door bell rings - my ride to the airport is here! I put the cat down and run frantically through the house, open the door, tell my neighbor I'm so sorry, but I'm having an animal crisis, and she says, "Oh no, your dog?" And I reply, "No. A cat. And it's not mine."

I had bought a collapsible cat carrier a couple of months ago, because I was thinking of taking Gray Max in for his shots, but then never did. So we had to get this massive cat into that carrier, which took FOREVER, because of course he didn't want in it. He howled nonstop. We took the cat to my vet and they said they would probably do surgery on him after business hours and maybe keep him over the weekend.

In the time that she took me to the Sunset Max station and I road the train to the airport and went through TSA, surgery was completed.

The surgery was successful and the vet will keep him over the weekend. Stefan and the friend in question, who happens to be the wife of the preacher at the Methodist church that my scary neighbor and owner of Gray Max goes to, had to go over and tell her where her cat was. And, yes, I paid for it all. I know - I'm a TOTAL SUCKER.

But good news for Stefan, who doesn't like cats: I doubt Gray Max will EVER come to see me again.

the good & bad of grocery store clerks

Years ago, I popped off to a grocery store check out woman who commented that the salad I had put together at their salad bar looked "unimaginative." That said, I appreciated the check out person who, upon seeing that the only thing I was buying was a carton of ice cream and Drano, asked me if everything was okay.

I share this here because I shared it on my Facebook account in a discussion about annoying fast-food clerks and grocery store check out people, and it got a ton of likes. So, here it is for everyone.

100 cool things re: Forest Grove, Oregon

Since moving to Forest Grove, Oregon in late January 2013, I've been sending out tweets on my personal Twitter account, @jayne_a_broad regarding "cool things" about my life here.

Some things made the "cool things" list simply because they're in stark contrast to Canby, where, unfortunately, we spent our first three years back in the USA. And as I said in my first blog about this, when I travel, or am living abroad, I am often in this place of utter delight at each thing I encounter. But why not on a day-to-day basis? Why not treat where I live now as a place to observe and discover and delight in? Hence why I have been sending these tweets.

In just less than a year, I found 100 cool things regarding Forest Grove. Here are tweets 71 - 100:

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #71: We're getting a tappas bar!

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #72: My husband, @coyotetrips, finally gets to be a volunteer firefighter in the USA! @ForestGroveFire 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #73: Mysterious, ever-present John Wedell (Helmet John)  

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #74: Periscope used books 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #75: Opposition to Dream Girl Espresso, frequent buycotts of other, non-sexist coffee spots around town. 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #76: Having our historic(?!) home on the Friends of Historic Grove tour last month.

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #77: The historic homes on the Friends of Historic Grove tour last month (not just ours!).

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #78: Corner Antiques & Collectibles (it's in what I think was a former gas station). 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #79: @AdelanteMujeres, nonprofit, works to educate and empower low-income Latina women and families.

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #80: @awloregon: outdoor adventures for people of all ages, incomes, abilities. http://www.awloutdoors.com 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #81: Ronda, mentally-disabled, mostly deaf neighbor, walks block with a feather in her cap (literally).

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #82: neighbor teens included my dog in their homecoming pre-dance photo shoot  

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #83: the chalk art festival downtown a while back. Love how the artwork lasts so long. & the Dr. Who references. 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #84: Our house is on a geo cache tour. 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #85: Neighbor’s cat gets in our window, meow yells at us to spend time w/ her (but no petting allowed)

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #86: La Estrella Tacos is within walking distance from our house 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #87: Tiny cat loves the neighbor’s huge dogs, insists on walking with them.

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #88: Free leaf pick up (or, at least, service included in local taxes we pay). 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #89: We’re so close to Verboort, for quick access to awesome annual Verboort Sausage Dinner. 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #90: In Spring, TriMet #57 will run every 15 minutes! 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #91: Playing pool before 9 at Diamond Palace on a Friday night (no crowds, cheap decent beer on tap)

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #92: Church of Christ minister across other street from us posted on FB wishing every1 a Happy Festivus.

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #93: Association with Tabitha Brown, “Mother of Oregon”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabitha_Brown

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #94: Pacific University http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_University

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #95: Neighbor’s dog howls with joy when she sees me. 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #96: Methodist minister & family across street from us painted an upstairs closet like a Tardis. Photo: http://www.ipernity.com/doc/jayne/29079087

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #97: Valley Art Association shop downtown - lovely items! Got a Christmas present for NEXT year. 

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #98: We gave a neighbor baked goods for xmas. He gave us elk meat. Now I have a v. happy German hubby.

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #99: I’m not the only 1 out at 5:30 a.m. when my dog needs a walk (there’s other dog walkers & joggers)

Cool thing re: Forest Grove, #Oregon #100: That I found 100 cool things to tweet about here in less than a year of living here.

Will I do another 100 in my second year here in Forest Grove? I'm not sure. Best way to find out is to follow my personal Twitter account, @jayne_a_broad - I also tweet about travel!

Here's the first 35. And here's 36 - 70.