09/20/09- Happy Birthday to me! My sister thinks maybe I'm going through a mid-life crisis or something but I just wanted a good present on my Birthday. Had been on vacation a week and researching SUV's on the net when I decided to get a 2008 Nissan Xterra. Everyone is amazed that it is not yellow, since a lot of my stuff is yellow and black. My kids joke and think maybe in a previous life I was a bumble bee or something. After driving it a few days I can see why it has been rated so high. More power than my Escape, sits up higher (which makes you feel more powerful) and looks sporty. Was looking for a good vehicle in case we get another two feet of snow last like winter. Well I am ready for it now, besides I can always paint it yellow, heh, heh.

09/04/09- Yeah, time for another week of vacation! It hasn't been long since my last one but figured I'd better take some before autumn hits. Planning on camping by Wenatchee and probably up on Icicle Canyon. It is starting to rain on this side so figured I'd better keep driving east until I find sunshine. Other than that Connie and I plan on doing the Puyallup Fair. Can't believe she is fifty years old and never been there, we've got to get that girl out more often!

07/16/09- It was good to have a week of vacation. After a month long clean up and work at the store, I needed it. Took three days with my youngest son Isaac and went camping at Lake Wenatchee and then up to Alta Lake State Park to visit my brother and his wife. I don't think all the energy drinks we had trying to keep Isaac awake worked, he seemed to sleep better after lots of caffeine. I've learned lately that I like Chinese food and we had a chance to try a local place called Happy Valley Restaurant. It was a pretty low key place but the food was good! After making it back home I finished my other goal of painting the interior of my house. This has been an ongoing project which I was glad to be done with it. The vacation went way too fast as usual, but luckily I still have two weeks left this year.

07/05/26/09- Whew! I'm happy the carotid artery scan went good and the cardiologist said there was no blockage in them. I was bracing /myself for bad news but instead got the opposite. There is a small blockage in the right brachial artery in my arm but not enough to worry about. Guess it would have to be at least 70%  blocked before they did an operation, and it is not even close to that. That made me feel better now knowing I wouldn't be having a stroke soon. If you haven't heard the Sultan Red Apple Market that I manage had a major fire at the restaurant next door. Because of the smoke damage throughout our store all the grocery, deli, meat and frozen items either had to be thrown away or sold to a salvage company. Some power has still not been restored and a company has been in there cleaning from top to bottom. It was pretty sad to see the whole store empty. It has been a day to day process wondering if the employees and myself get to work. I've got enough money stashed to last me awhile, so I'm not too worried about that. Having some hours off the last few days has allowed me to start painting the inside of my house. When my mom and dad got moved into the retirement center I ended up with a lot of his tools. These have been used on a daily basis and I'm thankful for that. So far  I've got the kitchen, part of the bedroom and the bathroom done. Now it is time to move on to the living room. Oh how I love the smell of enamel in the morning!

04/29/09- " Like a kinked garden hose". I could have gone a day without hearing that. Things had been going so well at my cardiology appointment. I've been feeling better, my blood pressure meds have been straightened out and I have managed to lose 20 pounds. It was supposed to be just a routine follow up visit to see how my echocardiogram from two weeks ago turned out. The echo turned out great and he was happy about that. Then the doctor took my blood pressure, checked for congestive heart failure, and had checked any swelling in my ankles. He said I was looking great! Sweet, I was feeling good. Then before I left he put the stethoscope on my carotid arteries. " There is a gooshing sound in there" he said, "you know, like a kinked garden hose"? That's all I need, something new to worry about. Anyway, on May 18th I go back in and have my carotid arteries scanned to see if there is any blockage in there, hopefully not.

04/13/2009- Well, not much has been going on here lately. Have had some good times visiting with some of my siblings around Easter time. It was great to get all of them together just to sit around and visit. My sister Barb and her husband Tom were up from Alabama and it was nice to see them also. We surprised my Mom and Dad  with a family get together and feast, that was fun. Been trying to upgrade my house a little by getting some things taken care of. Got a new hot water tank put in last week and this week a new roof is being put on. Also have been doing some painting and general upkeep. That's about all that is going on besides working five days a week so I'll hang it up for now.

03/08/09- So what is up with this weather? This is like the winter that just keeps on giving. The last few days I've been rushing home, grabbing some food and then sitting on my porch to absorb the warm sunshine. If I believed in reincarnation, I think in a previous life I must have been a sun dial. Maybe it is all the years of rock climbing where my vacations had were planned around warm sunny weather, and dry rock. But then today it started snowing again, first it was just a few cute flakes, then by the time I was driving home it had turned into a raging blizzard. Holy smokes, those were some of the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen! Then it just kept dumping and dumping. When will this ever cease? So much for global warming theory.

02/15/09- Sometimes it takes the wisdom of a little old lady to put things into perspective and to cut you down to size. I was at work the other day and got called up to check. Now being manager of a store they try not to call me a lot, and they know it is not my favorite job, but when we have a rush sometimes I'm the one next in line to help. I had been in one of those bummed out moods lately, thinking about how my life has changed in the last couple years compared to just a short time ago. I waited on some customers for a while until the store began to die down and was just about to walk away when a little old lady got in my line. Ok I thought, this will be my last customer before I go do something really important. "So how have you been lately Bill ?" she asked, " Have you done much climbing lately?" I had kind of known her through the years, but was sure she didn't know all my medical story. "No not much, since my second double by-pass and the breaking of a couple sternum wires, I've kind of cut back". She could tell what kind of a mood I was in and gave me one of those sympathetic grandma looks, then a long pause. "You really should be grateful Bill, most of us just lead normal boring lives, just think of all of those interesting places you have been to in your life, most of which none of us would even be able to get to, think of all the exciting things you have done and people you have climbed with". I tell you within a couple of short sentences that lady put things into perspective. It was at that point that I felt like the Dr. Seuss's Grinch. You know that part of the movie when the Grinch's heart grows two sizes and breaks the little binding that had been holding it back? She was right, I really should be more thankful. After all I do have it pretty good, when I look of a lot of people and their situations there are always ones that have it a lot worse than me. I'll try to keep that in mind.

02/01/09- It's Superbowl Day today and I suppose I'd better turn on the TV and let it the neighbors peer in the windows as they take their daily walks. Ever since the city cut down my maple trees and put in new sidewalks a couple years ago, it's never ending walkers, joggers, and parents taking their kids to school in a never ending parade. I swear the only thing missing is some jugglers or a streaker to turn it into a Venice Beach. It wasn't until yesterday that I even knew who was playing in the big game today. If it wasn't for Connie my girlfriend I would still be in the dark. Guess that proves I watch too much politics and the History channel. Hey, wait a minute! This gives me an excuse to to go to the store and buy some snacks, right? I'm gone.

01/18/09- During my twenty five years in the grocery industry I have never seen the such a drastic raise in prices, and product shrinkage than in the last two years. The worst have got to be Frito Lay and the Ice Cream companies. Remember a couple of years ago when a regular size of Cheetos or Doritos weighed in at 14 oz? Then they quickly went to 13.75 oz, then 13.5 oz, then 13, then 12.75. Heck I picked one up yesterday and couldn't believe it, yep it now was 9.75 oz! Since I pick these items up a thousand times a day in my work, some of them are way too obvious. I keep telling the Frito representative that they need to start attaching ribbons to the bottom of the bag and selling them as helium balloons! He didn't think that was funny. And what about the ice cream companies? It used to be the standard size was a half gallon. Then some of them like Dreyer's and Blue Bunny changed the shape of the containers to deceive the consumer and shaved it down to1.75 quarts. Some of them lately have gotten to be even 1.5 quarts! I don't know if you realize it or not but each one of these companies have special reset guys who come out and change the shelving in the store for product placement and resizing. A lot of them can now squeeze an extra shelf into their space because of downsized product. How about Dial bar soap? I've been buying these  4 oz guys for years and knew they had shrank in size when I picked it up. Sure enough, I get home an get ready to take a shower, rip open the package and see that the bar now has a big scoop of it shaved off one side. Was this supposed to make it more aerodynamic or something? Were we supposed to think this new curved shape of soap was artsy fartsy or what? I tell you I've been in rebellion mode lately. Instead of buying into the large companies tricks I've said screw it! I'm buying from the little guy instead. It's not the cost difference that ticks me off as much as the large companies attitude towards us the consumer. I'm sure Frito won't miss my money but at least it makes me feel better! Maybe it is just that I'm getting older now, maybe it all starts like this. Next thing you know I will be one of those old farts in line ahead of you , fumbling through his coupons...

01/06/09- Well, it definitely has been a eventful couple of weeks at the Sultan Red Apple Market. First we had all of the record snow levels and having to deal with employees calling in because they couldn't get to work, and now we are trying to keep the store from flooding. Once all the snow started melting on the hill above the store, all that water headed downhill to our river sized ditches and to the clogged street drains below. All this water builds up along the back wall of the store and tries to rush in the back door. At least yesterday we had a different plan of attack besides hauling all the sand bags to create a dam. By re-routing the sump pumps were able to divert most of the water around the building and avoid water getting in the store. I was not looking forward to another eleven hour day using a shop vacuum to clean things up! Hopefully when I get to the store this morning all the water should be receded and maybe I can get some of my normal jobs done.

12/27/08- I dread that day a week ago when I proclaimed " I hope it snows three feet so we can shut down this place". It has been crazy since then with three feet of the white stuff in my yard with snow drifts to the top of my picket fence! I t all started out so beautiful, watching White Christmas with Bing, wrapping presents and seeing the flakes fall. Managed to get to my Christmas Eve Day festivities with no problems, besides my two sons could always dig me out if I got stuck in a snow bank. Woke up Christmas morning with the decision of whether to go to my sister Bev's family feast or if the roads were too bad. Decided I'd better stick it out here in Gold Bar, besides it had snowed another 6" overnight and was still dumping down. Got all ready for a day to myself when I decided to give my brother Mike a Christmas call. All was going well with the talk until he brought up the subject, " you might want to shovel the two feet of snow off your house so the roof doesn't collapse". I had thought about that a couple times but it seemed like a scary game plan, especially for a guy with heart problems. Well, I ended up spending two vigorous hours up there accomplishing this task and actually enjoying the view. I bet I'll always remember the Christmas of 2008, at least now I can sleep at night.

12/21/08- Global warming? I don't think so! Yesterday it was nine degrees at my house in Gold Bar with a foot and a half of snow! Overnight were constant high winds and today there are three foot snow drifts in my yard. I can't remember this much snow here since I was a little kid. It's been a record setting week for store sales at the Sultan Red Apple Market, that made the owner happy. I spent more time waiting on customers in the check stand yesterday than I had in a long time. Finally two days off the recoup and get ready for Christmas. Hopefully the roads will cooperate with me and everybody can make it to the Christmas day dinner at my sister's.