My father, James “Jim” Nelson, has died, at the age of 96, almost 97. His wife of more than 66 years, my mom, died on Thanksgiving Day two and a half years ago. He was not the same after she passed away, but he was a tough old bird that was still going for walks largely unassisted as recently as last year. His recent decline from needing a bit of help, to needing a walker, to needing a wheelchair, to not being able to get out of bed without assistance was relatively rapid. His mother had survived to 99. He died with both my brothers near at hand, as the morning sun peaked above the horizon and into his window, with birds chirping outside on the windowsill. All his children and grandchildren had the chance to see him and say goodbye within the previous 3 days.

Continue reading Dad died →

While the flight to Juneau from SEA had a few minor bumps and a delay (gate shifts, a plane change, etc.), ultimately I arrived with no significant problems. I got back from the reunion with a tailwind and no difficulty. The frozen fish was still frozen, etc.

A few thoughts about it, now that it’s had time to settle.[updated] Continue reading Reunion update →

Rhubarb Cookies

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter
2 heaping cups thinly sliced rhubarb
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
4 1/2 cups sifted flour*
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cream together sugars and butter.

Mix in vanilla, and eggs.

Sift together salt, soda, and baking powder into first cup of flour, mix into dough.

Sift in remaining flour a cup at a time, mixing well but not whipping.

Note: it will seem like a pretty dry cookie dough; that’s ok.

Gently mix in rhubarb and walnuts so there are still chunks.

Drop onto cookie sheet in ~ tablespoon-sized glops; I use an ice cream scoop.

Cook at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Cool on rack.

*I usually use half whole-wheat and half white flour, and you can easily substitute in a half cup of wheat germ or oat bran for a half cup of flour.

Finally found out something about my upcoming 40th class reunion. Juneau-Douglas HS class of ’83. Someone put together a FB page (but it’s private), and there is also a specific normal web page here jdhs83.com. I’ll see if I can make it. Don’t think I have any conflicts.

Most interesting thing of first note is that there are at least 17 known dead, from a class of about 300. 5.7% have passed already that they know of. According to here, we should expect about ten percent will have passed by the 40th reunion.

I expect if we actually knew the whole number it would be more than ten percent, as the covid gene therapy “vaccine” will likely kill a number of them, too.