Christmas 2016

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I was going to go into long details on what we received for Christmas but I will make it short and just include photos. Short version is:  Becx received a Jade and Gold ring and a coffee mug from us. Nanay received $76 as she is 76 years of age. Keira received from us a My Life Veterinarian Doll Set and a Razor PowerCore E-100 Electric Scooter. She also received two sets of Hello Kitty sleepwear. Enjoy the photos below.

I Am Thankful For What 2017 Has In Store For Us

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Nobody can be sure what 2017 will bring their way. We don’t know either. There are some things we are pretty sure of, some we hope will happen, and some will be a surprise. Here is what we know so far.

I will get a very small Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) increase in my Military Retirement and Social Security Retirement. I anticipate the increase for the Military Retirement to be about $5 per month and Social Security will probably increase about $3 per month. Yeah, I know, having a combined yearly increase in Navy Retirement and Social Security of $95 to $100 per year isn’t much, and for sure my actual cost of living will increase more than that per year, but I am thankful I have two Retirement incomes. One of the blessings is that in the State of Georgia they stop taxing your Retirement incomes once you reach the age of 62. So I do factor in the fact that I have reduced my Georgia State Income Taxes by about $200 per year so I cannot really complain. This is under the heading of items we are pretty sure of.

Becx started working at Any Lab Test Now (ALTN) in January 2014. When January 2015 came around her Supervisor was very kind and blessed Becx with a very nice pay increase and more job duties. When January 2016 rolled around Becx received another nice pay increase but her job functions remained basically the same. The 2016 pay increase wasn’t as much as the 2015 increase but without additional job functions tossed in I consider what she received in 2016 was fair and honest. What Becx might receive in January 2017 is not yet known. This is one under the heading of something we hope happens.

We have been researching purchasing a home in Winder, Georgia, from LGI Homes. They are new construction in a very nice community in Winder. The benefits of purchasing a home from this company in this location are many. Once both of us have a certain mid-range Credit Score from the three credit reporting agencies we can purchase a very nice single level home, model name is Burton, and the cost is under $190,000 for a nearly 2,000 square foot home. The same home in Duluth, Lilburn, Norcross, or Lawrenceville, would easily go for $220,000 and higher but it would be an older home and not a brand newly constructed home. Since I have Veteran’s Administration Home Loan Guarantee that allows us to purchase their home in Winder with no money down except a token $100 fee. The builder, LGI Homes, also offers if you are a Military Veteran and purchase with a VA Loan, they will pay the closing costs for you which saves us several thousand dollars. They have a community center there with a pool, recreation center, and play area for children. They also have a Homeowner’s Association which, believe it or not, has Annual Dues of less than $150 per year and they pay the first year’s dues. On top of that LGI Homes is so sure of the quality of their work they will fix any problem that is due to materials or workmanship defects for one year from date of purchase. This item falls under the category of this will be a surprise if it happens in 2017.

What else will 2017 hold in store for us? We don’t know. We hope most of what comes our way are good things. Keep tuned into our Family Blog starting January 2017 to see what happens next.

Donald Trump Wins Electoral Votes on December 19, 2016

Written By:  Andrew Eide

On December 19, 2016, the Electoral College cast their official votes. As of 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time, with Hawaii being the only State remaining to vote the Electoral Vote count is 302 for Trump and 224 for Hillary Clinton.

The final Electoral Vote count, after Hawaii was counted, was 304 for Trump and 227 for Hillary Clinton.

There are protesters demanding that the Electoral College “do their job” by “voting against Trump” but they fail to realize the Electoral College did their jobs correctly by obeying the Constitution, the rule of law, and the will of the people.

Thank you Electoral College for doing the right thing even though Liberals and Democrats threatened you even with death threats if you voted for Trump. Doing the right thing is always the right thing to do.

I Am Thankful For Nanay Being Able to Live With Us

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I am thankful that Nanay, Becx’s mother, is living with us. She arrived in the United States on a Tourist Visa in July 2016. We filed for an Adjustment of Status to Immigrant and that should be finalized early in 2017 when she will receive an Immigrant Visa and a Green Card.

Once Nanay has her Immigrant Visa and Green Card we can obtain a Social Security Number for her and obtain Medical Insurance. Currently we are paying all medical bills out of pocket and it has become difficult to do so.

You need to know that Nanay is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and unfortunately this situation will continue to deteriorate until she will not be able to remember much. We want to continue to take care of her at home but that would require having an outside person come into our home to take care of her. We really don’t want to put her in an Alzheimer’s Retirement Facility but that day may come.

It is a stressful situation for us but we are thankful that Nanay is here with us instead of still in the Philippines. If Nanay had remained in the Philippines and something happened to her Becx would regret that she was 12,000 miles away and not able to be there for her mother. Having Nanay here means that her family is here even if she becomes ill. Becx is her only child and Keira is Nanay’s only grandchild so even though the tensions are high, we argue, and we get frustrated, with Nanay’s mental condition, we still love her and try to do all we can to make her life comfortable and enjoyable.

I Am Thankful I Am Not A Moron

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I’m thankful I’m not a moron. Okay you want to know what I mean by that and I am here to tell you.

I am always confronted by people who have the “entitlement” mentality. They feel everything should be handed to them instead of them working hard for what they get. Most of these people are Liberals as they have been taught that having your hand out expecting others to hand stuff to you for no effort on your part to earn it is the proper thing to do.

Here’s what I’ve observed over the years.  Someone will walk up to me and whine and complain that they cannot purchase food, buy a meal at a restaurant, pay the rent and other bills, and they have their hand out expecting me to hand them money or food.

But here is my observation. I see they have a watch and jewelry on that I would estimate to be over $500 in value. I see them with sneakers on that I know they paid well over $100 for. I see the clothing they have on and my rough estimate of the cost of those clothes is about $100. Then I observe myself where all my clothing I am wearing at that time, including the watch I wear, has a total value of around $100.

So after taking in the fact that the clothing and jewelry they are wearing has a value of more than $600 over what I am wearing I understand that it has nothing to do with them being poor and not able to afford food or the ability to pay bills. It has everything to do with them wasting their money on expensive stuff instead of taking care of basic needs.

If you think that I’m going to hand you money or food when you are a moron and spend your money on non-essential stuff so that you have no money for essential items you are wrong.

That’s the difference between Conservatives and Liberals. Conservatives understand that to get ahead in life you have to educate yourself, work hard, and do good work and you will get promotions and pay increases. However Liberals believe that being uneducated, lazy, and doing poor work in your employment, warrants you getting pay increases and promotions.

We do not live in an “entitlement” society. You are not going to take money and food away from my family when you are wearing over $700 worth of clothing and jewelry and you could have used that money for food and bills.

I Am Thankful for My Social Security Retirement and the Supplemental Social Security They Give to Keira

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I turned 62 in November 2015 and I decided to start drawing my Social Security Retirement benefits now rather than to wait until I turned the full retirement age of 66 years of age.

My reasons are simple. I figure if I draw the benefits now they cannot take it away from me but they can reduce the amount I receive. I would rather take the chance that they might reduce my benefits some time down the line rather than to never receive the benefits at all.

The other reason is because of what happened to my sister in-law Carol. At the time the early age to draw Social Security Retirement benefits was 59.5 years of age. Carol turned 59 in the middle of July and she was so excited and she was telling us that in the middle of January next year she will turn 59.5 years of age and she can draw her Social Security Retirement.

What happened was when January 1^st came around Congress changed the Law for Social Security and they changed the early retirement age to 62. Carol missed out drawing early Social Security Retirement benefits by two weeks.

I didn’t want that to happen to me so I applied for my benefits and I started receiving Social Security Retirement in January 2016.

I cannot reveal the amount I receive each month for my Social Security Retirement but I can give you the basic idea that my combined Social Security & Military Retirement pays me more per month and per year than my last full-time employment which was from November 2008 to May 2009/.

Additionally Social Security approved supplemental benefits for Keira since she is under the age of 18 years of age. They determined that based on my Social Security Retirement, and the fact that I am unemployed, they are giving me a very reasonable monthly amount for Keira’s benefit.

My requirements are simple. I had to open a Savings Account in her name to put her Social Security benefits into. I have to do a monthly accounting of what I received from Social Security for Keira. Then I have to account for what was spent for housing and food and other items such as personal expenses for Keira. These personal expenses could be medical expenses, school expenses, clothing, etc.

As long as I keep accurate accounting, and I assure you that I will do so, she will continue to receive this Social Security supplemental benefits. Our intention is to save as much as we can so that when Keira wants to attend college she won’t have to borrow money to do so.

I Am Thankful For My TriCare Medical Insurance

Written By:  Andrew Eide

One of the benefits of being retired from the United States Military is that I can receive medical and dental insurance through TriCare. TriCare serves as a medical insurance provider for all Military personnel who are on Active Duty or Retired.

Most of our friends are not Military so we have discussions about the cost of medical insurance for their families. An average family of 3 or 4 persons is today paying about $1,500 to $2,500 per month in premiums. I will not give you the exact amount we pay for medical insurance premiums but it is just a little under $50 per month and that is for full coverage medical insurance for my entire family.

We also have Delta Dental insurance, which is also provided through TriCare. Although it is very expensive at close to $150 per month, when you combine what we pay monthly for medical & Dental insurance, we are still paying less per year than most people pay per month.

Additional benefits of TriCare medical insurance include:

No yearly or lifetime caps on amount they will pay in benefits.

We do have to pay office visit co-pays and co-pays for medications but we have no cost-sharing or deductibles. Example from my last medical insurance which was United Healthcare: Say you have a bill of $10,000. You have to pay $2,000 out-of-pocket each year for each person covered on the medical insurance and then United Healthcare would pay only 80 percent of the balance. Just one $10,000 billing would cost me $3,600 out of pocket. I do not have to do that with TriCare.

Doctors who accept TriCare are prohibited from charging us the difference from what they bill TriCare to what TriCare pays them for their services. If the Doctor bills $1,000 and TriCare pays them only $700 the Doctor is prohibited from charging us the difference.

We are truly blessed to have this medical insurance.

I Am Thankful For My Military Retirement

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I retired from Active Duty in the United States Navy in April 1996. At that time I started receiving my Military Retirement Pay. The initial pay was 50 percent of what my Base Pay was at that time. Since the Base Pay for an E-6 with 20 years of service was $1,800 per month my initial Retirement Pay was $900 per month.

Fortunately that amount has been increasing nearly every year of the 19 years I’ve been retired. When I reach April 2016 I will have been fully retired from Active Duty in the Military for 20 years.

I cannot reveal to you the monthly amount I receive today but it is significantly more than when I first retired. Also those of us who are Retired Military should receive a very small Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) increase starting in January 2017. I don't know the exact amount yet but I anticipate it will only be between $5 to $7 per month before taxes.

I am thankful that the amount I receive is enough to pay the rent and a few other bills each month. That alleviates some of the burden from what Becx has to give to me each of her paydays in order to ensure all the bills are paid.

I Am Thankful For Becx & Keira

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Although Becx & Keira drive me crazy with their constant arguing I love the two of them more than I can explain in words. I also know that Becx loves Keira so much and Keira loves Becx so much. The issue is that both are very stubborn individuals so they clash all the time.

I met Becx through a mutual friend, Lito, who lived in the same apartment complex I did in Concord, California. Lito and his wife knew Becx and when I asked him if he knew someone he could introduce me to he introduced me to Becx. Although she lived in Manila, Philippines, and I lived in Concord, California, our 6,000 mile difference was not a hindrance to us ending up marrying.

We were married on July 15, 2010, in Manila and we have been married now for five and a half years.

One of my fondest memories was after talking to Keira on video calls until I arrived in Manila in July 2010 I was worried that Keira might freak out when she saw me in person as she only saw me in photos and on video calls.

When Becx and I exited from the elevator in the condo the entire family was there and Keira, who was 1.5 years old at the time, was in the arms of the house girl Jessica. Keira was looking at me trying to figure out of me, the person she saw and talked to on the computer in a video call, was really the same person who was now standing before her.

I remember looking at Keira and I said “I told you I was coming to visit you.”  Keira reached out her arms and jumped from Jessica into my arms and that told me that she accepted me into her life.

Yeah Becx & Keira argue like a cat & dog all the time but as long as I know both love each other and they love me that’s all the blessings I need. I’m very fortunate to have the two of them in my life.

What I Thankful For In 2016

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Okay for the entire year of 2016 you’ve had to endure me telling you stories of discrimination, harassment, cheating, lying, stupid things people do, and scary or hurtful things that happened to me.

After 11 months of that we have now reached December 2016 and now I will finally focus on all the things I am thankful for in 2016. Of course some of these date before 2016 but I still want to end 2016 stating the things I’m thankful for.

Thanks for staying with us reading our family blog for 2016.

I Love Getting a Great Deal While Shopping

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I love getting a great deal while shopping. My recent experience was with WalMart.

The first incident was shopping on WalMart website by going through eBates first. That way I log into eBates then enter WalMart's site and place the order and I get cash back for the purchase by going through eBates first.

The item I wanted to purchase for Keira was a Razor Power Core E100 Electric Scooter. I was in WalMart and noticed the price listed was $149. The other item was a My Life Veterinarian doll set which comes with outfits and three pets to serve in the Veterinarian Clinic. The price off the shelf was $49.97. I took a chance to come home and look at the WalMart website. The Razor scooter was listed but the My Life doll was not.

I was shocked to see that the online price for the Razor Power Core E100 Electric Scooter was $119 which was a savings of $30. I clicked to pick up in store when I placed the order so I didn't have to pay for shipping.

Although I had to purchase the My Life Veterinarian doll in-store it is okay since I paid $49.97 for the doll set. If you look up My Life As a Veterinarian doll on Amazon or eBay you will see the price is over $100 so I feel I also got a great deal on this doll for Keira.

Instead of having to pay $250 for these two items I was able to get both of them for a total of $169. I love getting a great deal while shopping.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that WalMart usually offers 1.0% cash back through eBates but on the day I ordered the Razor Scooter they were offering 7.0% cash back. Woo hoo!

Photos of the items I purchased for Keira:

Stop Bringing Racism Into Everything Said

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I get sick of people who bring racism into everything others say. Why would I make such a statement? Here are a few examples:

I've stated to people that I don't like the policies of President Obama and immediately they call me a racist because I'm White and President Obama is Black. It has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with the fact that I don't like his policies and what he stands for.

When I was serving on board one of my United States Navy ships I walked into the Mess Deck (dining facility) and greeted several of my fellow Sailors, all who happened to be Black, with GOOD MORNING! They jumped up from where they were sitting, got in my face, and screamed at me:  WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM? YOU RACIST? Just because I greeted them with Good Morning they turned it into a racist thing. Unreal eh?

So here is my comment. There are two situations in our lives both that cause us not to be able to see clearly. One is called a WHITEOUT and that is where the snow is so heavy that everything is whited out and you can barely see. The other is a BLACKOUT where all the power goes out so there are no lights and that also makes it so you can barely see.

So you can see that a WHITEout and a BLACKout can both mean the same thing which is a situation where it is difficult for you to see.

Have a great non-racist day.

The 2016 Presidential Election Is Over

Written By:  Andrew Eide

The 2016 Presidential Election is over. Donald Trump won the election by obtaining close to 100 Electoral Votes more than Hillary Clinton did. However, to be honest as I always am, Hillary managed to garner about 100,000 more Popular Votes than Trump did.

Immediately the Democrats and Liberals whined that was unfair. I will address that in a moment.

The way the Presidential Election system works is Electoral Votes are assigned based on how the candidates do in each State. Trump received around 320 Electoral Votes to Hillary's 228 or thereabouts. But Liberals want to nullify the election and go by Popular Vote only and have Hillary as President.

Not so fast. There have been a few occasions where the Republican Presidential candidate received more Popular Votes but lost with the Electoral Votes to the Democrat Presidential candidate. Nobody whined about it from the Conservative and Republican side as we understand how the system works.

Let's look at the election map for 2016 shall we? Hillary Clinton won, I believe, 12 States, while Trump won 38 States. Should someone become President when they barely won one-third of the States? And it gets more interesting when you see which Counties Trump and Hillary won. Hillary won about 10 percent of the Counties in the United States while Trump won 90 percent of the Counties. Should a person who won elections in only 10 percent of the Counties in the United States be installed as President?

This is why our Founding Fathers came up with the Electoral College system to prevent 10 percent of the people from deciding for the remaining 90 percent. But before you bitch me out I want you to know that I support going by straight Popular Vote only and doing away with the Electoral College voting system.

However, since the Electoral College system is in the Constitution we need to have Congress draft a Bill to ask for an Amendment to the Constitution to make it that Popular Vote only is the deciding factor to elect a President. So if you feel the same way please contact your Congressman and Senators and let them know how you feel. If enough of their Constituents tell them to make the change, and they realize if they don't make the change they will not win reelection, they will draft the Bill and soon we will have a Popular Vote only system for electing a President.

People Complain About Sugar In Their Foods and Then They Drink Sodas Loaded With Sugar

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I am amused by people who condemn you for the way you eat but when you see what these complainers do you can see the hypocrite they are presenting themselves as.

I’ve seen people who count every calorie in their food. They will read a food label and complaining how much sugar is in that food item.

Then when you see them eat their low sugar, low calorie, meals you also see them down a huge amount of soda.

What these hypocrites do is show you how they reduce sugar in their diet by checking on the sugar content of the foods they eat but they don’t realize that one 12 ounce can of soda contains from 8 to 16 tablespoons of sugar.

You gotta be amused by hypocrites.

May I Have A Diet (insert name of soft drink here)

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Previously I told the story of the woman who wouldn’t order hot dogs to eat because she felt there was too many disgusting ingredients in the hot dogs so she ordered corn dogs instead not knowing that the same hot dogs are in corn dogs.

Today I wish to tell you about another stupid thing humans do.

I’ve lost count how many times I’ve seen someone order a meal with so much food that it could easily feed 4 to 6 people. Then after they order a massive amount of food they order a diet soft drink. A diet soft drink? Really? Like that one soft drink is going to offset the tens of thousands of calories you are going to consume eating that huge meal?

Hot Dog or Corn Dog?

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Each September the City of Duluth, Georgia, holds their Fall Festival. We were not able to go to the Duluth Fall Festival in 2015 but we did attend in 2014. There was an incident at one of the food trucks that shows you the stupidity of humans.

While Becx & Keira were over at the rides I went to a food truck and I ordered a few corn dogs for us to snack on. While waiting for my corn dogs to be delivered a woman walked up to the window of the food truck. The conversation went something like the following:

WOMAN:  I would like to order two hot dogs please. Oh wait! I just realized that there are so many disgusting ingredients in hot dogs so I don’t want to order hot dogs. I will have two corn dogs instead.”

This woman was a moron. Didn’t she know that a corn dog is a hot dog covered in corn meal and fried? All she did was order a hot dog with corn meal on it rather than the hot dog being placed into a bun.

I had to use all the energy I had to keep from busting out in uncontrollable laughter.

Stupid Things Humans Do

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Usually people talk about being thankful during the month of November due to Thanksgiving being present in the month of November. I will not be discussing being thankful for things during November. I’ve decided to recount to you the stupid things I’ve seen people do so that you can chuckle with me on hos stupid humans can be.

Take note of my graphic for today as you read our blog articles for this month.

The Day the Lights Went Out When I Flushed the Toilet

Written By:  Andrew Eide

When my father and brother built the second floor on our home they put a small bathroom off the Master Bedroom. This small bathroom only had a sink and a toilet and it was located above the stairway you used to walk to the 2^nd floor of the house.

I would often play upstairs as my bed was located in the hallway upstairs behind a curtain. This day I had to pee so I went into the bedroom in my parent’s master bedroom rather than run all the way downstairs to the main bathroom.

As I finished I hit the lever on the toilet to flush the toilet. The instant I pressed the flush level the lights in the bathroom went out. Since that bathroom had no window it was so dark in there I couldn’t see anything. It took me a long time to find the latch to open the door of the bathroom to get out.

I was so frightened that I ran downstairs and outside where the light was.

When my father got home I told him that flushing the toilet caused the lights to short out and go dark. He laughed and I told him I didn’t think it was something to joke about. He took me outside and showed me that there was a construction crew working on the street. He said they told him that they accidentally broke the electrical cable that provides electricity to our home.

So my father told me that it was an extreme coincidence that they broke the electrical cable and the exact same time I flushed the toilet in that bathroom.

Well I will tell you this. From that day until we move to Saint Andrews Road every time I used that bathroom in the master bedroom I would leave the door open. Also I would have one food outside of the bathroom door and then reach over and flush the toilet. The instant the toilet started to flush I would run as fast as I could out of there, down the stairs, and outside to the backyard.

The initial experience was so traumatizing that I was never able to flush that toilet with the door closed again.

Banged Head at Fullington Street

Written By:  Andrew Eide

This incident while I was living at 4022 Fullington Street in Oakland, California, happened when I was maybe 2 to 3 years of age.

Our hallway leading from the living room to the bedroom was hardwood floors. My father and brother would put on socks and take a run down the carpeted hallway and when they hit the waxed hardwood floor they would slide down the hallway and into the bedroom at the end of the hall.

That looked like so much fun for little me did the same thing. I stayed upright and slid all the way down the hallway and into the bedroom only to hit the sharp corner of a large wooden table in the bedroom. That opened a gash in my forehead that required being taken to the Emergency Room and getting stitched up.

To this day 60 years later I can still see that table corner flying toward my forehead.

After I got stitched up I was fine. We were playing in the living room, which was carpeted, and this was about a week after I hit my head initially, so I wasn’t totally healed up yet. I tripped and of course slammed my head into the coffee table right on the very same spot where I busted open my head previously and had stitches.

Mom rushed me back to the Emergency Room and I had to get stitched up again. Twice in two weeks. Man that sucks.

I’ve never had any incidents like that again so I am fortunate. I also learned not to take stupid risks like I did back then when I was a little kid.

Drugs Flushed Down the Toilet

Written By:  Andrew Eide

The first apartment I rented after joining the Navy was in Chula Vista and it was a 1 bedroom apartment located on Madison Avenue just off of D Street in Chula Vista.

The big comedy thing during that time, which was 1973 to 1974, was Cheech & Chong. One of their famous skits was when they were sitting around their home when they hear a knock on the door and the persons banging on the door claimed they were the police. So the other members in the house flush all their drugs down the toilet. Then when they open the door it turns out to be their friend asking HEY MAN DO YOU HAVE ANY DOPE? By the time they go into the bathroom all their drugs are gone. It was a cruel joke but a funny comedy skit.

On this evening four of us were in my apartment when we heard pounding on the door of the apartment. We heard OPEN UP! THIS IS THE POLICE! We freaked out so my friend gathered all the drugs and he ran into the bathroom. We told him if it really is the police we will give him a signal and he is to flush the dope down the toilet.

The rest of us sprayed air freshener around the apartment and then calmly went to the door as if the police wouldn’t know we were doing drugs.

When we opened the door it was my ship-mate from the Navy, Regan Raleay and he said, in his best Tommy Chong doper voice:  HEY MAN DOYOU HAVE ANY DOPE?

We were so relieved it wasn’t the police so we invited him in. He asked us again if we had any dope and we all realized our friend probably flushed it down the toilet. We ran into the bathroom but fortunately he didn’t flush anything so we spent the rest of the evening inhaling the dope we had.

Hit By a Car While Crossing Fullington Street

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I believe I was 5 or 6 years of age at the time of this incident. At the time, being such a young age, I always thought Fullington Street was a very wide street. Today I look at Fullington Street and if a car is parked at the curb at both sides of the street there is barely enough room in the middle of the street to drive your car between the two parked cars.

On this day I was visiting my friend Grady who lived in the duplex across the street from our home.

We were always taught to stop at the curb, look both ways numerous times, and never step out into the street until you are sure no cars are coming. Since Fullington Street is only one block long, and nobody would drive down Fullington Street unless they knew where they were going, we rarely had cars to watch out for.

But on this day I did the required stop and look both ways several times. After seeing no cars were coming I ran across Fullington Street to get back to my home. As soon as I reached the middle of the street the Pickup Truck driven by our neighbor Dutch, slammed into me.

Although I tumbled down the street I didn’t have any injuries except for a bruised hip.

Starting a Fire on Porter Street

Written By:  Andrew Eide

You may remember the blog I wrote about Porter Street and Redding Street being taken out from behind our house on 4022 Fullington Street in Oakland to make way for I-580 Freeway.

After the homes on Porter Street were bought up and vacant, waiting to be torn down, me and my friends would walk over to Porter Street and rummage around the closed homes. This was when I was 7 or 8 years of age.

 

On this day we went into a home on Porter Street that was basically behind our back fence on Fullington Street. We walked around inside the house and we found a can of cleaning fluid. We figured it might be flammable so we poured some of it on a rag we found inside the house and lit the rag on fire.

Being the dumb kids we were we failed to realize that leaving the can of cleaning fluid open means the fumes were all over the place. The instant the rag caught fire so did the fumes from the can of cleaning fluid and next thing we knew the can blew up and started the house on fire.

We ran out of the house and to my home and my friend called the fire department and they put the fire out. They never knew it was us so we never got caught but I learned a valuable lesson that day.

Riding a Little Red Wagon Down a Steep Hill

Written By:  Andrew Eide

When I first moved to 4263 Saint Andrews Road in Oakland, California, we had an empty lot area between the entrance of Saint Andrews Road where it started off Sequoia Road and Lonnie’s house.

From Saint Andrews Road next to Lonnie’s house the dirt hill went down maybe about 200 feet to a level area off Barcelona Street.

I cannot remember which friend it was but he had a little red wagon similar to the one in the photo in this blog.

We would sit at the top of this dirt hill sitting inside his little red wagon. We would push off and go flying down the dirt hill. About half way down we were going really fast and we realized that we had no way of steering the wagon and the wagon had no brakes to stop it. We would then tip over or hit a rock and tumble end over end until we crashed to a stop at the bottom of the hill.

We would get up, bruised, battered, and scratched up, and we would look at each other and explain how we damn near killed ourselves. Then we would look at each other and exclaim THAT WAS FUN! LET’S DO IT AGAIN!

Riding a Little Red Wagon Down a Steep Hill

Written By:  Andrew Eide

When I first moved to 4263 Saint Andrews Road in Oakland, California, we had an empty lot area between the entrance of Saint Andrews Road where it started off Sequoia Road and Lonnie’s house.

From Saint Andrews Road next to Lonnie’s house the dirt hill went down maybe about 200 feet to a level area off Barcelona Street.

I cannot remember which friend it was but he had a little red wagon similar to the one in the photo in this blog.

We would sit at the top of this dirt hill sitting inside his little red wagon. We would push off and go flying down the dirt hill. About half way down we were going really fast and we realized that we had no way of steering the wagon and the wagon had no brakes to stop it. We would then tip over or hit a rock and tumble end over end until we crashed to a stop at the bottom of the hill.

We would get up, bruised, battered, and scratched up, and we would look at each other and explain how we damn near killed ourselves. Then we would look at each other and exclaim THAT WAS FUN! LET’S DO IT AGAIN!

Motorcycle Crash With Lonnie

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I traded my Honda 50 Motor Scooter for a Honda 90 Trail Bike very similar to the one in the photo above.

One of the people I loved riding with was my neighbor Lonnie.

Lonnie liked to take the muffler off his 50 cc motorcycle so that it sounded loud and impressive. I thought removing the muffler to go straight pipe was a stupid concept as the muffler is there for a reason.

On this day Lonnie and I were riding near my home at 4263 Saint Andrews Road. If you look on a map of 4263 Saint Andrews Road and then to the northeast you will see the intersection where Sequoia Road, Oak Hill Road, and Sage Drive meet. Today I will talk about a scary incident that took place between me and Lonnie on Sage Drive.

We had just come down Oak Hill Road and we turned onto Sage Drive. As you can see on a map Sage Drive is a Cul-de-Sac, meaning a dead-end street. About half way down Sage Drive there were many empty lots with nothing but dirt and weeds.

Lonnie was to my left and I was on the right of Lonnie. We were both traveling around 40 miles per hour when without warning Lonnie leaned to the right, went directly in front of me toward the empty lots to the right, and before I knew what happened I slammed into Lonnie and his motorcycle and I broadsided him.

I remember watching Lonnie and his motorcycle cart wheeling in the empty lot and flopping to a stop. I remember that I stopped when I broadsided Lonnie and I flew over my handlebars. I remember landing hard on the street and it hurt. But I had learned years before that even on the hottest day I would wear boots, jeans, a heavy jacket, thick gloves, and a helmet, to avoid serious injury.

My bike was messed up but it wasn’t that bad. I was bruised but all my protective clothing saved me from serious injury.

When we got together I demanded to know why Lonnie cut in front of me. He said he saw the empty lot and he thought it would be fun to turn and ride into the lot. I then asked Lonnie didn’t he remember I was riding to his right and he said with his muffler taken off his bike and it was straight pipe he couldn’t hear my bike over his exhaust noise.

I stopped being Lonnie’s friend after this incident.

Riding My Honda 50 Motor Scooter Down a Steep Hill

Written By:  Andrew Eide

My first motorized vehicle after owning many pedal bikes was a Honda 50 Motor Scooter very similar to the one in the photo above. It was very basic, had a 5 horsepower engine, and the top speed was around 50 miles per hour I did get it up to 70 miles per hour several times coasting down Sequoia Road in Oakland near where I lived at 4263 Saint Andrews Road.

My best friend Steve lived in Oakland in the Montclair District near the city of Piedmont. Some of our friends lived in the steep hills toward the upper end of Broadway Terrace which was a street that ran from the College District of Oakland up into the Oakland Hills just shy of Highway 13.

One our friends lived nearly at the top of Broadway Terrace. At that point the road was very steep. When I say steep it was like the section of Sequoia Road near where I lived on Saint Andrews Road. That section of Sequoia Road was so steep that when I owned a 1950 VW Beetle I often had to stop and shift into 1^st gear to make it up the steep hill. When I rode the city bus to get to Skyline High School the bus couldn’t make it up the steep part of Sequoia Road so we had to get out and push the bus up the hill. That’s how steep this section of Broadway Terrace is.

On this day on our way down Broadway Terrace from our friend’s house I was on my Honda 50 Motor Scooter and Steve was on his 50 cc motorcycle. As we are going downhill on the steep incline we rounded a corner and I wasn’t able to remain on the road due to the downhill speed and the tightness of the curve. I hit a patch of gravel and immediately felt my Motor Scooter sliding and tipping over.

I maintained as best I could and when the bike landed on its side I remember I was standing on top of it like a Surfer does standing on a surfboard riding a wave. After about 30 to 40 feet my bike slid to a stop. I was okay but the bike had some damage but nothing that kept it from working properly.

To this day if I am driving a motorcycle I take extreme caution to avoid another situation like this.

Hanging Over the Caldecott Tunnel

Written By:  Andrew Eide

The Caldecott Tunnel connects Oakland to the Orinda, Moraga, Lafayette, Walnut Creek areas. We usually got to the Caldecott Tunnel by driving up Highway 13 and when we arrived at Highway 24 we took it East toward Orinda, Moraga, Lafayette, and Walnut Creek areas.

Back when I was a little boy there was only one tunnel. By the time I was a teen there were two tunnels. Today there are three. The incident I’m going to tell you about today happened when I was maybe 16 or 17 years of age and it concerns the original tunnel on the Orinda side of the Caldecott Tunnel.

As you exit the original Caldecott Tunnel on the Orinda side there is a covering over the exit. It is not a solid structure it is a system of open steel beams. If you climb out onto those steel beams you can look down and about 30 feet below you is the traffic exiting the Caldecott Tunnel on Highway 24.

On this evening my friend Steve drove us through the Caldecott Tunnel and he took the first exit. He parked and asked me to take a walk with him. The next thing I know we are walking on the steel beams above the traffic on Highway 24. We sat on the beams for a few minutes before I realized if I were to fall I would fall onto Highway 24 and probably get killed by the cars hitting me.

I quickly got off the steel beams and I’ve never attempted a stupid stunt like that again.

I Nearly Drowned In a Swimming Pool

Written By:  Andrew Eide

When I was very young, between the ages of 3 and 6, my father was a member of a family resort located in either Lafayette or Walnut Creek, California. He always said it was in Walnut Creek but since I know it was just as you came out of the Caldecott Tunnel you exited to get to the resort and that would make you in the location of Lafayette and not Walnut Creek.

The story goes that we were at the resort and me, being a little child, just calmly stepped off the side of the pool and into the water. The thing is I wasn’t in the 1 to 2 foot area of the pool I was in the deep end which was around 10 feet deep.

Nobody saw me drop into the pool which seems odd even to this day. When my mother and father didn’t see me walking around any longer they went to the pool. What they saw was surprising and amusing. They said there I was on the bottom of the pool in nearly 10 feet of water calmly walking on the bottom of the pool. They said I wasn’t scared or crying just calmly walking around like I owned the place.

The Life Guard on duty pulled me out and I was fine. To this day I have no clue why I didn’t get water in my lungs and nearly drown. Was it a miracle? Maybe.

Laundry Room Dryer Incident

Written By:  Andrew Eide

In the same laundry room shed where my cat Snowball died we had, of course, our laundry room at 4022 Fullington Street in Oakland, California.

Remember this was in the late-50’s and the washers and dryers back then were manufactured differently than they are today.

On our dryer there was a single red button on the dial that, when you pushed the button, it defaulted to a 60 minute normal drying cycle. I guess back then that was the normal cycle everyone used so they made the machine to default to that drying cycle with one push of one red button.

I walked into the laundry room just as I saw the dryer on its current cycle go off. I wasn’t old enough to know that the clothes inside the dryer were already dry. So I walked in, pushed the red button, and the dryer started up so I ran out of the shed as I was scared why the dryer just started up like that.

About 20 minutes later my mother came out and went into the laundry room. When she saw the dryer going, nearly a half hour longer than she knows she set it for, she asked me and I told her I pushed the red button.

She informed me that when the dryer goes off it means the clothes are dry and you don’t need to run it again. When she opened the door of the dryer the clothes were so hot she couldn’t even tough them without getting burned.

Mother explained to me that running a load of dry clothes in the dryer could cause the clothes to catch fire and burn up the dryer and the house. I didn’t know that clothing that still has water in it from the wash don’t get that hot and won’t catch fire.

I know that now and I will never make that mistake again.

Snowball, My Siamese Cat, is Dead

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Growing up at 4022 Fullington Street in Oakland, California, my sister and I had our own Siamese cat as a pet. Mine was named Snowball and her car was named Cleo.

Our laundry room was located in a shed in the back yard. I remember that shed and when you got inside you saw the washer and dryer, some cabinets, and some shelving.

This day when I was 7 or 8 years old I was calling my cat Snowball. I called and called and he didn’t come to me. I looked throughout the house and then I decided to go in the back yard. After looking around and calling him I thought maybe he went inside the laundry room shed to get warm since it was cool outside.

I entered the laundry room shed and I called and called. Then I remembered when I was several years younger that another cat we had decided to go into some boxed up on shelves hanging on the wall to deliver her kittens. I thought maybe my cat, Snowball, was up on the shelves sitting there getting warm since heat rises.

As I looked up I came face to face with Snowball. He had a strange look on his face. I called him and I didn’t get any response such as twitching ears or his eyes blinking. As I got closer I realized that Snowball was dead and he died with his eyes open. At my age at the time this tally freaked me out and I ran into the house and my father came out and disposed of Snowball.

As I got older I realized that death is part of life and I am able to deal with it now even though it never gets easy to deal with.

Trying to Do Gymnastics on Our Chain Link Fence

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I have an amusing story to tell you from when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old living at 4022 Fullington Street in Oakland, California. It is amusing now but it was scary and shocking for me when it happened.

We had a chain link fence around our front yard. It was maybe 4 feet high and completely enclosed our front hard. On the side of the fence that faced our driveway the last two sections of the fence was missing the fencing itself. The poles to hold the fence was still there though so it served as a horizontal pole for us to hang and swing from.

On this day I was sitting on top of the pole. My friend was visiting and one of the things we enjoyed doing was to sit on the pole, hold onto the pole with both our hands, and then lean backward which caused us to spin around on the poll. My friend could get three or four revolutions that way but I was usually barely able to obtain one complete revolution.

All I remember was leaning back and then the next thing I remember was the back of my head hitting hard on the concrete driveway. I had no clue if my head was busted open or not. I remember it hurt immensely and even though I put my hand to the back of my head where the pain was, and looking at my hand not seeing any blood, I was still totally freaked out and I still thought I had busted my head open.

My first reaction after that was to run down the driveway to the back porch. Once I flopped onto the back porch I pounded on the door and screamed for my mother to help me. Mother came out and inspected my head and she told me that although I have a bump on my head I wasn’t bleeding and I will be okay.

Later that day she said she talked to the neighbor who said he was watching me and my friend sitting and playing on the fence. Where I thought I went around once and then lost my grip our neighbor told my mother that I spun around the pole several times, then lost my grip, and then I “dismounted” the fence pole like a Gymnast in a Gymnastics competition but instead of making a nice landing on my feet I landed on the back of my head.

I learned a valuable lesson that day and even as I grew up I was fearful of trying that maneuver on the bars at school even though all my friends were doing it as I didn’t want to get hurt again.

Shocked While Playing With an Electrical Outlet

Writen By:  Andrew Eide

Our father was an electrician working for the City of Oakland. We watched our father do all the electrical stuff around our house including building a 2^nd floor on our home to transform it from a single floor home to a two story home.

One day I was sitting on our back porch looking at the electrical outlet. Sitting on a table next to the electrical outlet was a telephone set but it wasn’t in use it was just sitting there. I looked at the wires coming out of the phone and I noticed that there were metal eyelets crimped onto the wires. The colors of the wires were Black, Red, White, and Green. Even though I was maybe 4 or 5 years old at the time I knew that the Black and White are usually the hot wires while the Red and Green serve other functions with the green often being the ground wire.

I wasn’t overly concerned as I stuck the eyelets into the slots of the electrical outlet since there was insulation on the wires. Of course my level of comprehension at that age didn’t allow me to notice that from where the eyelet was crimped onto the bare wire there was about ¼ inch of bare wire before the insulation started.

Since the Black wire is usually the hot wire I stuck the metal eyelet of that wire into the slot. I then rotated sticking the metal eyelets of the other colored wires into the other slot knowing that would complete a circuit and something would happen even though I had no clue what would happen.

Sometimes nothing would happen. Once time I heard the sound of a busy signal on the receiver. Another time when I stuck the metal eyelet into the slot on the electrical outlet the phone’s bell would ring. I was thrilled that at my young age I was able to do something like this. It was like magic to me.

Then I got overly excited and was quickly transferring the other colored wires to hear the various items sound off on the phone. I didn’t realize that on the Black wire I was touching the bare wire. So when I inserted one of the other colored wires into the other slot, and I was also touching the bare part of the wire, that I was completing an electrical circuit through my body.

When that shot of electricity hit me I went off instead of the phone going off. I don’t remember much about the shocking incident but I do remember regaining consciousness and I was about 5 to 6 feet away from the electrical outlet. That means the electric shot threw me across the back porch. Lucky for me I got thrown as the main cause of death with electricity is that your muscled contract and you cannot let go of the hot wires that are shocking you. Being thrown saved my life as it disconnected me from the electrical outlet.

A shocking experience that I never tried to recreate again during the rest of my life.

October is a Month to Focus on Scary and Shocking Things

Written By:  Andrew Eide

When you think of October the first thing that comes to mind is Halloween when we focus on scary and shocking things.

For our blog for October 2016 I will not be discussing Halloween in any form. I’m going to relate to you some of the scary and shocking things that happened to me while I was growing up in Oakland, California.

Over half the items I will present this month come from the time I lived at 4022 Fullington Street in Oakland. Although I was born in that home and lived there until I was 9 years old still over half the incidents I will present happened from that location and those 9 years. You will find it surprising that so many of those incidents could happen to me from birth to 9 years of age.

The remaining items are things that happened to me while we lived at 4263 Saint Andrews Road in Oakland. Although you would think that when I lived there, from age 9 to 18, that more things would have happened to me but they didn’t.

Either I got smarter as I grew older or the things that happened to me from age 9 to 18 didn’t seem as scary of shocking as they did to me from birth to 9 years of age so they didn’t stay with me like the early incidents have.

Back Surgery to Repair Badly Herniated Disc in My Back

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I had back surgery on October 20, 2004, to repair a badly herniated disc in my back that was pinching my sciatic nerve and causing me excruciating pain. Here is my story.

In January 1996, three months before I was to retire from the United States Navy with 20 years of service, I twisted my back while carrying something. The pain was heavy and sharp but I figured it was a pulled muscle. Eventually it resolved and the pain was only an occasionally twinge now and then until February 2004.

I was rehearsing a skit for Church and when I walked up from the sanctuary level three steps to get to the podium the pain hit me so hard in my lower back I fell to the floor. I was able to get up but I had a difficult time walking.

The doctor diagnosed me with a herniated disc and he told me that it was pressing directly back into my spinal cord and pressing into the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is probably one of the longest nerves in the body. In my case the pinched nerve from the herniated disc was located in my lower back at a location called the L4/L5 area meaning the lumbar vertebrae numbers 4 & 5.

The pain was in my lower back, in my hip, down the front of my thigh and leg, and across the top of my foot. We tried every medication, soaking, and massage therapy available, but since the pain in my hip, thigh, leg, and foot was what is called a “phantom” pain it was never relieved.

My doctor initially put me on 5 mg of Morphine. With the average person with severe pain 5 mg of Morphine usually kills all the pain but not in my case. The doctor increased my dosage to 10 mg and still no results. He finally put me on 20 mg of Morphine and it sometimes knocked out 50 percent of the pain but sometimes it did nothing.

I finally had back surgery to repair the herniated disc on October 20, 2004. When I woke up from the surgery I was pain free. The Doctor told me that the part of the disc that was herniated actually broke off, and it was about an inch long, and that the piece that broke off went behind my sciatic nerve, while the disc itself was still herniated and pressing on the sciatic nerve from the other direction, so it was a double pinch of the sciatic nerve.

By removing the piece of the disc that broke off, and shaving down the remaining part of the disc that was still herniated, the pain was alleviated totally.

So if you have this situation you need to have disc repair surgery. It is fairly simple, requiring an incision of about one inch in your lower back, and it is done with a scope, so your recovery time is quick.

Death of My Lucky Dog in July 2009

Written By:  Andrew Eide

My dog was Lucky. I had him in my life from his birth on March 11, 1995 until he passed away o July 19, 2009, just two days after my last wife died of cancer. Today I wish to tell you the life story of Lucky Dog and why he died two days after my wife did. Lucky was 14 years and 4 months old when he died.

 Lucky came into my life when he was 6 weeks of age. As you can see from the various photos above you can see him with me as a puppy at 6 weeks of age and then the last photo of him was on July 5, 2009, just two weeks before Lucky passed away. His Groomer, Shiloh, came to our home to bathe and groom Lucky and this is how he looked on that day. So when he passed away two later, two days after my last wife died, you know Lucky Dog was looking as good on his way out as he did on his way into my life.

In the photos above you can see how adorable Lucky was at 6 weeks of age the day I brought him home and then you can see him two weeks before he passed away. I had Lucky cremated and I have his ashes in a box sitting on my computer desk so that he is always near to me. You can see the box I placed Lucky’s ashes in. I had the plaque made but the little four leaf clover came from his Groomer, Shiloh, as she always felt that Lucky was a very special dog to her.

Shiloh was such a sweet woman and she told the other groomers that NOBODY in the grooming salon will bathe and groom Lucky but her. When Lucky wasn’t able to get around much due to old age Shiloh would come to my home and bathe lucky in our guest bathroom and groom him also. How sweet.

Around the age of 10 years of age Lucky started having hearing problems and he was nearly totally deaf by age 11. Then by age 12 he was having heart and joint problems and he was totally deaf of course. Lucky was having a very difficult time standing up and walking around and even a more difficult time going potty and eating. This was around the same time my last wife became bedridden from breast cancer.

Lucky seemed to know that my last wife as dying and I believe he hung onto his life to be a support to her because she passed away on July 17, 2009, which was her 59^th birthday and Lucky passed away two days later on July 19, 2009. It was a noble thing for him to do, to sacrifice his security and health, for her benefit.

Lucky Dog truly was, as the plaque on his Ashes Box states, MY BEST DOG EVER.