Portland is Sunny, Green and Gorgeous!

It's late spring or early summer (depending upon your point of view) and Portland is presently 78 now at about 5:30 pm Saturday but it got up to about 82 while I was visiting with my son and traveling around the Portland area. I got here last night and my son picked me up at the airport. I had wanted to drive up but when I looked at the weather at that point it was going to rain 3 days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Mt. Shasta and I didn't want to be in the rain or drive in the rain. So, I decided to fly up here for a change (even though I prefer to have my truck up here). However, then again there is the 11 hours or so it takes to drive up here from the SF Bay area too. So, that is a lot of driving for someone my age too. But, I did want to be here for my Grandson's 5th birthday. My 5th birthday was a big deal for me and it likely is a big deal for my grandson too!

I can remember my father and mother bought me my first big bicycle and a jack knife for my 5th birthday. I promptly put a lifetime scar on my right thumb print with the jack knife so I'm not sure what a great idea that was.

But, the bicycle (at least in 1953) was FREEDOM! because it was still safe enough most places to turn a boy loose on a bicycle at 5 years old in suburbia where we lived then in El Cajon. So, I rode bicycles with my best friend then Danny Barsocks in El Cajon. He had a dog, a TV, a sister and a bicycle. And it was there where I started watching "Superman" with him and his sister and their dog on TV "Faster than a speeding bullet!". Their family was really nice to me and we climbed trees and bicycled all over that area when I was 5. I was really sad to leave my best friend and his family then when we moved to Los Angeles when I was 6.

Note: Even though my grandfather in Seattle bought a big black and white TV in 1952 to watch his candidate General Eisenhower get elected president, my parents didn't buy a black and white TV until 1954 when I was 6. So, the first TV I ever watched as a 4 year old was at my grandfather's when everyone gathered around to watch the Republican convention and then Eisenhower get elected. This was pretty amazing for a 4 year old to watch in 1952. Only about 1 person in 10 had a TV even a black and white in 1952.