Well, I’m back home in the Gorge! It was a wonderful seven-day family reunion with my sister and brother “the elders” and our children. But by the end of their visit, I was beginning to feel it was too much of a good thing, and I was getting too old for it all: waking up and going to sleep at strange hours, sharing bathrooms – where’s my toothbrush? and eating out too often because it was easier than cooking for 11. And with my hearing, or lack of hearing, missing out on 90% of the conversations!

But it was a time to share our family traditions: Breyers vanilla ice cream and brownies, and our card games of Euchre. And this year enjoying walks along the Seaside Promenade and visiting sites they wanted to see: Tillamook Creamery, Astoria Column – no, I did not climb to the top!, and the Maritime Museum. Having out-of-state visitors reminds me of all the fascinating places in Oregon and the Gorge that I often disregard because, well, I can always see them later – but never do.

Now that my wife and I have had a week to recuperate, we are looking forward to next year’s weeklong family reunion (I guess I’m not that old yet!), and paraphrasing Bruce Johnson, to finish the conversations we started this year.

With the excessive heat, don’t forget to clean your window air conditioner filters to maintain a healthy indoor environment whether there is smoke in the air or not. You should clean the filters monthly, or if you’re like me, at least at the beginning of the summer season.

The next question for your “Soul Portrait”. How would you describe your character?

BRAIN TEASE: I didn’t even get close to solving this one, and it even took me a minute to understand the answer.

A farmer challenges an engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician to fence off the largest amount of area using the least amount of fence. The engineer made his fence in a circle and said it was the most efficient. The physicist made a long line and said that the length was infinite. Then he said that fencing half of the Earth was the best.

The mathematician laughed at the others and with his design, beat the others. What did he do?

Readers who sent in the correct answer, 2001: Space Odyssey were Bruce Johnson, Eva Summers, Julie Carter, Linda Frizzel, Tina Castanares, Pat Evenson-Brady, Deborah Medina, Lana Tepfer, and Steven Woolpert; On the Waterfront were Bruce Johnson, Kathy Bullack, Rhonda Spies, Kim Birge, and Mike McFarlane; and Singing in the Rain was Kathy Bullack.

And then there were Judy Kiser, Dave Lutgens, Tom Shaefer, Donna Mollet, and Eva Summers who sent in the correct answers for all three questions, and they each win a quilt raffle ticket.

I remember during the early days of MTV watching the music videos of singer/songwriter John Mellencamp’s early hits “Jack and Diane” and “Hurts So Good” – but that wasn’t the name he was known as when he recorded those hits. For this week’s Remember When” question, what was his early stage name demanded by his first manager who insisted that the German name “Mellencamp” was too hard to market? Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788, or send it with a recording of the first Farm Aid concert.

Well, it’s been another week, enjoying the sights and sounds from the front porch. Until we meet again, I remember when I could listen to my favorite music and work at the same time, but now the music is a distraction – or is it the work that’s the distraction?

“If no one answers the phone, dial louder.” ~Lucy

Answers for last week’s Brain Tease:  23.) Squares on a Chess Board; 24.) Days and Nights of the Great Flood; 25.) trombones in the Big Parade; 26.) Ways to Leave Your Lover; 27.) Bottles of Beer on the Wall; 28.) Seconds in a Minute; 29.) Horn on a Unicorn; 30.) Justices on the Supreme Court; 31.) Brides for Seven Brothers; 32.) Dots on a Die; 33.) Wonders of the Ancient World; 34.) Men on Dead Man’s Chest

This week’s Brain Tease answer: ˙ǝpᴉsʇno ǝɥʇ uo ǝq oʇ ɟlǝsɯᴉɥ pǝɹɐlɔǝp puɐ ɟlǝsɯᴉɥ punoɹɐ ǝɔuǝɟ llɐɯs ɐ ǝpɐɯ uɐᴉɔᴉʇɐɯǝɥʇɐɯ ǝɥ┴