Catch Up #2

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 547
153.9 miles
mild

371 recordings of 51 types, 75 old SVU. 17% clear.

Saturday, September 2, I went to the WPAC breakfast. It's at a new place, so I got there a lot quicker than I used to. So I sat in the corner and talked to a couple of guys, and wasn't that happy when Ralph came along, but it turns out he's interesting. Also, he makes model ships so I need to talk to him.

The cat got locked in the pantry, and this time he urinated copiously. Grumble.

In church I said hi to a number of people. It was the 50th wedding anniversary for one couple who I talked to about Renaissance and the Camino (they may walk part of it next year.)  I'm happy for them, but envious as well. 

I gave the last of the Betsy-Tacy books to Gerrie, who called later to thank me.

My Canadian friends, Nancy and Doug, invited me to stay. So I'm serious now about driving to Ottowa from Pittsburgh next spring. This is the one thing that was Rich's job, hiring rental cars, that I haven't yet done.

I sorted through the SVU episodes and there were a number I had already seen, so that's why that number is lower.

On Labor Day I started the Trip Advisor reviews. I only did three, and have so many more to do. My current goal is to finish them all by the end of September. 

I finished crumbling up dipping chips at the bottom of the bag, and used it to crust a chicken breast before I fried it. YUMMY.

New Orleans handled Katrina so badly, and continued whining afterwards, and Nagel was re-elected and talked about a "Chocolate City." I decided then and there that I never wanted to go back to that place.  The way the people have handled Hurricane Harvey in Houston (how alliterative!) has made me interested in seeing it after a few years. So I looked up things to see... oh, yes, the Johnson Space Center!  Vince, of course, knew this!

Tuesday I cut fur mats off Spooky. I haven't had a cat mat up since long-hair Smokey, before I met Rich.  Spooky is short-hair, but sheds a LOT and is not the most fastidious cat.

I went over to the Tuesday morning breakfast. Afterwards I mailed the book to Sue from Ashland. It was too hot to go to the board meeting in the afternoon.

Fires and smoke everywhere!

Sometime that afternoon the squirrels took off with the two tiny pumpkin starts! AND the squash, and I have no idea how they got that (it was huge and I was going to have it that night)! This may have been my last chance for pumpkins (no, I have one more female flower and I'm going to net it the second it has flowered and been visited by a bee!)

Vince called. The boys started school this day. And there was a harvest moon.

Wednesday was my mammogram, then down to Elk Grove. I started Pinocchio with the kids.

Jeo, one of the first geocachers I ever knew, died! He'd been in the hospital a few years back and I thought he would die then, but he came out and seemed to be pretty much back to normal. I'm so sad.

I try to sponsor kids who are fundraising for local schools, so when this teen turned up on my porch selling cookie dough for El Camino's water polo team, I bought one. I talked to him a few minutes, then brought him the money... he said "how do you spell Yarnot?" and I asked "how do you know my name?" and it turned out he's a neighbor!  From the house where they have the Hallowe'en parties! Oops.

Thursday I went into Hoarder central and moved stuff so as to get to the windows. I  started sweeping there, too.

Outside there was a truck vacuuming out the storm sewers.  Then it broke down and this ENORMOUS tow truck came to get it.  Never a dull moment in this neighborhood!

I had a nice but small fish tv dinner. I wanted to add one more fish fillet, so I put it in the microwave at the same instructions as the dinner. No. You can't do that... smoke started pouring out of the microwave and it took quite some time to clear it out of the kitchen.

When I went to water the peanut plant, I startled up this HUGE black widow. Lesson learned, when I clear the junk and the cacti away from the back windows, I must be sure to wear gloves!

Friday I did clean the back by the high windows, wearing gloves of course. There was so much dirt and leaves under the boards Rich had there as shelves, that my dustpan broke.

Then it was Renaissance. The morning seminar was about the theater scene in Sacramento. I mostly went so I could tell about Patience, the play Bernadette is in.  Someone else did that, anyway, so I didn't have to.

The time travel movie was "Somewhere in Time." Schmaltzy, but fun. Chip (the teacher) says the watch is an "ontological paradox" (because there is no origin.) This gave me a great pun, (what is a "phylogenical paradox"? To recapitulate) which no one understands. I had a hard time seeing this movie because Mr. Big Head came in late and sat right in front of me. Every time I almost could see, he'd move his head. He even had his cell phone on and it rang.) I believe the people behind me could see my occasional "choking hands" reaching for his neck. In the end, though, I was even polite to the creep.

On the way home I bought a Power Curve power strip (the 15 foot cord is of the most interest, because that would mean I could move the TV in front of the fireplace without rewiring one outlet) and a Spin Broom. As seen on TV. Unfortunately, that doesn't work as nicely as the tv would have one believe.

Then I was making cookies for tomorrow's memorial meeting, and put three pans into the oven at once. Because I messed up the preheating, the cookies were in too long and the kitchen filled with smoke, again. This time I apparently started burning the cookie pans, aluminum, because I accidentally had a whiff of it and couldn't breathe at all. Since then my persistent cough is persisting even more, and I'm a bit worried about shortness of breath. This time I locked the cat away and opened all the doors and waved the smoke out.  I did eventually make some cookies, but maybe I should just stay away from the kitchen.