fossilfreak | Puttering

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 558
169.9 miles

cold in the mornings, sunny and breezy

371 recordings of 31 types, 67 old SVU. 18% clear.

Monday I did all the watering I put off Sunday because of the wind (which has led to the terrible fires going on in California.) I had a dental appointment at 11 and was a little surprised I would have scheduled it the same day as the cleaners. Then I remembered I changed the cleaning week after my trip to Ashland. In any case, Stephanie was quick and I also had a nice visit with the dentist himself. He asked if I'd gotten their birthday card... no, actually, and I haven't gotten it yet.

I was back in time for the cleaners. In fact, I'd just made my lunch and there they were!

To my utter surprise, one of the squash grew!

After the cleaners left I went to Walmart to see if I could find ramekins. No luck. Then I got gasoline and went down to Raley's to see if my prescriptions were in. The Lisinopril was, but there was a question about the Simvastatin and they were checking (with the doctor in Placerville, sigh, so I guess I'll have to do the doctor change thing again next year.) According to the paperwork, they think it will interact with the blood pressure meds. It hasn't for the last what, 4 years? 5 years?

I got my flu shot while I was there. And on the way out I found some ramekins, so I bought 3. I use them for bacon grease, and stupidly shattered one of the two I had by putting the still-warm one into the fridge. Fortunately, it cracked but held together by the bacon grease. I posted about the great ramekin hunt in Facebook and drew a surprising argument about cooking with bacon grease.

I called Cricket Media to get the last three subscriptions at the lower price they were giving on the online renewals. To my utter shock, Kelly at customer service was quick and efficient. After all the trouble I've had with them through the years, this was surprising.

I had also intended to call the heater people and the hauler, but didn't. I'll get them later.

Tuesday I went to the WPAC breakfast, then down to Elk Grove. Bernadette went out for dust masks and then spent all the rest of the time cutting and decorating a gourd. Since I had thought the plan was to finish with the garage, I found this frustrating. I felt a little better when I learned the gourd was for the 2nd grade basket for the school carnival. She wants me to win it if she doesn't! Meanwhile she thinks she'll be able to keep Joan out of the garage. Chance would be a fine thing, though Joan and I had a long talk about the science kits so she may be making messes with them instead.

Because the kids had a dental appointment, I came home early and vegged out. Vince called and talked for about an hour about his trip to Washington. It sounds like they had a great time. I'm so glad he had the idea (he went when he was in 8th grade but their school doesn't participate, so he thought he'd give Eric the same advantage.)

Mark says Monica doesn't like surprises, so I can talk about my trip to San Jose next week.

Wednesday was really frustrating. I was hoping to write this up but when I tried to get Facebook up it was awful on the computer and I tried to run a repair app on it, which froze. Even the iPad didn't do well with FB, which was giving me Bernadette's posts from 2016!! Also, I got together a bag of toiletries, toothbrushes, and toilet paper for a nursing home that has taken in evacuees from the fires, and then drove 20 miles out of my way but couldn't find the place. Argh.

I did get down to Elk Grove and did the reading, but next week Gareth is having his teeth sealed, so I can drive down to San Jose earlier. I left the kids on a cliffhanger. Gareth was trying to see how the story ends, so Pinocchio was a good choice. I asked Joanna if she was trying for a record of the most "consequences" in second grade. She says she was good at the beginning, but it's hard.

When I got home the computer was still frozen, but I hit every key and eventually it restarted, and restarted, and restarted a third time, and it works!

I had picked 18 pounds of pomegranates in the morning, about a third of them, so I will have plenty to share with Joan and with Monica next week. I gave a dozen to my neighbor Mindy.

I had pretty well gotten over the coughing but this day was really smoky.

Yesterday the water guy came and showed me where the new meter would be. He looked at the setup in back and has a plan where the new main will join the current pipes. I get to keep the standpipe. I didn't ask if there would be a way for me to cut off the water to replace washers (as if, but there are a couple of things in the bathroom that need attention.) I'll call him and ask later.

Andy came while he was here and fixed the shed door. I also went in and rearranged stuff after the dog had really messed it up. I took a huge box out. I was surprised to see glasses at the bottom... apparently they were the current ones which fell in when I wasn't paying attention. Anyway, I got it into the recycling can. I'd intended to get a lot more paperwork in but got ambushed by Rich's notes on banking last week.

Since I intend to have a big open house on my 75th birthday, I've got to get to work.

Quick trip to the Commissary. $60+, though.

I went out to Appleby's for dinner. Ray sat with me, and was quite pleasant. I also met a Dave, whose son plans to walk the Camino. This gave me a chance to tell some of my stories to someone who hadn't heard them! I tried the appetizer combo and it was too big, and then they gave me a birthday dessert! When I got home, there was a hatching raptor candle from Monica.

I was going to write this then, but Bernadette wants Monica's pictures NOW so I downloaded 270 of them and started to sort them chronologically, but my eyes began to cross after about 80 or so. Darn. I had hoped to have this one so much more organized than Roni's was. Oh, well.