fossilfreak | Entries tagged with communion

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 602

93.0 miles

heating up, 90s

276 recordings of 46 type, 35% clear. I am halfway through season 3 of NCIS.

On the 10th of August I was weeding the zinnia bed and semi-tripped over my little wire fence. I didn't fall, thank goodness, but had (and still have) a doozy of a bruise.

Pharaoh was giving me trouble about coming in at night and I left him out about 40 minutes.

I went to Bernadette's and played with Padreic and helped clean out Gareth's room a bit. She told me the coming operation will take out the appendix, which makes sense.

My driver's license renewal came. Too late to get an appointment, especially with the medical issues.

I went to the pizza party for Sharing God's Bounty. I really pigged out. It's amazing how many people are involved in so many jobs... besides cooks and servers there's publicity and volunteer liasons... I sat next to Peter Mithin and Boyd Keenan. I felt a little silly saying why I was there, but as a founder, and hospitality early on, and as Rich's widow, I was OK. I said I didn't do much now but bring coffee and both Ann and Jim said I was also a generous donor.

My jaw hurt on the way home. I don't need a heart attack just now, TYVM.

I finished the jigsaw puzzle in 9 days. It has 5 pieces missing, but 31 pieces that didn't belong to this puzzle. I took it up to Niki.

August 11 was second Saturday breakfast. I spent some time looking for my Social Security card so I can get a Real ID driver's license. I stopped at Lazy-Boy on the way home and got some glasses. I took them up to Vince and Niki but they didn't want them.

August 12, Father had a LONG homily. He's very excited about the Mass and eager to share it. Then I went to Communion at the nursing home. It's been a long time, since before the disastrous Pittsburgh trip.

I ordered face masks for the smoke in Oregon.

August 13. I finally got my appointment to get the results... very disappointing. Basically Svetlana, who is a very nice lady but NOT the doctor, read me a black and white copy of the color report I got from the doctor. They're going to refer me to a surgeon. I was in tears when I left and went to Bernadette's. She was too wrapped up in her World Con plans to be sympathetic. I tried calling the doctor's office to find out the name of the surgeon, but of course it didn't work. So I don't know any more than I did before.

I walked over for a geocache, which I actually found.

August 14 I drove back out to the office to get the surgeon's name and phone number so if they call while I'm gone, as they did, in fact, I could call back for an appointment. It turned out there's no phone service at Crater Lake so I couldn't check in at home until Friday, and couldn't call the surgeon's office till Monday, but I got an appointment for Friday! I had to replace the bulb in the back hall.

There was a Pilgrim's pizza party, and this time I didn't pig out quite so much. I gave a little speech about Casa Leopoldo in Palas de Rei. I bought wine for the trip to Ashland and packed my Ashland glass, but couldn't find my beaded covers for the glasses!

And, finally, Wednesday the 15th, I could start my Oregon trip. I packed two duffel bags, one for Crater Lake and the other for Ashland. My sandwich was too big for a regular sandwich bag! Finally, I left the house at 7:47. I drove and drove (past a field of melons!) till 9:48, the Corning rest area. I needed to get out and stretch even more than I needed a potty break! What a nice rest area, where I've probably never stopped before. Look at all the olive trees! Is there a geocache here? (My pocket query assumed I was taking Highway 99 instead of I-5.)

At 11:39 I was at Castella, looking (unsuccessfully) for a cache. I had waved gaily at the rest area where I saw the eclipse last year. After the fruitless search I stopped at the RRPark resort to ask how they were doing with the smoke. I'd put on my mask at Redding because it was really bad there. There were "thank you" signs to firefighters on all the overpasses. My favorite was "thank you for kickin' ash."

I ate my sandwich at the resort and decided not to stop in Dunsmuir, maybe on the way back. (no.) I went on to Weed and couldn't find the cache at the totem pole, but fortunately stopped at the gas station for a potty break. I say "fortunately" because the rest area on hwy 97 was closed.

I didn't notice there was a cache in Dorris (and in a store, I really could have found it!) till I was just past the turn to it. And no real place to turn around. Oh, well. I did stop and take a good look at the second-highest flagpole in the world, which we had watched being built, back in the days when we would drive to Spokane on 97.

I stopped for gas in Klamath Falls, next to the Super 8 where I stayed when I went up alone to get Vince (when Rich bought the van!) Actually, leave them alone for 25 years and they change everything! Then when I took the turn for Crater Lake I started looking for geocaches, but only found one of the ones I had marked. I stopped at the overlook for Annie Falls, and finally got to Crater Lake about 4:30. I registered and got cabin D1.

Then I tried to call Vince, and discovered there was no phone service. So I left a note at the camping check-in, but decided, sensibly, not to trust that and sat on a log overlooking the parking lot while I read a book. Sure enough, I saw them, about 5:30, and told Niki just to register to see if they got the message... nope. They were camped about .4 miles away, further when I walked around the long way.

I sprang for dinner and had pork chops with mustard, cornbread and butter, and green beans. Yummy. And I bought A.J. his first stretched penny. I spent the rest of the time at Crater Lake looking for an album, but they finally managed to get one (and two more pennies) on the way home.

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 599

35.1 miles

cloudy, one small rain shower

337 recordings of 27 types, 62 old SVU. 25% clear. (and 216 recordings (this morning) in "keep till I remove.")

Monday (the 2nd) I stopped at the credit union to let them know I was traveling in two weeks, and to check on the status of my loan. Which I'm doing well with... I'm about 40% paid off, and of course as I bring it down, more of the principal and less of the interest are in each payment.

I got the C batteries that were needed for the Cookie Monster toy. I also found a watch, almost the same as Rich's that broke, but in plastic rather than metal. But it works the same way.

I also bought dog food, but couldn't find Staples for an ink cartridge. The place I pictured in my mind was actually a Fed Ex place. So I went to Amazon. (And mistakenly only ordered color, so I still needed black. On Thursday I looked up the address in the new Yellow Pages. They failed me, and it was Harbor Freight Tools at the address they posted. This was the second YP failure, the other being the wrong number for the exterminator. So into the recycling it goes.

I was working on trip plans and could SEE the New York Merci Boxcar on Google Earth Street View. I am staying... free... in Syracuse with Choice Hotel points.

And I waited and waited for Vince to call. But it was Monday!!

Tuesday morning there was another rat in the kitchen! It dashed for a hole on the other side of the dishwasher, since the one hole was blocked with bricks. So I guess the noises I heard on Sunday were, indeed, vermin, even though my pets didn't react.

I started clearing out some TV shows I like but don't really need to have recorded while I'm gone, like "How the Universe Works" and "What on Earth" (for two really cheerful shows about how we're all gonna diiiiiiiiiie. Also "Love it or List it", which is great fun but it doesn't matter if I miss a few or a hundred.

There was a Herman game, so I played Fishdom. I had a tuna sandwich for lunch and a slow-cooked stuffed pepper (in the tiny slow cooker, the one for nacho cheese) for dinner, and still have some food in the pantry past the sell-by date.

Fiona from Ngoko Safari had sent on the letter from Kathula's grandfather. Besides the letter (thanking me for supporting his nephew!) there was a picture and a tiny necklace and bracelet set.

My arm really hurt. I apparently strained it, possibly by picking up the dog food.

Vince called (about time, right?) and we are agreed that we both miss St. Philomene's Easter Vigil (done right, before the new priest and the different musicians.)

Wednesday was my day with the kids. At Wee Wednesday, Padreic was very busy putting big soft blocks into the "shack" and was really upset when Arthur went into the shack. I went over to tell him that Arthur could go in the shack too, there's room for two. Then I told Arthur that Padreic was putting the blocks in, and Arthur's mother came over to suggest Arthur could help. Then we left them alone, and they put all the blocks in, and played in the shack, then threw them all out, and (this was the exciting part) they cooperated on a different project involving lining up the blocks under the shack. No grownups involved!

I finished reading The Land of Oz to the kids. I told them next week it would be short stories so I wouldn't start a long book and leave them hanging (though now it looks like they'll be gone in June so I'll have to really work to read all of Charlotte's Web to them before they leave. Of course, I can read some to them when we go to Gilroy.) Anyway, Joanna suggested I should FaceTime them and read to them. This was a nice comment, proving that I'm right, they do enjoy it.

Apparently I just ordered colored ink, not a double package with black, for the printer, so I decided I had to go to Staples. I finally, on Thursday, ended up at Office Max.

Thursday was the rat guy. It was Cody again. He plugged the new outside holes and trimmed back the oleander, and really surrounded the dishwasher with copper wool and black gunk. At first it was really hard to open the dishwasher and I pushed the lid down Very Carefully, but today the lid just falls down. This is worrying, since the plug's wearing out. We put bait up in the attic. Thursday night, though, the rats apparently brought along elephants to protest with them. It was a lot of noise. The dog keeps checking, but I think they're gone... except Wednesday morning I pushed at the dishwasher and there were noises back behind the sink. DIE, already! The heavy heavy rain on Friday should have erased their trails outside so I should be OK for awhile.

Also, the water people came through. They dug a hole in front but then dug underground all the way to the back...I didn't know that for sure until I asked on Tuesday. Then the guy took me in back and showed me where they'll connect up the pipe... in 4 to 6 weeks. Oops. I thought it was immediate so I scheduled the pipe replacement May 14 and 15th. The water guy didn't think it would be a problem, in fact it would be easier to hook up to new pipes. So maybe they'll all arrive together! Guess we'll see.

Friday, rain rain rain! I decided to stay home and play games, so I did.

Saturday I went to the WPAC breakfast in the morning and then met Bernadette and the kids for "Jack and the Beanstalk." Padreic did enjoy it and also enjoyed meeting the actors afterwards and getting their autographs. Then they came here so Padreic could play with the Cookie Monster toy now that it had new batteries. They had to leave by 3, though, because Gareth had a play date!

Then, instead of going to the shell ceremony with Sacramento Pilgrims, I decided to stay home. I hadn't called John back, though I did some days later and left a message.

Sunday I had forgotten it was the second Sunday, so almost didn't help with Communion at the nursing home, but I did go and enjoyed it a lot. I did remember to take the baby bottle full of change that I had filled during Lent. It was Divine Mercy Sunday and Father Martin is really excited about it.

I called Helena to find out how her brace was working out, and discovered that the x-rays for the back fracture had uncovered a lump in her lung. It's stage 1 and hasn't spread at all, so next week they're having a treatment conference, her, doctors, and Mark and Diane. (D. via Skype.)

The squirrels, or so I believe, dug up one of the peanuts I planted.

I was watching an olde John Wayne movie and there were cartoons and shorts before it. One was clips of historic film, including the funeral of Edward VII with all the royalty of England there. Fascinating!

Monday the water guys were working across the street. I didn't know they'd finished my yard until the next day, when I asked. The cleaners came, and I had called ahead to ask them to park in my driveway. I also had neighbors parking in the driveway, too. After they left, I went to the commissary, a small trip but almost $100 because I was getting Alicia some breakfast burritos and found some impulse food for myself.

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 595

13.9 miles

COLD! (warm most of the week)

354 recordings of 34 types, 1 old SVU (I have to keep repeating "no, don't record that"), 70 CPD, 19 LMS. 21% clear.

This week went by in a flash... I've been playing Fishdom and reading Nero Wolfe, not writing this journal or keeping up with much of anything else. Sunday through Thursday I was watching Safari Live and hoping to win a safari, but sadly a woman from Seattle won.

Monday (the 5th) would have been Rich's 76th birthday. When I changed out the cat box I realized there wasn't enough poop. Later in the week I saw that Pharaoh was sneaking in there WHILE I'M IN THE HOUSE so there's no time I can leave the gate down. He was duly punished but he's apparently too stupid to learn or too obsessed to care.

I watched Marnie.( I'd never seen it before.) I was surprised that it was written by Winston Graham.

I can't stand Adam Schiff. He speaks, he lies. I was happy, later in the week, to find out he got pranked by some Ukrainean DJs, and now I think of him as a buffoon. I think he's lost some credibility (I hope) because of that.

Tuesday my sleep was all messed up and I didn't make it to breakfast. My weight and blood pressure were both down. I dug in the garden a little bit. Turned off the heat and opened windows much of the next few days. (Then it got cold again.)

Pharaoh got into the rawhide I got out for St. Vincent de Paul. He's *impossible* these days.

Wednesday, fun with the kids. At Wee Wednesday Padreic was a little more social, though he was as pushy as Arthur. The hard lesson was "wait your turn." Then he surprised me by not wanting to go to Wing Ding. (He fell asleep on the way home.) More of the "Land of Oz" with Gareth and Joanna. Bernadette can't get on Facebook, so I've been writing her, and of course my communications major never communicates.

I talked to my friend down at the school and she didn't like Father Heart-Throb at all his second time through, so I wasn't the only one.

Thursday was my doctor visit. I'd thought it might be a full checkup but it was just a review of the A1c test. In the 6 months I lost 5.2 pounds. My A1c was 5.9, so much better than it's been all along. It's still in pre-diabetic range but the lowest it's been since they started checking it 3 years ago or so. He wanted to know how hard it was to be good, suggesting Glucophage. I looked it up when I got home and have decided no, especially if I can get the A1c down farther (not this week, though. I celebrated with a pizza Friday through Monday, and also have been enjoying other carbs, hash browns and toast and jelly, that sort of thing. (And gained the weight to prove it. Easy to put on, hard to take off!))

The doctor also recommended a two-part shingles vaccine with a much higher prevention rate than the one I already had. So I went down to the pharmacy for it... and TriCare doesn't cover it! $200! For the first half! Painful two ways.

I worked on the jigsaw, and went out to the WPAC dinner in Citrus Heights. It's the chicken won ton tacos there, quite good. One of the women there had a terrible time on the Hawaii cruise. Makes me think again about the Alaska one in a couple of years. The person airlifted off at Hilo WAS on that ship but not a WPAC person.

Friday I had a nosebleed, and decided to skip the morning session, mostly because I wanted to carry a pillow to deal with those terrible seats. I gave the teacher a Time Travel book I'd found. The movie was "Time Bandits." Silly. During the week I watched "Terminator" and I was wrong, I hadn't seen it before. For one thing, it came out before I met GoE, so I wouldn't have. It must have been a sequel that I didn't like.

My neighbor came over to tell me they'll be putting a fence in. Darn. I really like it when the dogs see each other and when I can reach over and pet them, especially Patches, the new one. I miss the old days when I could see the neighbors! Oh, well.

That night I went to the Camino Pilgrim's meeting to see the Le Puy presentation. Not much help about the route from Lourdes. John was there. He called the next day to see if I was all right, because I left while he was talking to another woman.

Saturday morning I went to the WPAC breakfast, which was nice. Marty and Jim were there. She got really sick on the cruise, and he was disappointed at the Arizona Memorial.

I took the kids to see "The Secret Garden". And I started looking for maps of Nero Wolfe's house. I settled on Stout's sketch of the office but finally adjusted Baring-Gould's first floor to make the second floor work. (Still can't do the third floor and the orchids, but oh, well.)

Had a nice long talk with John on the telephone.

Sunday it was Mass, Communion at the retirement home, and finishing the Rex Stout Nero Wolfes.

Reading: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Pepys' Diary; Embarrassments by PJ Nel; Shattered, Jonathan Allen & Amie Parnes; Little Women, Louisa May Alcott; We Die Standing Up, Dom Hubert van Zeller; A Portrait of a Lady, Henry James, Jr.; and Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-Fifth Street, William S. Baring-Gould.

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 560

215.4 miles

cold, WINDY yesterday

351 recordings of 65 types, 3 old SVU and 45 old CPD. (I got suspicious at the constant 373 recordings and 22%, and know for sure some CPDs were erased. So I took off a number of "Love it or List It" episodes. Once I get past all the Big Cat Week recordings, I'll be fine.) 26% clear.

Last Sunday, the 10th, at Mass, Father forgot to light the Advent Wreath. But he did go on and on and ON about Our Lady of Guadalupe.

After Mass, while I was waiting to help with giving out Communion at the home, I called Carol, but no answer. I tried again when I got home, and the second time she answered. She had called back, as well as trying the cell phone, but I wanted to use some of my time, since I had almost 400 minutes. When we did finally connect, it was a 50 minute call, which is nice. I got my travel dates lined up. The brothers are always wanting to know "where in the world is Jan Yarnot?" Heh.

Rich's next older brother broke his shoulder just before their 50th anniversary. I have such a mixed reaction to this anniversary... I'm happy for them. And so jealous.

To my utter delight, I was invited to a caroling party tonight!

Monday I was babysitting. Padreic was commenting on "coca dots" (polka dots). He was fine with the dog after initial dismay at the licking, but then the dog barked. I had to spend quite a while getting them used to each other, and then he was playing and the dog was asleep on the other side of the room. Padreic was lying down on the Big Book and hitting the button for the "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" over, and over, and over... and suddenly he burst into tears. "What's wrong?" "AGAIN!" I have no idea, but I suggested he have a nap, and he did lie down for about 5 minutes.

Then he fell asleep on the way home, and when I went to get him out of the car and he woke up. Crying and saying "NO Phawaoh!" over and over. So I guess he had a nightmare. He's been a little under the weather.

We went to get the kids. Joanna got to work on her homework and Gareth kept getting sidetracked. He seems to have trouble staying on task.

I stopped at Petsmart for dog and cat food, and got a new elk antler for Pharaoh. I have no idea what happened to the nub of the old one he had. I handed him a bone and noted he was beginning to splinter it, so I took it away. The antlers are a lot better.

Tuesday I went to the widow's breakfast. Back at home I did some digging, and worked a little on the puzzle, and called Wind Country baskets to be sure both orders were in, since I only saw one on the credit card bill.

And Fishdom kept crashing on me. I reset the iPad, following the "settings" area, and that didn't help. So I deleted Fishdom but then when I tried to get it back, the iPad wouldn't talk to the Internet. Finally I went to the laptop and found an easier reset, that actually worked. So I was re-loading the game when Vince called and so distracted. Not much of a conversationalist!

The reset gave me back the Facebook link and thus the games people have been sending me, and apparently they were saved up!

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 560

192.9 miles

rain

370 recordings of 29 types, 6 old SVU, 29 old CPD. 23% clear.

Sunday I went to Mass and discovered one of the parishioners had died. Back in the 80s, he and his wife led a theology class which I enjoyed enormously. I've been a little ticked at him or mostly his wife, lately, since not only did they not come to Rich's funeral, she never once told me she was sorry. However, I gave her hugs and found out when the funeral was.

They finally FINALLY finished the parish directory, 2 years after they took the pictures. It's minimal, but at least I can learn some people's names. It's been about 10 years since the last one. I took another one to Charles S., at the nursing home, where we gave out Communion.

I made another quick trip to the book sale and got 2 books. At home, playing Fishdom, I was trying to hold onto 3rd place but got overtaken at the last moment. Now I'm not spending ANYTHING until they give me the real game again so I can get a couple more decorations for my India aquarium. I'll only buy new diamonds on their sales. So I'm starting this with 481 diamonds, 2 bombs, 2 lightnings, 2 lightning/dynamites, 1 swap, 2 hammers. We'll see how I can build this up.

I finished Too Many Women. I really am enjoying the Nero Wolfes. Took a slight detour with the latest Alexander McCall Smith, and I'm dying to talk to someone about it.

Now reading: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Pepys' Diary; Embarrassments by PJ Nel; Shattered, Jonathan Allen & Amie Parnes; The Little World of Don Camillo, Giovanni Guareschi; and To Be a Villain by Rex Stout.

Monday was Genevieve's birthday. While I had a card, I didn't have the $$ to put into it. I spent the day at Bernadette's. She was out on the bike at first, but we had time to talk. I read the kids the Just-So Story about the first armadillos. I don't know if I'd ever read it before but it made me laugh out loud when I was reading it Sunday night to the dog. Bernadette went to the teacher conference about Joanna... she is having comprehension trouble (though I think she understood the story) and writing trouble though the latter may just be the defiance and refusal to participate. I guess it's a continuation of the "I won't sing" "I don't want to" that she used to do when she was 4. They have a prescription for Adoril but haven't yet picked it up.

Also, her class is having a field trip to the planetarium near me. I would like to chaperone if I don't have to ride the bus! I can walk over and meet them. Bernadette forgot to ask the teacher if that was possible... I will ask on Thursday if she forgets.

On the way home, a beggar at the lane divider, sign reading "Need $ for a jacket and some food." A guy crossed in front of me, and handed over his own jacket and went away smiling in his shirtsleeves. What a great example!

Tuesday was Al's funeral. I learned a little more about him than I had known, and saw David M. who's been very sick but is getting better. I skipped the reception and came home, picked an eggplant and some beans.

I'd slept in too late in the morning but since I'd talked to a woman on the phone the night before I headed over to the WPAC breakfast just to say hi to her.

2 more days with the puzzle. Very very little accomplished.

Vince called, and he got his promotion! Neither one of us had much to say, but it's really nice to talk to him.

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

WINDY! (Sunday) hotter but calmer yesterday.

356 recordings of 30 types, 67 old SVU. I've completed seasons 10 and 12 now. 20% clear.

I went to the first Saturday breakfast and got my birthday card from WPAC. There were 4 October birthdays there. Then on the way down to Elk Grove I actually did some geocaching, found two but for the third the only parking place I could find was next to the "No stopping any time" sign, so I thought I'd try a different approach another time.

When I got to the house, the menfolk were all asleep, with Bernadette and Joanna gone camping. It seems that Gareth got up about midnight and played on his iPad the next 6 hours. So when Bernadette got up she sent him to bed with Robert, so they were all dozing away when I arrived at 10.

Gareth packed for himself... with a bit of reminders from me and his dad. Rob made him some breakfast. (Toast and jelly.) He made eggs for Padreic who had said that was what he wanted but then, of course, wanted a banana instead.

Gareth and I went over to the Fall Festival at Green Acres nursery. They changed the date from the third Saturday to the first Saturday, which competes with the Elk Grove Harvest Pumpkin Festival. (Where they had a giant pumpkin weighing more than a ton, setting the record this year!) So it didn't seem to be as busy as usual. Gareth hurt his knee last week and was limping, so wasn't really interested in this anyway, and he never was one for the pumpkin decorating or the balloon animals so after we did the pie walk (and didn't win) we left.

I drove up Watt so I could get a car wash, and not before time. July or maybe even June was the last one, and I drove to Laramie and had a week in smoky Ashland and another couple of weeks in smoky Sacramento. First Saturday breakfast, driving into the rising sun, is always a good way to tell that the car needs washing, anyway. Then I drove thru the nearby McDonald's and got him a hamburger, and so home.

I'd taken one of the STEM kits from Grandma, as well as the da Vinci model I gave him for his birthday. Bernadette and Robert never actually get around to doing this stuff with the kids. The boy had his 30 minutes with the iPad, which is when I finally got Bernadette's message that he shouldn't take it here. Oops. So later when he said he didn't get his after breakfast time, I said "oh yes you did, all last night!" The boy is definitely addicted.

We did the bubble kit. You experiment to see what makes strong bubbles, catch them and bounce them (Gareth needed to be reminded which way to put his hand... sometimes I wonder what's going on in his head) and the best thing was making square bubbles. There was a lot of manaical laughter. I think he enjoyed it.

Later he FaceTimed Grandma, and they've made plans to do this together when she's here. I suggested she lock Joanna in a closet. Joanna is so bubble crazy that we had to hide this kit because she wouldn't be able to help herself. Also, she tends to take over and Gareth tends to let her. Grandma can also do Joanna's kits with her (without interference from Gareth.)

We had trouble with the model. It's easy enough, but we didn't have the hand strength to put some struts in.

We played Blokus. The boy for some reason dumped the thing when I went to the door at one point. I won both games, though I'm still not sure what the best approach is. However, I have to stop thinking it's like Go, because the way to win is totally different.

In between all this, he played with the giant Lego. I would think it's too babyish, but he had a good time experimenting with different building techniques and making a big tower.

At bedtime, I read him the last chapter of the Great Brain. It turned out to be 35 pages, what a surprise, and he was tired but stayed awake to the very end, laughing at the final words.

Sunday we went to Church, then I was distributing Communion at the nursing home and he was good in the corner with his iPad, and so down to Elk Grove. Daddy was interested in helping with the model, so I hope he did.

I came home and just collapsed. I completely forgot I had a ticket to Rising Stars of Opera in Davis, even though there it was in my purse calendar which I consult frequently. Oh, well, at least it was a free ticket.