After I got back from Boxcar Children Camp, I had a blood test and then a followup visit with the Nurse Practictioner.

 

June 30, I policed the yard and got money and gas. (Great gas mileage!) 

 

Lexi won all sorts of awards at the Marin County Fair, and Eric designed the logo the Scouts used when they went diving in the Bahamas.  Meanwhile, Monica and her family were protesting while they were at the cabin. The family keeps busy.

 

Saturday night, there was a MUPT, a reunion Modem User Pizza Thingie.  Bernadette and the two younger kids came. (Gareth was camping with Rob.) I saw a number of people for the first time in almost 30 years. It was a lot of fun catching up!

 

Then Sunday, July 1, I went to church, then out to Elk Grove for a memorial for a geocaching friend who has been fighting thyroid cancer about as long as I've known her. I met some of her cousins and told them about geocaching. I also ate a lot. (At this point, after a week of camp and the three parties this weekend, I'd completely given up on the blood test!)  I left there about 3 because I didn't have any specific memories to share.  

 

Then Bernadette picked me up for a 50th anniversary party of a couple from church whom we've known forever. Boyd is from Wyoming and was a student teacher (but not one of mine) when I was in high school. Mary Frances is very proud of her Croatian ancestry and used to have a sort of friendly rivalry with Rich on a lot of shared Eastern European traditions. They initially had trouble having a family and had adopted two boys and a girl, then lost them in the courts, but then had Amy, Brian, and Ned. Ned is about Bernadette's age. Amy married a few years ago, and has two stepdaughters, and their own daughter, Delilah, who is a healthy, delightful Downs child. Neither Brian nor Ned have married, so Delilah is the only grandchild and is the light of their lives. It was another great party, with all my church friends. I was surprised at how many people had seen my Facebook bruises pictures.

 

Then, as usually happens, Monday rolled around. I had made an appointment with the Quest diagnostics place at the same building where I had my colonoscopy pre-appointment.  Once I found the Quest place, the blood test went smoothly and I had a full hour to have breakfast in the cafe. 

Svetlana (an NP from Russia) gave me the preliminary exam and then I was scheduled for my colonoscopy on July 23, at 8 AM, in Roseville!  And poor Bernadette has to come from Elk Grove, and stick around. Rob has agreed to stay home that morning so the kids (who aren't leaving till the 24th... I really have to write all this stuff down!) don't have to stick around the medical offices with her. I initially thought it would be just Padreic and she'd be able to leave and come back. (That's what happened with me last two times and with Rich's tests.) They sent the pharmacy the prescription for the colon cleanser, may I only be able to keep it down, and I was able to pick it up the next day.

 

I got home by 9:30 and spent the rest of the day waiting for the cleaners. When I was going to call them I noticed I had a message... they had come early! They never do, it's usually sometime between 1 and 3! So I called and they did come, about 3:30. How annoying!

 

I rather reluctantly reminded Steve that he owed me money (from maybe 20 years ago) and am quite relieved that he's still speaking and is willing to start paying me back.

 

July 3 I got back to digging up tulip bulbs, weed roots, and loosening the soil. The nearby country club had its fireworks, but I didn't feel up to going over this year. However, I stepped out in back when I heard the booms, and ended up watching most of them, the ones that rose above the neighbor's tree. Beautiful!! Vince had called early so I was able to stand outside and enjoy them.

 

On the 4th I finished watching "The Americans." It's interesting how the KGB wanted to stop Gorbachev. Think how Putin is now doing his best to undo everything since the fall of the Wall. It's a shame.

 

Benson was denied a visa to come to the US this fall. According to Fiona they didn't even glance at his paperwork! Grrrr.

 

July 5 I woke at 3:30, I went out to Mass at the Retreat House. It felt like coming home. Father Giltus is great. I sure hope he's going to lead a group to Oberammergau!  I ate a little of the goodies, and talked to the guy who always is barefoot in church. A woman gave us plums! 

 

Then I went to the Commissary for a few things, but didn't shelve the stuff until after I got back from Elk Grove.  I'm reading fairy tales to the kids, but I can hardly wait till late August when they're back so I can start Stowaways in Paradise.

 

Bernadette has a friend who is going to start a kindergarten, so she wondered if I had stuff. Oh, yes, counting dogs and counting bears, and buttons, and keys. I threw my mom's tin she used as a button box away.  I used to love to play with the buttons, but never got to it with my kids or grandkids. The keys are a lot of ours and even more of GoE's. I always thought they'd make great wind chimes, but of course never got to that either. 

 

On the 6th the laptop didn't get recharged overnight. (When I moved the television I also moved my chair, and suddenly I can't leave the computer plugged in.) There's one of the outlets in the power strip that doesn't, apparently, work. I finally got the computer charged so I could upload the pictures. 

 

There's a girl named Carol Powers (my sis-in-law's name) in an episode of NCIS!

 

On Saturday the 7th I went to the WPAC breakfast, and Gene, who had a stroke last month, was there. The girls' government teacher at Loretto had a couple of nice pictures of Bernadette's graduation for me. 

 

I stopped at WalMart on the way home and got some dish disposal cleaner. It took all 4 packets, but the disposal is finally pretty clean.

 

Then I finally got back to the Nano T-rex Monica gave me at Christmas. I built a couple of ribs, but other pieces began to fall off, and it was hard to figure out where they came from. I'll have to take it all apart and start over, and it was just too frustrating, so I've put it away for awhile.

 

At Mass on Sunday the priest didn't consecrate enough hosts, so we all had tiny bits.

I took Joan M., a new widow at church, to WPAC.

 

I played a lot of Fishdom on the 9th. Then I watered the entire back yard.

 

On the recent commissary visit I'd gotten some curry noodle bowls. The instructions say to shake the curry to one side. I'm guessing it got a little damp, as the curry was hard. And no, it wasn't past the best-use-by date. Tasty when it was made up, though.

 

I finally wrote up the boxcar children entry.  This got me into Flickr for the pictures and I got sidetracked correcting a lot of past omissions.

 

My car registration came! I made sure to put the sticker on right away, and put the paper into the car. I've printed up my insurance form, too, but it isn't in the car yet.

 

My doctor visit was the 10th. I actually thought it was the annual physical (which apparently I don't get anyway), but it turned out just to be a followup with the blood test. My A1C is 5.8, better than last time. Then, no surprise after the week of being bad, the glucose is 129. My cholesterol and thyroid are OK. Since the Lifeline screening found something maybe wrong with my thyroid, I could wish we'd looked into that a little more.

 

Vince's call was mostly about Eric, swimming with the sharks. Oh, just great.

 

 

 

 I'm still reading Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Pepys' Diary; Embarrassments by PJ Nel; Little Women, Louisa May Alcott; We Die Standing Up, Dom Hubert van Zeller; Over the Gate, Miss Read; Archie Meets Nero Wolfe, Robert Goldsborough and Pere Goriot, Balzac. (Everytime I hear that name I think of Music Man!)

 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.