Entries tagged with mark

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Back to Real Life

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.

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San Jose

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

31.4 miles

cloudy, cool

308 recordings of 21 types. 66 old SVU. 31% clear.

Sunday morning (the 18th) I went to church. There was an amazing time when all these young people, at least 100, filed in. I gathered it was a Confirmation class by the flame badges they were wearing, and later, after meeting the 14(!) leaders who came from as far away as Scotland and many different states, I deduced it was a retreat, and probably most of the diocese.

Then I came home, quickly wrote a journal entry, cleaned up the kitchen and living room, grabbed a quick bite, and was out of the house by 11:15. I tried stopping near the raptor center to see if I could get the cache I missed the other day, but it was down a steep slope and I had no backup if I hurt myself, so I reluctantly let it go. There were a couple of slowdowns on the road to San Jose, including one complete stop, but I got to Monica's house about 2:20, yay me.

Mark wasn't there! He was off riding his bike. Monica helped me carry the train stuff into the house, and the grill set from Lazy Boy. Then she gave me two bags of citrus. Now I'm trying to sprout some kumquat seeds. We were on our way out the door to walk down to the MLK library when Mark arrived, so we told him he wasn't allowed to look till I got back.

It was a pleasant walk and I got to see the inside of the library (which is a joint city and university library, which is a fantastic idea!) with Charlotte. When we got back to the house, I went and got Mark, telling him I want to play with the trains.

He was delighted. The decorations are great, (he thinks he can use Windsor Castle as an amusement park) and the trains wonderful. He said one locomotive was worth over $300! I'm so glad I didn't have to try to sell them! (And I just found another box with more layout stuff, though not as full as the last one.) Two of the transformers were corroded, and he gave me back the good one that was in good shape, because the Z gauge train was in the box. So I still have the tiny tiny one.

I overheard Genevieve breaking my heart. She was making a poster or something that said "If you're pro-life you're pro-welfare..." Sigh. But no point in confronting the 17-year-old, who knows everything of course. I hope the society continues to change, because I'm sure her grandchildren will be horrified that people nowadays thought abortion was acceptable, the way we are disgusted by slavery.

Monica and Charlotte went off to see a play, and Mark had a dinner with friends, so I said goodbye to Genevieve and drove off to Helena's. Of course I once again turned at the wrong exit (the Lawrence expressway). Maybe next time I'll get it right.

Helena, on medication for her bad back, couldn't have the wine, but *I* surely enjoyed it!

She fixed a pleasant dinner and we were relaxing, both in our jammies at 9 when all of a sudden the CO monitor went off with an ear-piercing shriek! It turned off for a short time when I took it outside, but started up again in the house and there was no shutting it off... Helena went through the neighborhood till she found someone to remove the batteries. We opened windows and turned off the heater, but it was obviously a defective monitor. (It never stopped, even outside.) Nonetheless, we were jumpy.

Helena has a way of repeating herself that is easy for me to catch. When I got home I found myself talking to myself (which I do) "That was good. It was quite tasty." "I really liked that tasty meal." "It was really good."

Monday morning I went out geocaching. To my delight, I found the first three, so of course I got cocky and didn't find two, but ended up with 5 finds, including two Little Free Libraries and I did remember to bring books to leave at each. (And picked up a book for Padreic at the first one.) The second one was built from an old fence. Their hint was something about the attic so I wasted a lot of time looking there before I found the cache in a fake book. Really clever!

Helena had been intent on taking the CO monitor to Home Depot but when I got back and said "let's go" she didn't want to. We had lunch and then went off to Notre Dame High School. Monica and Mark had each given us directions, and they differed slightly, so once I had the vague idea, I was able to get to the school, and I saw the parking lot was open. Helena, trying to interpret the instructions, was telling me to turn right, but I decided to circumnavigate the school first, and sure enough, we got a parking place in the school lot!

There was a little program, and then Charlotte took us on a tour of the school. The tour finishes at a big display of place settings... each Freshman girl made a plate and display about a famous woman. Of course there were a lot of women like Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, not so many of the Condaleesa Rice persuasion. They did have Katherine Johnson, (Hidden Figures), and Malala, women I really respect. They also had Bella Abzug and Margaret Sanger. I dont know why one has to be in favor of killing babies to be a feminist, and this at a Catholic school. If I lived here I would be biting my tongue so very much.

They also had some really nice food and I, like an idiot, threw out a very nice plastic cup that they had veggies and dip in (so I went back for another which I kept.)

They finished with the school song and I was reminded of the time I saw Charlotte in her 1st grade performance of "I'm going to eat some worms" when she really got into it and shuddered. I said then she'd be an excellent actress and so she has been (apart from the first time when she was just checking with everyone else about what she should do.)

Afterwards I drove us to Monica's (which Helena, for some reason, calls Mark's) where she fixed a very nice dinner. I told her I'd filled my eye-rolling quotient for the day, but I got a few more in before we were done.

Part of the eye-rolling was because I'd said "sure" I'd come to her grief support group and then she was all a-dither about dinner, we'd be late, they couldn't have it early enough, etc. etc. I finally said I wanted to go to dinner(!) and to the grief group if we managed but que sera sera. She'd managed to get Mark involved in the panic, but in the end we had a good dinner, plenty of chat time, and make it to the meeting in time. Though Helena's deafness did cause some trouble because on the way back I asked, to be sure, if the grief group was at the church, and she heard something about the Greek church and said she'd never been there and I'm thinking that can't be right. We finally got it sorted out. It's good we went because we were the only two people there apart from the group leaders. I wore my WPAC name badge and we ended up talking about that. They thought we had some good ideas. I pretty well dominated the hour, but we did give Helena some time to talk.

Tuesday early I left, and came home. It wasn't too bad once I got out of SJ.

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The Three Days of Christmas, Day One

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 572

225.0 miles

cloudy and cold

356 recordings of 64 types, no old SVU (though some will come later this week) 51 old CPD and oh, yes, 54 old Last Man Standing. 23% clear.

Saturday I had dithered about whether to leave the dog out, figuring it would be at least 12 hours so I would have to give him access to the back room (with the kitty litter box, eek) but I was afraid it would be too cold for him outside. At least Andy fixed the back gate to discourage him... he's scratching at it, but I think the gate will outlive him. I finally decided that since it wasn't raining, he could probably be left out. I thought the gardeners would be on vacation, after all it's only two days till Christmas, but at the last minute I decided to leave them a note on the back gate, and it's a good thing I did, because they did come. But they didn't go in the back yard, hallelujah!

So I drove down to Elk Grove and moved my packages to Bernadette's car (except for the mandarins and stocking stuffers I smuggled in) and we packed up and drove to San Jose. I didn't get out at the Latham gas station, but Gareth decided he needed to go to the bathroom too. He opened the door and got out and Joanna closed it and he opened it and Joanna closed it... "Gareth! Go in to the bathroom!" And then he did the Midvale School of the Gifted thing of trying to go in the exit. He finally got in.

When we got to San Jose I gave the kids some stuff to take in... "Don't drop it." Of course, Gareth dropped the packages. Since they were cookies (from Bernadette) and stemless wineglasses (from me) that was less-than-optimal. However, everything survived.

Monica and Charlotte had put together a lovely brunch... chiliquilas, tamales, eggs, salad... Joanna, of course "didn't liiiike it" but at least ate the eggs. Then we opened presents. I gave each family a set of the stemless wineglasses, but since I gave Mark one and Monica one I almost didn't. Oops. They also got a big box of almons. Bernadette had commissioned hats for the kids, though Lexi got fingerless gloves instead. (I could use those... I've had cold hands a lot during this cold wave.) Joanna got a jewelry making kit of at least 1000 pieces. She absolutely loves it, and it's something Grandma could do with her, too. I got a nice tray with dried fruit and a couple of nanoblock dinosaurs. Gonna keep me busy! I apologized to Teddy for giving him a subscription that is too young.

And off to walk to Christmas in the Park. The kids got well ahead. The teens went off to get churros y chocolate (which I like better here than in Spain, so there) and I bought ride bracelets for Gareth and Joanna and 4 ride tickets for Padreic. Bernadette took them to the train and I caught up with some members of the family, then when the train ride was over she took the kids to the bigger rides and I had P. to go around with Monica and the girls. We got stuck at the adoption place with two of the most terrified cats I've ever seen. Then I took him to the car ride and helped him get a red car. He really enjoyed this. We looked at little houses and special trees, and then went to the ball drop and looked for Bernadette. Finally caught up with her and it turned out that Gareth is too big to be on his favorite jungle walk (a sort of obstacle course.) Joanna had definitely used her ride bracelet but I may have lost money on Gareth's. Bernadette took Padreic to the train again, but the operator wasn't there. Monica asked "why is she still waiting?" just as B. left the line, with Padreic in tears. That's why.

It was time to start to leave, so Joanna and Padreic went on the little Ferris wheel. He was a little dubious at first but then she held his hand and also the operator started to poke him in the leg every time he went by. Unfortunately, though, Bernadette thought the last ride could be the "Frog Drop", and he was quite happy going up, but terrified at the first drop. Joanna held his hand and we all encouraged him, so he was a little mollified by the end, but that really was a mistake.

Somewhere in there Joanna wrote a nice letter to Santa.

We went back to the house for dessert. I couldn't have any pie myself but probably should have gotten two pumpkin pies. Joanna asked if she could take the pumpkin home and ended up with both of them. OK then. It turns out Joan likes pecan so it's all good. Padreic was having fun giving Uncle R.J. fake cupcakes to eat. They left and then we did, and P. threw a real tantrum, having such a good time at Aunt Monica's he didn't want to leave. He fell asleep on the ride home, almost right away.

We stopped at a great light display. I blew it. Gareth was stimming and I commented, sotto voce, that "the Autism is strong in that one." Bernadette was filming. I sure wish I'd never remarked.. I wouldn't want Gareth to hear that and somehow be ashamed. I love him with all my heart, not any less because he's autistic. Nor any more because he's autistic. I just love the whole package, just the way he is.

Home. The dog was OK. What a good day, except for my misstep at the end.

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Thanksgiving

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

201.9 miles

fog

371 recordings of 33 types, 8 old SVU, 32 CPD. 23% clear. (And my remote has pretty much died so I am getting a new one, but this is going to be worse before it gets better.)

I left really early on Thanksgiving so I could go with Roni and Teddy to his hockey game in Fremont! I put Pharoah's food in the doghouse so it wouldn't get rained on, and I figured that way he wouldn't eat it all immediately. He's afraid of the doghouse for some reason, and I planned to get it hauled away, but thought I would at least try to give him some comfort overnight.

It was foggy to start with but at least traffic to Novato wasn't too bad. I could see it was worse in the other direction. I arrived before 9 (which is when I told Roni I would call if I couldn't make it.) We drove to Fremont and then it was wait and wait around, so I walked over to the REI and picked up a geocache. Then I was starving, so had chicken strips (and they took so long they probably had to go catch a chicken!) and watched the beginning of the game from the bar, then joined Roni for the second two periods. Teddy's team lost, 9-2. This was not a surprise, as apparently this year they're pretty awful.

Most of the team parents, from Santa Rosa and Sebastipol and points north, were staying in a hotel in Milpitas, but Roni had to go back for Thanksgiving and then would be there Friday and Saturday nights. The game on Friday was early and she would have to leave Novato by 6 AM! We started back and got into a couple of major traffic jams before we got to Oakland.

We were back in Novato about 3:45 or so. R.J. had been cooking the turkey. He made me a margarita (he makes wonderful margaritas!) and I made up the relish tray. Then I told everyone (Monica and Mark, Genevieve and Charlotte, as well as Roni's family) not to touch it till R.J.'s mother and brother came. (Roni said they wouldn't care but Jan (the brother) actually did admire it and try the rolled olives.) Teddy called it a peacock!! Next year I will do this again, as it comes out better than the train, but also we won't wait for the slowpokes to arrive!

I was feeling really bitter about Bernadette and family, in Oregon. I asked if they'd seen Marie, the ostensible reason we'd gone there, and B. said no, they were really there for Joan. Lucky Joan. Grrrr. Monica doesn't understand "Grandma camp." I pointed out that a lot of people do that (we never did, because usually we lived too far away and then my Mom lived with us.) She says she enjoys her kids and it's not that long until they're gone. In any case, it's still true that Joan sees more of the kids than I do. I said it would be like I saw more of their kids than Helena. Turns out she doesn't see that much of them anyway, but of course having her husband ill made a difference. Anyway, Monica was amazed at how much I see the kids. Once a week, and some weekends, not all that much. If Rich were alive, it would likely be less, but hey, what else do I have to do?

Allan and family were at Max's girlfriend's parents this time. I was sorry to hear that, had hoped to see them. I'd been thinking of visiting a couple of weeks earlier, before I had the leaky pipe problems.

It was a nice dinner. Kathy is not looking well, as they warned me, but was pleasant enough, no worse than usual.

After everyone left I told R.J. he had to try the Amarula. He did, and I don't think he liked it much, but I did! I had had an awful lot to drink this day.

Friday I woke impossibly early and couldn't get back to sleep. So I read, and got up when Roni started moving around, and packed up and left just before she and Teddy left for Fremont. It was a bit foggy here and there, and I actually appreciated it over the Yolo causeway, where it kept the rising sun out of my eyes.

The dog was fine, but hadn't had any food. He may have tried, because some was spilled out of the bowl but it was pushed back in the doghouse further than I'd put it. He was really happy to see me, and very hungry. Also, apparently he didn't sleep at all, because he was pretty well comatose the rest of the day. (So was I, in fact.)

I finished In The Best Families, which was wonderful. Wolfe leaves the house for 5 months(!) in order to get rid of the gangster. I am 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 Murder by the Book, Rex Stout.

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A Visit to San Jose

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

176.5 miles

cold in the mornings, sunny, 71 degrees

364 recordings of 29 types, 55 old SVU. 21% clear.

Wednesday the 18th I left the house with Pharaoh, got money, took him in to the vet. They were getting someone with two dogs out so we waited outside for about TEN minutes. Then they couldn't get the dog and the paperwork finished. I thought I would NEVER get out of there. On down to the gas station where I filled the car. And off I went.

A little outside of Davis a warning light went on. I had to pull off to be sure it said what I thought it said, and indeed it did. "Check gas cap." (I don't HAVE a gas cap.) So I opened the cover to be sure the valve was closed, and it was, so I figured it was OK and kept going. Argh.

Outside of Milpitas I had marked 5 caches, but unfortunately went past three of them. I did find the 4th but by that time I was just eager to get to San Jose. And there, I took the wrong exit to get to Helena's. I couldn't get turned on the Lawrence expressway south and ended up driving all around before I finally got to her street. Turns out that I should have turned off on Saratoga. I can go back on the Lawrence, but to get to Helena's must turn on Saratoga. OK then.

Boy that woman can TALK. Of course, that's why I went down, so she could. She tends to repeat herself and just keep talking when one tries to comment.

She'd recently gone to Prague and had a lot to say about that. I'd never considered it as a destination, but now I'm really interested. Monica and family plan to go in 2019 and to Peru (with Helena) next year, which sounds wonderful.

Helena talks to herself, too, and repeats herself. She's louder than I am talking to myself, but I, too, repeat myself (maybe I think I didn't hear me the first time.)

We went for a short walk before dinner, which was meat loaf and trimmings. I tried to keep the carbs down, with mediocre success.

Thursday I woke before Helena (surprise surprise) and took a shower. She woke talking to herself.

After breakfast we took a longer walk, and I hoped to be able to find a geocache to show her what it is I do, but without luck.

Then we went to Santana Row. At first I thought I would be REALLY bored because we went to a nice clothing store, and she kept pointing out such pretty clothes. This sort of thing would be more interesting to Monica. But then on the way to lunch we stopped at Sur La Table. I wish we had this store where I could go more often. All the kitchen supplies! So many things I would like to have but have no need for them.

From there we went to the Village California Bistro. We had chicken waldorf wraps. Huge, but YUM! Thence to more tchotske stores. I really liked the velociraptor but thought it wouldn't fit on the plastic window ledge where I would have liked to put it. (When I got home I realized the ledge was wider than I remembered, and I decided to order the dinosaur after all. (Perhaps if I'd realized the car was going to cost so much to fix, I wouldn't have, but it's done now.))

Back at Helena's house she found out that Mark wouldn't be able to come due to trouble with the product launch on the day before. This was good for a lot of sad talk. "But I should be glad he has a job."

Finally Monica and the girls arrived, and cousin Olga, and Helena ordered the chinese food and went with the girls to get it. We ate, and were just finishing when Mark was able to come and Helena perked up. Monica liked her presents (some nice clothing, nice jewelry, and from me tapioca beads and dutch chocolate from Koreana. Her real present is going to be given to her on Thanksgiving.) Charlotte went to dance class and then the rest of us chatted for an hour, and then everyone left. I was getting tired and went to bed soon afterwards. I thought I would read in bed, but woke at 11:45 long enough to turn the light off.

Friday I got up, stripped the bed, packed, had a quick breakfast with Helena and drove home. My "check engine" light came on right away so I had a pretty tense time for 158 miles and cancelled the trip with Bernadette to Apple Hill for the next day. I figured it was probably OK to drive home if this was the same thing I had before, but since that was only 3 months ago (and I'd spent $130 on it) I was NOT a Happy Camper. At the vet, they'd lost my leash, so I got a better one for Pharaoh's vet visits. I hoped that filling the car again would fix the problem, but nooooo.

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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.