fossilfreak

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

31.3 miles

rain rain rain

 

328 recordings of 28 types. 68 old CPD, 1 old SVU. 25% clear.

 

 

Sunday March 4 I went on a WPAC trip for the first time in a couple of years. I had planned to sit in the bus with Thea, and she thought we were doing it too, but Sharon was convinced Thea would be with Donna and she put me with Ray. Uh-oh... while Ray and I have been communicating (ever since I showed him my air museum membership card) lately, there was some tension earlier. As it happened, we got along fine. At the beginning he said "I don't know why I'm stammering" and I said "Apparently I intimidate you. I certainly don't MEAN to" and after that he stopped stammering.

 

We talked books and travel, seeing President Kennedy and other famous people (I had Milton Caniff, and he knew who that was! I completely forgot Eva Gabor) and it was quite entertaining. When the coach arrived in Antioch we stopped at the Lone Tree golf club for their brunch buffet, and all I can say is.. wow. There was so very much food! I didn't wait for the roast beef, but went through a different line, so filled my plate with so very much good food. Thea and Donna had waited for us to sit next to them, and Ron and Gen were also at the table. I had wanted to tell Ron that I walked across Spain, because he always liked to walk. I also wanted to tell him I'd gone to Africa. And I wanted to tell Gen that my Wednesdays were fun, since she had asked the last time I saw them. I still miss him, though I don't think I showed it. I did find his dithering exasperating while he was trying to find the dining room. At one point I pointed at Ron and Ray and said they were the only two WPAC members I'd been geocaching with.

 

I ate a lot, but tried to be carb conscious. I was the only person at the table who only had one dessert! There was a lot of merriment going on when Donna couldn't get her dishes picked up and put them on another table... then the people who had that table reserved came in.

 

I'd noticed a geocache but it would have been too far a walk, so I didn't go for it.

 

Then the driver wanted to show us some of Belmont, but eventually decided there was too much traffic. So off to the Antioch theater where the Zmed brothers did their Everly Brothers Experience show. Not only did they sing the songs, but told us biographical information. It was really great! Toward the end I found myself in tears, not so much crying for Rich (who was later than most of these songs) but apparently for my lost youth. Which was a huge surprise, since this is the first time I've not been content with my current age.

 

And so home, a quieter ride during which I pretty well finished my book.

 

Monday the water people were back, to my surprise. I spent much of the day watching, wondering what they were doing. Finally, as they unloaded the fire hydrant at my neighbor's house, it all became clear. Oh, THAT's what the mysterious "FH" meant!

 

This is when I discovered the VCR control panel and rescued "Lady and the Tramp." I'm not going to try to get it set up with this television, though, but going to wait until I get the white elephant set up. It dawns on me I will need a remote, as well as speakers. I'd thought I could do it by hand but with a VCR and DVD player I will almost certainly need a remote to get to the different INPUTs.

 

The olde movie I watched was "Ball of Fire."

 

I guess I fed Pharaoh twice He doesn't let me know, but then he upchucked. Sigh.

 

I'd dozed off, and Helena called at 9 something, to let me know it would be OK to stay with her in a couple of weeks.

 

Tuesday my Fishdom game finally had something I could play, Herman the crab, so I did that. (I'm saving the main games, which get added 15 at a time on Thursdays, till they open the new aquarium, so I can win their goodies to furnish it.

 

Once again, I skipped the ladies' breakfast. I like the people, but not the restaurant so much.

 

Movies were "Test Pilot" and "Talk of the Town."

 

I took a box of books to the library and stopped at the office. They still didn't have my name badge, so I tried ordering it again. I made my reservation for a gambling trip to Cache Creek casino. They had sent Rich an invitation, before he died, and I thought I could use it but called first, what a hassle, but I have a membership now. But I've only gone there one time, in 2012, so would enjoy going back. Without having to drive it!

 

I then stayed for the board meeting.

 

On the way home I stopped for cuticle cream, because my fingernails are miserable. I couldn't find the sort ot tube I was looking for, so I got Aquaphor which says it's for cuticles, too.

 

And it was a nice call from Vince. I'm actually letting him talk occasionally.

 

The Gummint is suing California over sanctuary cities. Great, I get to pay both sides (as well as the 18 times Becerra has sued Trump. One of which he's lost.) The state is going to pot, and this is how they spend my tax money.

 

Wednesday, my dreams seemed to mix up Eric's page job with Last Man Standing. Odd.

 

Wee Wednesday was about the Faith Ringgold exhibit. We started with the "word quilt" book, then upstairs, in front of the quilt, we had the story the quilt tells.Padreic was interested and talked about the first book but we got interrupted with an unneeded potty stop, and he didn't know about grandma's quilt. When I went back to the Crocker on my own to really look at the exhibits, I bought both those books and took them to him and he was fascinated and loved them.

 

The kids got out early this week, so I was home in time to call the church bookkeeper and get my donations sorted out. I figure the tax people would have taken my word for it, so we'd only need proof if I got audited. However, the bookkeeper mailed the correction right away.

 

I've got a new game, Alice in the Mirrors of Albion. It's a very involved hidden objects game and I was getting frustrated that it wouldn't let me buy hints and kept freezing on me. I deleted and reinstalled it twice with minimal success, but then I reset the iPad and all was well.

 

Thursday, the kids were still getting out early, so we went over to Davis to the Raptor Center. It doesn't take much time to go through, but I think Joanna was quite interested. I walked over to look for a cache but there was a woman sitting in a car there. Then when we drove past she was gone and I said that, but Bernadette didn't stop. Oh, well, I'll look for it when I'm going down to San Jose.

 

Kim wants to meet with Trump! His Gridiron joke, about "how do you meet with a madman? That's not my problem, it's Kim's!" is coming true!

 

 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.