Sunday And Time For Fun!

Posted on Sunday, October 20, 2024 by Paul

We were on the road again!

The morning was fantastic, and we could see 100 miles.  There was not a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was forecasted to be 80 degrees.  We had a tiny breakfast and prepared to depart for the Elks at 11:30 am for their annual Christmas Boutique.

Amen!!

We drove leisurely to the Lodge, and the parking lot was packed! Oh My, this activity is becoming more popular every year.

We stumbled upon Robin and Bob, who must have used a time machine to beat us here!  We found Robin’s hair comb, which she had had for thirty years.  She left it at our place last Thursday, so we brought it today!

We met Robin and Bob at the Lodge!

We had a glass of wine before shopping just to loosen up!

I heard someone say, “The witch and the warlock are kissing again? They should get a broom!”

We are ready to go boutiquing!

Wall-to-wall people and booths (not booze!).  We went up and down each aisle examining the wares, some of which were quite clever!!

The house was packed!

The girls found matching scarves, and they came home with us, the girls, and the scarves.

The Bobbsey Twins

My job is bag carrier.  Notice the precise balance between bags and booze; it’s an acquired capability of which I am a grand master.

By the way, look at the shirt. It is a new acquisition from the OC Fair this summer—a High Seas Trading Company special!

I was left holding the bag!

When we stand together, it looks like someone’s paint pallette gone wild.  We are psychedelically challenged.  We did get a lot of comments from the passersby.

Correction! BAGS!

After an hour of serious shopping, we were tired and had to sit down and quench our thirst.  We have been sipping on this one glass of wine all afternoon long.

The kids are off to Disneyland for the rest of the afternoon, and we are going to Benji’s for lunch before they close.

We had a glass of vino before departing.

I told Mary, “Grab your broomstick so we can make a clean getaway.”

We left the lodge around 2:00 p.m. and headed to Benji’s in Tustin, a few miles away. We sat in the bar, and I took a selfie of us.

I have NO IDEA what Dr. Mary is doing because I was concentrating on getting the two of us in the frame.  She mumbled, “Ghouls just want to have fun”

This picture reminds me of Romeo and Ghouliet.

It is safer NOT to ask!!

I ordered a small pastrami sandwich, and they overachieved.  One-half of this puppy went to Jeff, our dear neighbor.  Mary had the chicken noodle soup with a matsaball, otherwise known as Jewish Penicillin!

Here are some fun facts about pastrami:

Origin: Pastrami originated in the Ottoman Empire as a jerky-like meat called pastirma. The name “pastrami” likely comes from the Romanian verb a p?stra, which means “to preserve” or “to keep”.

Immigration: Romanian immigrants brought the recipe to the United States in the late 19th century. They originally used goose breast, but switched to beef brisket because it was cheaper.

First pastrami sandwich: Sussman Volk, a Lithuanian immigrant and kosher butcher in New York, is credited with making the first pastrami sandwich in the United States in 1887.

Pastrami cuts: Pastrami is typically made from point brisket, which has more marbling and fat than the leaner flat brisket used for corned beef. Other cuts that can be used for pastrami include deckle, which is a lean shoulder cut, and navel, which is a juicier cut from the plate.

Pastrami color: Pastrami gets its distinctive pink color from being cured in a saltwater brine that includes spices. Red pastrami, also known as New England style pastrami, is rubbed with additional spices like coriander and paprika, and has a shorter cooking time.

National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day: January 14th is National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day.

Oh My!! Half went to Jeff (along with a Rootbeer Float)!

Upon returning home, we delivered lunch to Jeff and then napped until almost 6:00 p.m. We had to get up, or we would not have slept all night.

We watched “Diamonds Are Forever.”  Summary: Diamonds Are Forever is a 1971 spy film and the seventh film in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sixth and final Eon film to star Sean Connery, who returned to the role as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond, having declined to reprise the role in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969).

The film is based on Ian Fleming’s 1956 novel of the same name and is the second of four James Bond films directed by Guy Hamilton. The story involves Bond impersonating a diamond smuggler to infiltrate a smuggling ring and soon uncovering a plot by his old enemy, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, to use the diamonds to build a space-based laser weapon. Bond has to battle his enemy one last time to stop the smuggling and Blofeld’s plan to destroy Washington, D.C., and extort the world with nuclear supremacy.

 

Then we watched “You Only Live Twice”.  James Bond and the Japanese Secret Service must find and stop the true culprit of a series of space hijackings, before war is provoked between Russia and the United States.

At 11:00 pm, we declared victory and went to bed!  It’s been a great day!!

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It is Saturday Here In Orange!

Posted on Saturday, October 19, 2024 by Paul

Our carriage awaits!

What a glorious morning! The sun is up,  the birds are flying backward to see where they have been,  and we are on the right side of the grass!!  We finally managed to peel ourselves out of bed at the ungodly hour of 7:30 am – fashionably late for us!

We made coffee and then meandered through the garden, making mental notes of what we should do next time we get a chance. We picked a mess of eggplants, which we will process on Sunday afternoon after the Elks Christmas Boutique.

We do not know how the eggplants go there as we never heard the chickens!

Eggplants also contain vitamin B6, potassium, and folate. Eggplants are related to potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers. We call eggplants a vegetable, but they are considered a fruit. The state of New Jersey produces the most eggplants in the U.S.

The Eggplants are ready!

We finished our coffee and worked in the office before our massage!  The masseuse came about 11:00 am, and by 1:00 pm, we were both like wet noodles, relaxed and feeling good.

So, when you are feeling good, what do you want to do?  Mary eyed the kitchen and went to work with me, not far behind.  We made zoodles using our sprial doo-hickey machine!

Three turns of the crank, and we have zoodles!!

The term “zoodles” is a combination of the words “zucchini” and “noodles”. Other names for zoodles include zusketti and zuttuccine.  Zoodles are a nutritious, low-carb, and gluten-free alternative to pasta. They are high in fiber, vitamin C, potassium, and magnesium and are low in calories.

Zoodles galore.

When finished, we add this to the zoodles and have a “pasta” dinner without the carbs!  Mary’s Sous Chef does the slicin’ and dicin’; I understand he is a handsome devil!

The stuffing is coming along.

NOTE:  We love working in the kitchen together and we make a well oiled team and by now we can also anticipate what is needed next.  Mary likes it when I clean up as we go so when we sit down to dinner, the kitchen is 90% returned to normal (I charge a little extra for this service!!).

We are saving the zoodles until Sunday, but Mary stuffed some squash with the filling, which was terrific tonight.  The squash was picked two days ago.  We love having our garden.

Dinner time!

It was so good that I even ate the squash’s peel. We cut the squash in half and put it face down in a baking dish with 1/4 inch of water. Then, we microwaved it for seven minutes. It was soft, cooked, and ready to be stuffed.

How do squashes greet each other? Gourd to see you!

Beyond yummy!

After dinner, we meandered over to Jeff’s house and harassed him for a while. I changed the house lighting to “lightning,” which was pretty dramatic. I am waiting for the neighbors to complain. No other homes directly face our house, where we are situated on the block, so we are probably safe!

Mary grabbed her needlepoint, and we headed to the TV room to watch Dr. No.    Summary: In the film that launched the James Bond saga, Agent 007 (Sean Connery) battles mysterious Dr. No, a scientific genius bent on destroying the U.S. space program. As the countdown to disaster begins, Bond must go to Jamaica, where he encounters beautiful Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), to confront a megalomaniacal villain in his massive island headquarters.

Although Dr. No was the first Bond book to be made into a film, it was the sixth in Fleming’s series, which began with Casino Royale.

We crashed at 11:00 pm after watching “You Only Live Twice” with James Bond.  Summary:  During the Cold War, American and Russian spacecrafts go missing, leaving each superpower believing the other is to blame. As the world teeters on the brink of nuclear war, British intelligence learns that one of the crafts has landed in the Sea of Japan. After faking his own death, secret agent James Bond (Sean Connery) is sent to investigate. In Japan, he’s aided by Tiger Tanaka (Tetsuro Tamba) and the beautiful Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi), who help him uncover a sinister global conspiracy.

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Friday In Some Languages Means “On The Go!!”

Posted on Friday, October 18, 2024 by Paul

Hey, wait for me!!! As Mary says, ” Life’s a witch, and then you fly! “

The Alexa went off, and I damn near fell out of bed!  She said, “You have 45 minutes to get ready to take Precious to the doctor for her checkup!!”

Alexa was not talking about Mary; she was addressing Precious, the car that needed its 11,000-mile checkup. Apparently, even cars need some attention and care from the dealer!

We arrived at Tustin Lexus at 8:00 am and received a list of meds, including oil change, brake fluid change, rotating the tires, and other goodies.  These are NOT based on mileage but on time!  Precious was born in 2018.  The Silver Fox was born in 2020 and already has 50,000 miles on him!

When we got there, I made sure they knew that since it was near Halloween, we were just here for the boos.

We waited almost two and a half hours, but Mary was brilliant and had her needlepoint; I had my iPhone, which I used to reorganized pur security cameras and their associated floodlights.

They are located eight minutes from our home.

On the way home, the freeway was wide open, and we made it in nineteen minutes.  I looked down and saw the speedometer and was going FAST!  I told Mary, “I’m too old for this sheet!”

We had a small lunch, and then Mary went to a Zoom meeting as she is consulting with some doctors on a new medical device.  While that was happening. I spent an hour with my financial advisor.  Good news, we are up 13% for the year!!!

She is interacting with a Zoom group and providing some of her expertise on a new medical instrument.

After the Zoom, we went to Westminister to the Art Supply Warehouse, which has a Friday-Sun sale of 25% off all art supplies.  We got a shopping cart full of stuff, including watercolor paper, which is expensive!

Mary needed supplies!

On the way home, the freeway was wide open, and we made it in about 19 minutes!  I hauled the supplies up the stairs, which required seven trips.  Our pack dog, Scout, usually pressed into service for this type of work, was on his break!  BTW, his break is from 6:00 am until 10:30 pm!

Mary will have a great view from the Loft and get nice light from the Sun all day.

Her view from the Loft!

OK, we are ready to make millions.  I am thinking about putting her work on eBay.  If I put it in a $25 frame, I could sell them for perhaps  $10-20!  It’s pure profit.  Oops, I think my math is a little off.

She is ready to go!

It is 5:15 p.m., and The Silver Fox is revving his engine, ready for the excursion to the Santa Ana Elks down Highway 55. Backing out, I stepped on the electric gas peddle, and The Silver Fox let out a roar that terrified three aunts, two termites, and an earthworm.

The earthworm did not have a chance!!

We made it to the Elks just after Vicky and Jim arrived.   Our bottle of wine awaited us; we are creatures of habit.

At the Elks Lodge!

Dinner was terrific.  Mary had their Halibut, which was the size of a small car  (Pacific halibut are one of the largest flatfish—they can weigh up to about 500 pounds and grow to more than 8 feet long).  I opted for an Elk Burger, and we both dove into the beautiful salad bar.

Here’s looking at you, Babe! It was so fresh that Mary had to slap it three times.

Mary likes the Halibut since both eyes are on the same side.  Halibut are born with eyes on both sides of their head, but one eye migrates to the right side as they grow. This adaptation helps them blend into the ocean floor to avoid predators.

Tummies are full; it is time to dance!!

Ronnie thought he was a DJ, but for the first hour, the only thing dancing was the dust on his old records! We love Ronnie, and he plays waltzes just for us (and a few other old-timers).

Ronnie played a waltz for us.

Thumbs up, Paul made it through the dance without falling over!

We are creating a cloud of dust!

On the way home, we decided to stop at Aces, where Mary discovered she did not have her iPhone. So, in the middle of the night, in a blinding snowstorm with lightning flashing from all directions and thunder so loud that the fire engine siren could not be heard, I pointed The Silver Fox back to the Elks lodge.

I walked in, looked around, and nada, no iPhone.  We figured that someone would call us when they found it.

The Silver Fox returned to Orange despite the seven-foot-high snowbanks, downed power lines, and fallen trees. We shuffled into the house, and the lost iPhone was dead center on the bed just sitting there!

I said nothing; I just fell into bed, shaking my head.  The Silver Fox was in the garage drying out.  We crashed!  I went to sleep thinking about how to superglue Mary’s iPhone to her the next time we go out.

It was a night not fit for man nor beast!

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It’s Fall; The High Is 71 Degrees! YEAH!!

Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2024 by Paul

Mary is fixing breakfast!

We are retired!  We have zero commitments!  We are free-willed!   Then why do we get up at 6:30 am?  The world is full of puzzlements!  We are puzzled!

The doorbell rang, and we have deliveries!  It was NOT Santa but a nice man from UPS.  Our package was a brand new indestructible wine proof, oil proof and waterproof tablecloth for the breakfast room table (ask Mary why)!!

“
Heavy Duty Vinyl Tablecloth with Flannel Backing, Waterproof Oil-Proof Plastic Table, Cloth Stain-Resistant Wipeable

You guesses it, Mary had a spill yesterday.  The glass was full of wine and over it went all over the new linen tablecloth.  With lightning reaction, she grabbed the glass before it totally emptied saving three teaspoons of liquid gold (it was two-buck Chuck!).  She said it was NOT her falt; the glass fell over on its own because it was haunted!

Mary may have been right after all! They do look haunted!

We folded the clothes, fed the varmint, and I had a piece of cherry pie for dessert!  Then we got ready to go to girls’ night out at the Elks!

Before departure, we got a confirmation that a package sent to Tennessee had arrived!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECKY!!! Becky was Mary’s college roommate back in the dark ages when dinosaurs roamed the earth.  This is a special birthday as she turned LXXV (that is a secret code only known to Romans) and we wish for her to have a wonderful day.

Being in Tennessee these days, you go have a Goo Goo Cluster  and throw in some machine-made cotton candy (also known as Fairy Floss), Tennessee originals!

Remember what Mark Twain said, “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

You have a marvelous day, Ya Hear!!

Becky, we are practicing our “Southern” for the next time we visit!!

1. A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.
2. There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live in the South.
3. There are 10,000 types of spiders, all of which live in the South, plus a couple no one has seen before.
4. If it grows, it’ll stick ya. If it crawls, it’ll bite cha.
5. Onced and Twiced are words.
6. It is not a shopping cart; it is a buggy!
7. Jawl-P? Means: Did you all go to the bathroom?
8. People actually grow, eat, and like okra.
9. Fixinto is one word. It means I’m going to do something.
10. There is no such thing as lunch. There is only dinner, and then there’s supper.
11. Iced tea is appropriate for all meals; you start drinking it when you’re two. We do like a little tea with our sugar. It is referred to as the Wine of the South.
12. Backwards and forwards means I know everything about you.
13. The word jeet is actually a question meaning, ‘Did you eat?’
14. You don’t have to wear a watch, because it doesn’t matter what time it is, you work until you’re done or it’s too dark to see.
15. You don’t PUSH buttons; you MASH them.
16. Y’all is singular. All Y’all is plural.
17. All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect, or animal.
18. You carry jumper cables in your car for your OWN car.
19. You only own five spices: salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning, Tabasco, and ketchup.
20. The local papers cover national and international news on one page but require six pages for local high school sports, motorsports, and gossip.
21. Everyone you meet is a Honey, Sugar, Miss (first name), or Mr (first name)
22. You think deer season’s first day is a national holiday.
23. You know what a hissy fit is.
24. Fried catfish is the other white meat.
25. We don’t need no dang Driver’s Ed. If our mama says we can drive, we can drive!!!
26. You understand these jokes and forward them to your Southern friends and those who just wish they were from the South.
And one more:
27. Why did the chicken cross the road? To show that stupid possum that it CAN be done!

We took a quick walk in the garden looking for tonight’s dinner and found these beauties!  Green Beans fresh off the bush cannot be beaten!

So fresh!!!

We planted some winter veggies and then covered them with mulch to protect them against the sun/heat!  These tomatoes are still producing.

Just planted yesterday!

The departed to the Elks at 11:30 am for our weekly Girls’ Night Out session.  We got there early and got a couple of pictures of us for a change!  Look carefully, they are NOT matching shirts but they come fairly close!

At the Elks!

The guys were in rare form today.  We carried on and did a lot of laughing and giggling.  Bill Capps came in around 1:00 pm, we waited for him.

Bob, George and Bob getting ready to depart after Girls Night Out!

Will, Iris, and Bill Capps were also there today making for a lively set of conversations!

Next week we are going to ask Jan Mongell to join us one more time.  If she will join us, we will go visit her while bee-bopping around the neighborhood!

The Lodge Lobby was ready for Halloween!

The Lodge is decorated and ready receive guests for the Halloween Ball on the 26th!

Mr. Tall was in the corner and will be yelling Boo to everyone coming in and out of the Lodge.

BOO!

Robin came over and we talked to Colleen and Mark on the BatPhone!  She has had her in-laws visiting for the last several days so she was ready to relax.

It’s great to video the kids!

Colleen and Robin coordinate the Christmas season because Colleen is coming out for Paul’s surprise birthday party and will be here for about ten days!

Robin was ready to relax after a day in the nut house (Boeing)

Time to dine, the girls get busy chopping, slicing, and dicing.   Mary had some peppers in the garden and they are going to be stuffed tonight!  Paul supervises meaning I set the table, keep the wine glasses full, and generally kibitz.

Mary and Robion work together well in the kitchen.

The house is smelling great and poor Scout is going wild.

OPne half of the stuffing is ready to go!

The peppers, fresh from the garden, are being prepared to be stuffed.

The bell peppers are ready to be nuked!

Oh my, they were outstanding.  The two ladies know how to make dinner!

Use happy peppers, that is the secret ingredient!

We had a salad from the garden, bell peppers, and a lot of sharing for dinner… you can’t beat that!

Paul went for seconds at least once!!

By 9:00 pm we were all tired and decided to retire.  Scout came inside and curled up by the fireplace for a long winters nap!

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Mary Visits Old Friends!

Posted on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 by Paul

Mary is visiting two “old” friends.

7:30 am, and we are up and heading to the kitchen for the heart-starting coffee!!  We have a new blend called “Halloween Surprise” (or something like that).  It tasted pretty good when mixed with milk and bat saliva (it is Halloween time).

Mary is brunching at Polly’s Pies with her old work buddies. She is trying to avoid talking about the one time they all wore matching Hawaiian shirts to the office. Let’s hope they stick to discussing the delicious food instead!

I, being the dutiful house-husband (and part-time slave), stayed home and made a cherry pie, cleaned the house, washed the dog, alphabetically sorted the spices, did two loads of washing, changed the air in the tires, changed clothes so I would look presentable, and baked some tookies, hoping her friends would drop by for a visit.

Why did the pie go to the dentist? Because it needed a filling.

On the bright side, I lost three pounds! Now, I just need to find where I left them. I was like a one-legged man at a tow-tapping contest!

Mary was off, and I was working my fingers to the bone.

Polly’s Pies was an excellent choice!

Breakfast was super, according to Mary, so we now have a new place to go!

It was a fantastic meeting of old friends.

Mary’s friends had other things to do and went their merry way.  Well, at least the house is cleaned up for our cleaning people who are coming later in the afternoon.

The restaurant was two blocks from Trader Joe’s, so Mary stopped to shop, getting some meat and two-buck Chuck!

Before leaving the house, we sliced off a piece of the cherry pie and took it to Jeff.

Jeff loves cherry pie!

We then went to Home Depot because we have room in the garden and wanted to get a set of hooks to hang on the block wall to hold the tools we often use on the patio!

We met an old friend who was on a severe diet.  He had lost 150 pounds and was only 160 to start with.  His name is Bones!

We headed to Home Depot to get some veggies for the garden!

While at Home Depot, we discovered they had pumpkins, so we began collecting them for our annual pumpkin carving day coming up on the 27th.  So far, we have seven RSVPs (The Adams family, the Duda family, and Irene) and are awaiting Zack, Joe, and Connor’s reply.  We hope the Zaitz will also join us.

We found a Scout decoration that will soon sit on the front steps during the season.

A little doggie came home with us.

When we arrived home, Domi and the cleaning crew were just arriving, around 4:00 pm.

After suiting up in our finest grubbies, we bravely ventured into the wilds of our garden to embark on the noble quest of planting twenty new veggies in the uncharted territory of our available space. It was a daring adventure filled with dirt, determination, and the occasional wayward worm who seemed rather surprised by our sudden invasion of their territory.

We received a text from Arizona. The campers, Beck and family, were trying out their new equipment, and their puppies went along.

Someone went camping!

The sun had set, and Mary and I were busy shelling the beans into Mason jars on the patio.

Beans beans the musical fruit, the more you eat the more …………

YouTube had some great ideas to assist Mary in her next bean harvesting effort…

Guess what Mary is getting for Christmas, a bean combine!

We had a great idea: why not turn on the patio TV? We installed it two years ago but have never used it. The controller’s batteries were dead, so we quickly remedied the situation.

With a push of a button, we were watching “To Russia With Love,” a 1960s James Bond thriller. We sat outside on the patio until all the beans were shelled and were halfway through “Dr. No” before going inside. It was 10:00 p.m. when we hit the sack!

We sat in our comfy patio chairs, sipped our vino and watched TV!

The beans are now safe and sound in their little jar and will be put in the pantry to await their moment of glory when they become bean soup!

Lots of work but worth the effort.

Time to hit the sack, Mary zoomed around locking the doors, bringing in Scout and brushing her tooth!

Mary flew off to Neverland, and we slept for hours!

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Look Out Picasso and DeVinci, Here Comes Mary!

Posted on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 by Paul

It’s true, Mary goes back to school today!

We were up around 7:30 am this morning, both tired from yesterday’s dry run!  We had toast and coffee and then got ready for Dianne to visit the homestead and check out the decorations!

Mary checked and rechecked her watercolor equipment before her first class today. Little did she know that I substituted vodka for her water; this should be interesting!

Scout posed for a painting!

Dianne came over to see the decorated house, and I introduced her to “I Spy.” We had an I Spy Halloween on the table!  I Spy is a children’s book series with text written by Jean Marzollo and photographs by Walter Wick, which Scholastic Press published. Each page contains a photo with objects, and the riddles (written in dactylic tetrameter rhyme) accompanying the photo state which objects must be found.

You thought it was easy, huh?

After Dianne departed, we got ready for the first watercolor class.

Mary got dropped off, and I headed back home; I had some ideas! The class ended at 3:15 p.m., and her chauffeur awaited her arrival. I was a few minutes late, and Mary was sitting out front tapping her toes!

Headed for the Louvre in Paris!

We went directly to Michael’s, where it was framed!

It shall reside in a place of honor!

From Michael’s, we went to the market to get salad fixings for tonight’s potato and chicken pot pie; yummy!  We wanted to get pumpkins for pumpkin carving, but the trunk was too full of artists supplies so we saved that errand until tomorrow. of

We will get them Wednesday before they are sold out!

So, what did I do while Mary was relaxing with her newfound hobby?  I WORKED, SLAVED, CARRIED, ARRANGED, UNWRAPPED, STAGED, and made twenty trips up and down the precarious stairway, risking life and limb with every step to what we fondly use to call “the ballroom.”

Mary mentioned she might require a toll to enter the new domain!

Now, it is referred to as “the exalted imperial unapproachable loft.”

It is complete with a wide-screen TV, an Alexa music source, natural lighting from morning to night, and an intercom so that she can shout orders to her sous-painter.

We fixed dinner, and after dinner, we practiced our perambulation by bringing dinner to Jeff. Since it was a little late for him, Mary fixed his dinner, and we watched TB ingurgitate his meal! We stayed and talked for an hour before going to our palatial digs, now complete with a “loft.”

We have a pool shark in the family.  Colleen sent us a picture to our new internet connected frame, showing Calhan taking on Minnesota Fats on Mark’s pool table!

I think he is playing pool against the band!  He is winning!!

We crashed a little early after I took Mary’s new pillows and covered them.  After sleeping on them in the Bar Harbor hotel, the new pillows were her idea.  She retrieved the name of the company and ordered two for us.

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False Alarm! Reset!

Posted on Monday, October 14, 2024 by Paul

We were up in the middle of the night, getting ready to go!

We got up at the crack of dawn,   4:00 am, to get ready for the surgery center.  Irene joined us at 5:00 am, and we left at 6:00 am.  The freeway was already full, but we made good time, arriving at 6:40 am.  Irene did not want Mary waiting alone while the procedure was underway, she is a sweetheart!

We checked in, and I went to the preparation room and got into my gown.  They wired me up, took the vitals, and I waited.  As the nurse was shaving my arm, she noticed I had a scab over the place where the operation was going to be performed.

She called the doctor, and he looked at it, shook his head, and canceled the surgery! He was afraid of an infection; better safe than sorry!

Hook me up, baby!!

Darn the luck; now we have to wait two more weeks.

What else was there to do except go to Benji’s in Tustin for breakfast?  The three of us had a delightful breakfast.  I ordered the “Deli Omelet” thinking it would be small; WRONG, it was the size of Catalina!

The Deli Omelette at Benji’s was humungous!

We came home and worked in the office until 5:00 pm, when we called Colleen.  She was busy with the inlaws, so we visited for just a few minutes.

Mary created dinner using a leftover chicken pot pie with two pounds of chicken added.  We put the frozen food into the microwave for 15 minutes and then added a package of shredded chicken with the unfrozen chicken pot pie into a large bowl.  Into the new air fryer at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, and we were ready to go.

It was so very good I went back for more!!

Being a creative person, she did not leave well enough alone. She added a bag of small potatoes to the mix. Dinner was ready, and it was outstanding.

We watched the last movie Burt Reynolds made before going to bed.  I hit the sack at 8:30 pm because I was up half the night preparing for the non-surgery!

Good night all!!

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Why Is She Doing That?

Posted on Sunday, October 13, 2024 by Paul

Mary offered me anything I would like for breakfast! Is this my last meal??

I was up at 6:36 am, and Mary was up about twenty minutes later.  We had our coffee in the office, and Mary did a final check on our website that has our recent trip to the East Coast.  She also proofed my Daily Dairy from last night.

It must be Fall as Alexa announced it would only be 75 degrees today; it’s time to wrap up in a bankey and watch TV by the fireplace.

I made my “last meal” selection: Tacos from Del Taco for lunch.  I could live like every day is Taco Tuesday! Later in the day, Mary will prepare turkey legs for an early dinner.    I can’t eat anything after 9:00 pm because of tomorrow’s surgery.

Mary had a real breakfast while I gorged on three hard-shelled tacos with the El Diablo hot sauce! What do you call a semi-aquatic reptile that loves Mexican food? A tacodile!

Taco’s for my last meal?

From Del Taco, we went VFR to Ralph’s Market for a quart of milk.  Oh my, we ended up with a load of groceries.  It took us four trips from the trunk to the kitchen.

I had one job: writing expiration dates on all the incoming goodies. I guess you could say I had a ‘good’ job! But I had to be quick, or else the goodies would go wrong while I was still writing!

We carefully crammed all the goodies into the frig after removing the science projects and other food green colors (that were not vegetables).

At 2:00 pm, Mary began fixing dinner, peeling onions and bell peppers for the turkey legs.   These puppies were nice and big and were ready for cooking.  They must have belonged to a 100-pound bird!  Perhaps they were mislabeled and it was really a turka-saurus ot a thunder lizard?

The onions and bell peppers will be amazing after cooking with the birdie legs!

Mary put them in the oven for an hour at 350 F covered, then for 30 minutes covered with the veggies added, and finally for 30 minutes with the foil removed!

Mama made the most incredible turkey legs! They turned brown after the cover was removed.

Meanwhile, we set up and activated our new air fryer from Amazon.  We have an Emeril Lagasse 26 QT extra large air fryer and a convection toaster oven with French doors, all in excellent stainless steel.  It fits perfectly in the corner of the kitchen!

Our new air fryer+

The advertisement looks better!

The turkey legs were made in the conventional over THIS TIME.

Perfect!!!

Mary also made some freshly picked green beans that were amazing.

The potatoes came from the new air fryer at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, and we were ready to eat.

Tummies became full quickly!!

We made extra turkey legs for Dianne and Jeff and took the legs to Jeff before hitting the sack.

Irene is coming to be with Mary tomorrow and will be here at 5:30 am.  She is such a great friend!  Besides, Scout will be pleased; Irene is his new best friend!!

I may have a short daily diary entry tomorrow because of the operation, but  I’ll be there!

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A Great Saturday!

Posted on Saturday, October 12, 2024 by Paul

We were up at 5:30 am and got coffee ready to get our hearts started!  Then came the phone call, “We will be there in twenty minutes!”  The grandkids are coming over to tear out the summer garden!  Oh my!  Mary headed to the kitchen to make muffins to fire up their engines.

Before I went outside, Mary made me try on my Halloween costume.  It fit, and now I look like a secret agent in disguise! Watch out, world!

Perhaps I should carry a flag??

The boys came over, attacked the garden, and filled 250 gallons of summer veggie remains.

Joe was going to watch (i.e., supervise), but alas, you can’t keep a good man down.  It was exciting to see summer gone and room for winter!

They cleared it out pretty fast!

Joe rototilled the big garden as the others can be done by hand (after the operation).  Being part house-apes, the boys jumped up and down on the trash cans and were stuffed to the brim!

He did not find any dead bodies nor gold, pretty uneventful!

Joe washed down, and the sky opened as if saying, “You did a good job!”

Ready for winter!

We are so fortunate to have our son, Joe, close by.  I never thought I would be so old that I would have to ask for help.  Joe and the boys (and his wonderful wife) are an old man’s dream!  What is more important is that I see my son working with his sons and hopefully teaching them all the lessons I tried to pass on to Joe. 

In the afternoon, we rested and watched two YouTube videos about Monday’s operation.  If you are queasy, skip the video!. I am already practicing my moaning.

We went to the Elks via Dianne’s house at 5:00 pm for Italian Night.  Doors open at 5:30 pm with an Italian buffet, then dancing from 6:00 to 9:00 pm with the band Tropic Star. The evening starts with hand-passed prosciutto & melon balls and bruschetta on grilled baguettes. The buffet includes an antipasto salad bar, minestrone soup, spaghetti & meatballs, chicken Marsala, chicken picatta ravioli, seafood pasta with shrimp, scallops, clams, mussels, and calamari, rice pilaf, and vegetables. There’s a rolling pizza cart with freshly baked pizza! For dessert, it’s spumoni ice cream served with Italian cookies, plus a coffee and liquor cart.

We popped over and got Dianne, and we were off.  The Elks is only twelve minutes from Dianne’s home.

Vicky was already there and had a table almost big enough for the gang. Dianne and Mary wore their Halloween bonnets!

Ready to carry on!

The first dance was for Mike and Bridgette.

Mike and Bridgette take our breath away!

We missed two couples, but they found a table near us. We also missed the Capps (Bill and Mary) and the Zaitz (Bob and Donna), who were home with medical issues.

The gang is all here!

Iris sat across from us, and she was, as always, a hoot. She has a quick wit and is as sharp as a tack!

She is going to be 98 this New Year’s Eve,

We asked her age again, and, being the clever devil she is, she turned the Table #66 sign upside down and gave us a “99”.

While the girls were line dancing, Iris got up and departed the table without Wil.  I thought this odd, so I followed her and picked up her arm mid-dance floor.  She was headed to the Loo, so I escorted her to and from the facilities.  She thanked me, and I asked her for a dance.

That woman has moves that have not been seen on this Earth for seventy years!  She escorted me back to the table and called Mary to get the oxygen bottle out for me!!

Oops! Maybe 99, but who is counting?

While talking about numbers, Vicky flashed us her 44s!  Huh?  VICKY!!!  We are telling….but there is no one to tell at our age!

Vicky indicated 44?!?!?

The menu called out calamari, but we found no calamari as we went through the line.  John, the Lodge General Manager, popped by every table, and I asked him about the calamari.  He said it was in the pasta.  Not missing a beat, Dianne said, “Oh my, you are right… I found ONE right here!”.

John nodded his head, smirked, and departed.  We thought nothing more about it, but fifteen minutes later, Dianne was presented with a large plate with a steaming pile of hot directly from the kitchen calamari!  Oh my, we polished off the plate by passing it around the table!   Thank you, John; you are amazing.

Tropic Star did an excellent job last night, providing music for everyone but the teenie boppers (the under-30 crowd). We danced everything from the Waltz to the Merengue and many line dances in between.

I love the bonnet!

Did I say line dancing?  Our group showed the others how it was done!

Go, Girls.  You too Mike1

Mary and Dianne had a great time twisting and turning; it must be nice to be young!

She was stirring up the dust!

The staff posed the following sign on the dance floor when they saw “the fearsome foursome” moving in unison toward the floor!

Lodge members scampered back to their seats!

Then came the fearsome foursome.  Oh my!  Legs were flying, 911 was being alerted, and ambulances were on the ready!  Someone yelled, “Is there a doctor in the house??”  Mary was on standby!

The room began to shake, the lights dimmed, the TVs blinked, and the action started!

Someone else yelled, “Lights, camera, action!”

What are they doing?

Beware. This video is NOT for the faint of heart!

Dianne and I hit the floor, and Bob Carlson came over and filled in Dianne’s dance card.

Dancing the light fantastic! (She checked, and there were no marks on her shoes afterward!)

Good Night

Posted in Dancing, Dining Out, Elks, Family, Friends, Gardening | Leave a comment

Getting Serviced!

Posted on Friday, October 11, 2024 by Paul

Alexa woke me up at 6:30 am.  I jumped out of bed, scratched my head, and wondered what she wanted.  After a few minutes, I remembered that the Silver Fox needed his 50,000th-mile checkup.  I had an appointment at Tustin Lexus at 8:00 am.

OK, I got dressed, brushed my tooth, took our guard dog outside, and departed.  Before I left, my dearest bride got up and gave me today’s “to-do list.”

When I return home, expected around 10:30 am, we will go to my foot doctor and then off to the American Legion for lunch.

The Lexus dealer suggested a wheel alignment and AC filter replacement, so we added those to the list. They were done within 10 minutes of their estimate. Tustin Lexus is a first-class operation!

How did Precious get here before me?

I checked when Precious should come in for her annual makeover. She is due to have 13,000 miles on her.

We decided to take Precious since she stays home most of the time and needs a good run!

The poor ol’ gal only has 13,000 miles on her!

We departed home at 11:00 am after talking to Carlos, our Landscaper.  He is excellent and knows his stuff.  We tried to get Carlos to trim some flowers out front, but he said, “Nope! You must wait 30 days until the blooms are gone!”  Who is going to argue with him? Probably anyone with a death wish! Not me, for sure; I want to have lunch first!!

We drove to Newport and met with Dr. Bill, our podiatrist friend. He trimmed my toes, as the nails were thick and hard to cut. We shared our recent vacations with him, and he will also join us at the Halloween Ball at the Elks!

We are off to lunch at the American Legion! We got the last parking spot and tried Mary’s new entrance pass.

Try and try again!

Today, the fog and overcast were still playing hide and seek with the bay, so we did the sensible thing and sought refuge in the bar. It turns out, our eyesight may not have improved, but at least our spirits did!

It was not necessarily cold, but it was damp! Just like my enthusiasm for Monday mornings.

The inside was warm and toasty.  We ordered a turkey club and a burger and had them cut both in half so we could share. It worked out well, as both were delicious, and we also shared coleslaw and fries!

Lucille’s purse (Jeff’s wife, who passed away in 2020) has traveled again!

On our way home, we stopped at Ace’s to play country music on the jukebox and have a glass of wine before attacking the front yard and setting up the last Halloween decorations.

The clientele likes our music!

Now, we got on our grubbies and went back to work! Some people worked, and others lounged around on the grass, attempting to arrange the tie-downs!

It’s a fight, and I do not know who is winning!

Mary checks for leaks and then puts on the waterproof electrical boxes. If the water starts rising, at least the electrical boxes will be ready for a swim!

It’s up and inflated; Mary is the winner!  The box said it has LED lights inside, so we will have to wait until later to find out.

Next, we unroll Mr. Ghost, who stands nine feet tall!!  Mary has a brilliant suggestion!  She said, “Let’s put it on the patio table. That way, it will be safe, tall enough to look over the fence and away from the gardener!”

BOO!!

We can now relax!

The orange flag now officially waves over the old homestead!

One last change: we took down the “We The People” flag and replaced it with the Mary and Paul Halloween.

We are watching classic movies, so we watched “African Queen” circa 1951. After the religious spinster’s (Katharine Hepburn) missionary brother is killed in WWI Africa, the dissolute steamer captain (Humphrey Bogart) offers her safe passage. She’s unsatisfied, so she persuades him to destroy a German gunboat. The two spend most of their time fighting with each other rather than the Germans. Time alone on the river leads to love.

It was great to watch it again!

Then we watched “Goldfinger,”  produced in 1964. The first James Bond blockbuster, this film follows 007 as he investigates Auric Goldfinger, a gold magnate suspected of smuggling England’s gold reserves. The film was a financial success, grossing over $120 million worldwide. It was also the first Bond film to win an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing. 

I like Miss Galore!

Now, the yard is looking great!  Mr. Ghost will scare the spooks away on Halloween!

Now, we are officially spooky!

Mary wanted to work on her needlepoint, so we watched “Thunderball.”  Led by one-eyed evil mastermind Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), the terrorist group SPECTRE hijacks two warheads from a NATO plane and threatens widespread nuclear destruction to extort 100 million pounds. The dashing Agent 007, James Bond (Sean Connery), is sent to recover the warheads from the heart of Largo’s lair in the Bahamas, facing underwater attacks from sharks and men alike. He must also convince the enchanting Domino (Claudine Auger), Largo’s mistress, to become a key ally.

Who is whom, and where are they?

It is 10:30 pm, and we are done!  Time for bed!

Mary is off to bed, and I am attempting to follow her!

 

Posted in Doctor, Fun, Holidays, Just Us, Movies, Working Around House | Leave a comment