It’s Friday And I Am Unsupervised Again! Oh Dear!

Posted on Friday, September 17, 2021 by Paul

A bright eye indicates curiosity; a black eye, too much.

We are up at 6:00 AM getting ready to send Mary to work. Robin is still crashed from last night. And little old me is trying to get the networks working!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Off To Work At 6:00 AM; What?

Posted on Thursday, September 16, 2021 by Paul

I was in my Finnish Neighbours shed yesterday, waiting to jump out and surprise him. It’s was like a sauna in there.

The cuckoo went off at 6:00 AM, not the clock, my bride. She said, “get dressed; it’s off to the shed with you.” I had grand visions of what was about to happen, and then she said, “OK big guy, empty the shed and let us go through the boxes. Crest-fallen, I dutifully began the job of unloading 4,678 boxes. OK, maybe not that many, but enough to make me get halfway through at 9:30 AM.

The “She Shed” has character!

Well, perhaps this is NOT the She Shed. There is a lot more where this came from!! So the yard looked like this after halfway through the process.

Half-way emptied!

Scout was confused; he thought he had seen the last of the boxes in the house. On the bright side, there are more things to sniff! We fooled him!!!

The boxes keep coming!

The little girl was afraid the big bad daddy would throw her things out, but it did not happen. We are making progress!

Do not throw away my stuff, please!

At 9:30 AM, we ceased boxing and got cleaned up so we could go to the Girls Night Out! We were already tired as we had moved and found lamps, kitchen utensils, sheets for the double bed, and a lot more goodies. I turned off the water so we could leave the boxes out overnight and continue our work on Saturday!

To the Elks for fun with the gang! They had oysters today, so I ordered some for myself. When Iris arrived, she was shocked as she loves oysters; I shared. Then I got another other, and we shared, and then I got another order, and we shared. The two of us finished off 36 oysters.

They are sometimes referred to as “Sea Boogers”

I told Iris, “Oysters never donate to charity. They’re shellfish.” Well, Iris retorted, “Couldn’t find my pet oyster the other day. Think he was using clamouflage.”

Paul & Iris eat the Afro-D-Z-Axe!

I surprised Iris and sent another order home with her and asked for a report tomorrow morning on how the evening went! I am a little devil! Please note that recent research has shown that oysters have developed an advanced method of communication. They use shell phones.

A dozen on the half-shell! My oyster used to be shy, then one day, he came out of his shell.

Iris did remind me of the old saying about oysters! That is, “Oysters are the most tender and delicate of all seafood. They stay in bed all day and night. They never work or take exercise, are stupendous drinkers, and wait for their meals to come to them.”

Did You Know? Oysters are extremely rich in zinc, which is essential for testosterone production and the maintenance of healthy sperm. And even though women have much less testosterone than men, it also plays a crucial part in the female libido. Oysters also boost dopamine, a hormone that increases libido in both men and women.

Maybe I should have warned Will!

It was her fifteenth oyster; I was getting a little worried!

We had a table full, and we laughed and giggled through lunch. We asked the chef to come out and gave him a standing ovation. The food is magnificent; first class!!!

Perhaps a cup of coffee for the road?

Linda and Mike Ash joined us, and that is always a pleasure. Linda, like Mary, enjoys wearing hats, so they compared notes!

MAry had better wear a hat next time!

We had dessert, although some took theirs home with them! Mary and I shared a key lime pie! Did you know that you can get a slice of lemon pie in Cuba for $1.50, and in Jamaica, you can get key lime pie for $1.00? Those are the pie rates of the Caribbean.

Even the presentation was beautiful!

We were supposed to go home and water the dog then head to Patty’s Place, but my back was killing me by the time I got home. Too many boxes were moved this morning. I got into the hot tub and took some Aleve. It worked as I felt much better after getting out.

On the way to the hot tub, Mary tripped over a chair we were cleaning earlier and went face-first into the patio bricks. She skinned her cheek under the left eye. After the hot tub, I got her into her jammies, and we watched a movie. Now she has a shiner.

Robin and Pam called from PAtty’s to see how I was doing. We really wanted to join them for dinner but alas, we will have to reschedule.

Pam worked with me for years, she was a software quality control wizard!

At 8:30 PM, I put Mary to bed since she has to work tomorrow, and I waited up for Robin.

Robin and I talked for a while before we crashed. I did have the two chip shots which our bartender sent home with her.

Posted in Dining Out, Food and Wine, Friends, Working Around House | Leave a comment

I Am Having A Mid-Week Crisis!

Posted on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 by Paul

I changed my password to “incorrect.” So whenever I forget what it is, the computer will say, “Your password is incorrect.”

We were up by 7:00 AM and walked Five Miles. We giggled and talked for the entire time; life is indeed good! Returning home, we headed for the work areas; Mary to the patio and Moi (French for me) to the office.

Lin stopped by at 11:00 AM, and we worked for three hours attempting to make all the computers talk to each other; it was worse than a bad family reunion! We finally have the printers working and all the Mac’s can see each other but not without effort.

Mary and Dianne got together and made reservations for a toenail party (known as a pedicure). After showing the following picture to Joe, I was asked to “Turn in my ‘Man Card’ and to destroy all evidence this picture ever existed.”

Paul, Mary, and Dianne are doing our thing!

We asked Dianne to join us for a glass of vino after the session, and she said yes. We sat around the nation table and devoured a box of crackers and some cheeses for quite a while. It was almost dark when Dianne departed, so I did not get to empty the She Shed, but that will start in the morning. We are going on a treasure hunt!

The backyard looks pretty good, and we asked our landscaper to rip out the petunias and put in vinca roseas and impatiens. Tomorrow we may do one garden ourselves to see what it is like to replant. I snapped a shot of the backyard as we retired.

We have five more boxes of fairy lights like the ones in the far corner. They may go up after we replace the petunias!.

As I went inside, I also snapped a picture of the hibiscus, which is finally thriving after we almost did him in!

The flowers are beginning to reappear!

Time to crash! Tomorrow is going to be a full day!

Posted in Friends, Working Around House | Leave a comment

Tuesday And We Are Running Errands!

Posted on Tuesday, September 14, 2021 by Paul

A fire hydrant has H-2-O on the inside and K-9-P on the outside.

Mary had to Zoom today, so she was up and in the shower before my eyes opened. But let me regress. At 3:00 AM, I heard what I thought was a mouse and popped open my eyes only to find Dr. Mary was rousting about working on party decorations; she said she could not sleep! Being a dutiful spouse, I arose, moved my nightcap to the side so I could see, and assisted her. She put batteries in the light strings, and then we crashed.

9:30 AM, and the Zoom meeting was underway. Mary is the Seargent-At-Arms (and a past president) of the Professional Networking with Integrity group. PNI is an organization, that provides a structured networking program to allow members to form purposeful relationships with fellow professionals and grow their businesses through referrals.

I always try to listen in because they have interesting things to talk about!

Keeping time-tabs on the speakers is her job!

After the zoom, we headed to the rock market. We will remodel the fireplace before Halloween, and we need to select the stone for the mason to use. We went to Placentia on his recommendation; Their stones were magnificent.

“I will take a dozen!”

We had oodles to choose from, and there were more outside. We brought home some samples.

Choices!!

Mary had the specifications with her so we could get a cost estimate. It is a little pricey to go with the real stone, but we want to do it!

She used metric, and you know these doctors!

From there, we went to the pool store and got new filters for the swim spa. I will put them in tomorrow and keep the old ones as spares after I clean them. Then to the market and cleaners.

We had lunch at home made from delicacies from the frig! It was wonderful and Mary created another great salad from the yard! Life is good. Mary asked me, “What would you do with epileptic lettuce?” I of course replied, ” You make a seizure salad!”

Tim and Brenda had their baby daughter, so Mary decided to make some cupcakes, and we walked down the street two doors to deliver them. Mary mentioned that she is a doctor, and we gave the young couple our names and numbers just in case.

Mary did remind me that, “A balanced diet is having a cupcake in each hand.”

Perhaps we should keep our day jobs and NOT go into the cake decorating business1

Back home, Mary decided to take a nap, and I fought with the computer setup. We now have three iMacs, two relatively new PCs, and a myriad of tablets and smart TVs. It is a challenge to keep everything going! Tomorrow we are calling a computer wizard to help us! I am sure a computer scientist is someone who fixes things that aren’t broken.

We checked the time, and it was wine o’clock. After a short call to Colleen, we hobbled across the street to visit Jeff. During the visit, two neighbors popped in, and we talked about the upcoming party; we are pretty sure they will be joining us.

Relaxing with our neighbor!

Jeff and I share a lot in common, one of which is a nice drinkie-poo at 5:00 PM! We have, by careful scientific research, that it is always 5:00 PM somewhere!

The three of us yuck it up and share stories of yesteryear when dinosaurs roamed the world!

We returned home after dark. Mary held my hand so I would not be scared. We decided it would be nice to take a dip in hot water and make some people-soup. Scout gets worried when we come out with our robes on!

The evening was pleasant, and our two Arab neighbors came over to see what was going on. They both have brand new burkas!

It was still in the 70s when we dived into the hot water!

After an hour in hot water, we looked like two prunes! M-m-m-m-m-m, come to think of it, at our age, we looked like prunes before we went into the hot water. I was a little taken aback when Mary suggested I save money on costumes this Halloween. Looking at my gloriously naked body, she suggested I go to the costume party as a Shar-Pei. She does have a point!

She is right again!

I took the iPhone outside and captured a shot from the spa. These evenings are wonderful.

Our view from the spa (as seen through our bedroom window)

We made it safely inside and deposited our empty wine glasses in the dishwasher before retiring for the evening.

Scout just shook his head!

The nice hot water is very relaxing, and in fact, we didn’t even turn in the TV! The last sound I heard was me hitting the pillow!

Posted in Food and Wine, Friends, Working Around House | Leave a comment

Monday Has Arrived And I Am Alone Unsupervised Again!

Posted on Monday, September 13, 2021 by Paul

There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don’t allow yourself to become one of them.

It’s Monday, so be prepared for my musical selection of the week!

Did You Know? The song was written by White, Medora, and Singer in 1957 when Danny & the Juniors were still called The Juvenairs. Initially called “Do the Bop,” the song was heard by Dick Clark, who suggested they change the band name to the Juniors and the chorus from “Let’s all do the Bop” to “Let’s go to the Hop.”After performing the song on Clark’s show American Bandstand, it gained popularity and went to the top of the US charts, remaining at number one for five weeks. The song describes the scene at a record hop, particularly the dances being performed and the interaction with the disc jockey host.We walked Five Miles and stopped to take a picture of our favorite mosquito. He belongs to a nature photographer who lives around the block from us. “Whimsical,” I believe he said when we asked about his collection of front yard decorations.

The huge mosquito was eyeing Paul’s tender legs!

Mary headed to work, and I worked for hours in the office, hiding the electrical connections, filing papers, and paying bills. I finally had to tell Verizon to send me paper bills as their connection to BofA was not working; three months later, I got a message that my bill was late! I gave them the what for and finally changed back to reliable paper.

Around 3:00 PM, I headed to CVS to pick up a prescription and then to the cleaners. ON the way, I stopped at Ralph’s and decided to fix dinner for my working lady. She mentioned she liked Chicken Pot Pie,” so I did it. I am NOT the neatest chef in the world, but the results were super.

I did get a little stressed and screamed at my colander, and now I have a strained voice!

I made a mess!

Scout, a.k.a Five Miles, was going wild as I took the meat off the roasted chicken. I broke down and few him a couple of bits. After all, he did keep the elephants away from the backyard all day!

I gave Scout some chicken and then I gave him some garlic by accident. Now his bark is worse than his bite.

Wisenheimer!!!

Mary called at 5:00 PM and was on her way home, so I panicked and got things cleaned up! She could not tell Hurricane Paul had just come through.

The results were amazing!

Mary was amazed, and she could smell my cooking clear into the garage! She was NOT sure what it was, but it smelled good! We dined immediately, and she was amazed (so was I). I told Mary about the incident where a fly got stuck in the strainer. I exclaimed, “You got yourself in a fine mesh.”

We went into the backyard after dinner and set up the party lights. We are going to need additional lighting. A call to Chuck or Joe may be necessary! We crashed early without the spa, Mary was pooped out when she got home; but, well fed!

Posted in Working Around House | Leave a comment

Sunday was Another Busy Work And Play Day!

Posted on Sunday, September 12, 2021 by Paul

Smile more than you cry, give more than you take, and love more than you hate.

The year is moving quickly!!!

First things first, I raised our flag back to full-mast and then took in the trash cans. Meanwhile, Mary cleaned up the patio furniture, and they look brand new now. So I could be with her in the back yard, I headed to The He Shed and installed some additional shelving, so now most everything is off the floor and hung up!

At 10:30 AM, Mary stopped and fixed a wonderful breakfast for us. At 11:00 AM, I came inside, and we watched out TV show together. He had another good message for us this morning. The Pastor is a wise man and makes things clear!

At noon we headed back to our chores with me cleaning the workbench and Mary trimming the roses and pulling the dear petunias. We are going to have our landscaper but in a combination of Vinca Roses and Impatiens.

Did You Know? Catharanthus roseus, commonly known as bright eyes, Cape periwinkle, graveyard plant, Madagascar periwinkle, old maid, pink periwinkle, rose periwinkle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae. It is native and endemic to Madagascar, but grown elsewhere as an ornamental and medicinal plant.

Keep me in the shade!

Vinca Rosea enjoys the sun while Impatiens enjoy the shade, so our landscaper will have fun! “Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m schizophrenic, and so am I.”

Did You Know? Impatiens walleriana, also known as busy Lizzie, balsam, sultana, or simply impatiens, is a species of the genus Impatiens, native to eastern Africa from Kenya to Mozambique. The Latin specific epithet walleriana honours a British missionary, Horace Waller.

I needs the sun!

I thought of an old quote to tell Mary, “Flowers are like friends; They bring color to your world.” I also had to tell her, “At my age flowers scare me.’

At 4:00 PM, we stopped, got cleaned up, and headed to Rockwell’s for dinner before dancing in Chino! Yes, we are full of energy!

We had a wonderful meal, and we were ready to dance the night away!

After dinner, we stopped back by the house before getting on the freeway. We made plans for Monday as Mary has to work and I have to hold down the fort again!

Posted in Dancing, Working Around House | Leave a comment

God Bless Our Coutry And Damn Be The Crazy Terrorists!

Posted on Saturday, September 11, 2021 by Paul

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

I remember it well because I was up early and heard the news. Quickly I called Joe and Colleen and then was glued to the TV for hours. I remember our country coming together and then so sad, being torn apart by the liberal left.

We were u[ early and had coffee with Robin. The girls had a plan, and by 9:00 AM, they were off and running.

Coffee gets the heart started!

They planned to show up at the nail salon and sneak in between the no-shows!

Enjoying the patio!

Meanwhile, I watched the house because we were expecting our car wash guy, who was there at 10:00 AM. He did both Lexus vehicles, and they looked great. While they were out of the garage, I rearranged things and finally moved everything to the He Shed.

I also installed a laser guidance system for the cars. The lasers mount on the ceiling and use a sound sensor attached to the garage door opener to activate. The laser beam places a red line down onto the car and, when properly aligned, will place an “X” on the hood/dashboard, indicating exactly where the car should be in two axes!

It works great, especially when we try to ensure there is room to get into the cars when they are side by side.

I found them on Amazon and plan to get a second one this week!

Then our rain gutter man came by, and we have ordered rain gutters for the back and front of the house. We did not go all the way across the front because we get into the cars from inside and do not have to walk in the rain!

Robin took off about noon, so we did some shopping at the local nursery. We are going to plant several tea roses.

Did You Know? Tea roses were originally developed in China, and they were called “tea roses” because of the strong fragrance they produce, reminding the developers of tea as it is brewing.

Mary’s favorite is the Mr. Lincoln. A very well-known hybrid tea. Long-pointed buds open into large, well-formed, long-stemmed, fully double, 4″ blooms (petals 24+) of deep red. The velvety texture of the bloom is almost unbelievable. ‘Mr. Lincoln has an outstandingly strong damask fragrance that seduces the senses. A vigorous, tall, upright continual blooming bush with dark green foliage.

Simply beautiful!

My favorite rose is the Julia Child. The fragrance of this rose is a delight to the senses having a mild licorice scent. Buttery golden yellow 4″ blooms (petals 20+) cover this continual blooming plant. Excellent in the flower bed or as a landscape specimen plant.

It looks like a pile of butter that Julia would use when she cooked!

We worked until 4:00 PM and took the rest of the day off, and watched movies on TV. The house is coming together nicely and will be ready for the party, Dancing Under The Stars.

We ended up in the swim spa about 8:30 PM and watched the moon dance in the sky! Good night all and to all a good night!

Posted in Family, Movies, Working Around House | Leave a comment

Hello Friday!

Posted on Friday, September 10, 2021 by Paul

The easiest time to add insult to injury is when you’re signing someone’s cast.

We were up early. I know it was before sunrise as the lights are all on timers and are set to turn off when the sun comes up. Today sunrise was at 6:33 AM.

Sunrise is coming soon!

Mary went to work, and I stayed home and did the housework. I thought it would be easy; OMG, was I wrong. It started with a “quick trip” to BB&B, and returning home at 9:45 AM the rest of the day was dreadful work. I cleaned the garage, did two loads of wash and hung them up, moved my clothes around, so everything is now organized, took out the trash cans, walked Five Miles, etc.

When Mary called to say she was on her way home and “what was for dinner” I panicked! I was so tired that I decided we would do a home-cooked meal. Then it dawned on me that Robin was coming at 5:00 PM.

We had hamburgers, tamales, and a salad for dinner. I was so tired I could hardly wiggle.

The three of us went over to Jeff’s place and visited for an hour before coming home and crashing.

The girls decided to get their nails done tomorrow while I slave around the house1

We watched Largeny with Edgar G. Robinson; excellent move with good clean humor! Summary: Three ex-cons buy a luggage shop to tunnel into the bank vault next door. But despite all they can do, the shop prospers!

 

Posted in Family, Movies, Working Around House | Leave a comment

It’s Thursday And The Week Is Speeding On By!

Posted on Thursday, September 9, 2021 by Paul

It’s never a good idea to keep both feet firmly on the ground. You’ll have trouble putting on your pants.

We were up at the crack of dawn as Mary had a Zoom meeting at 7:00 AM. The mating of the iMac’s finished about 6:00 AM, and I finished the setup. The solid-state drive did make an amazing difference, and I plan to take the “old iMac” down to the store and put in 4 GB of a solid-state drive; that would speed it up!

We plan to walk Five Miles this morning as he feels bad. We had to lock him out of the office because he bugs us on the PC/iMacs.

Five Miles (Scout) concurs!

Mary got all her “greenery up,” and it looks really nice. We diddled around all morning until we headed to the Elks Lodge for Girls Night Out. Our handyman came by and hung some pictures, and we discussed how to best get electrical outlets in the wall so we could light up the China cabinets.

We are off like a herd of turtles and arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Mike was already there enjoying a large cup of coffee.

Just in time!

We all visited for an hour and a half. Teasing is the top priority, and clean jokes a close second! It was good to Mike again! Bob Z is floating down the Danube for another two weeks.

Linda, Bill, and Mike!

Mike Ash was on a roll this afternoon! All had great fun! I sent dessert home with George for Beverly and I must call her and tell he it was “my fault”.

George, Mike, and Will

We left about 1:30 PM and went to The Container Store as I needed a set of rollers for a container that would be used for Mary’s knitting/sewing activities. I had looked all morning for the set I had kept for years, but alas, they were gone. I got home, put them on, and when I turned the basket upside down, guess what fell out…yes, the rollers/casters I had been looking for; dang, I hate when that happens! As I always say, “It’s not the fall that kills you. It’s the sudden stop at the end.”

At 6:00 PM, Mary departed for an Ophthalmology meeting in Irvine, adding to her necessary 50 hours of medical training every year. I stayed behind and attacked my closets! I made a hundred trips between three closets where I store my goodies. I now have all the dress clothes, jeans, casuals pants, dress shirts, suits, and tuxes together.

Mary returned home about 9:00 PM and had a glass of wine before crashing; she must work tomorrow!

Well, about 11:00 PM, I was awakened by thunder, and for almost an hour, we were pounded with lightning and thunder. Five Miles went wild, so he jumped in bed with us! It was so intense that we called Jan M. to make sure she was OK. I reminded Mary, “They say marriages are made in Heaven. But so is thunder and lightning.”

Shot out the bedroom window!

Same shot as above, only a second later; it took about 100 shots to capture the strike! The strike behind the clouds, but it lit up the yard like daytime!

Yard just after a strike!

It got so close that I decided to step back from the window! It reminded me of my golf buddy’s quote, “If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron.”

The iPhone worked well, but this was a by-chance shot!

My iPhone went off, and it asked me to open the lightning strike app, which I did. We could follow the storm in Tustin as it went down the 55 freeway and over Villa Park, just a mile from our place.

The dots are strikes (The blue dot is us)

Five Miles (Scout) jumped into bed with us, and we soothed him for a good 45 minutes. It was the thunder that worried him; he did not seem to be bothered with the lightning.

I had to ask Mary, “Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn’t zigzag?” After the storm passed, about 2:00 AM, Scout and I went to the kitchen, and I let him out; he was ready to go!

We walked into the kitchen, but Scout was not ready to go outside just yet!

The beating stopped at midnight but restarted about 1:00 AM for a while!

 

Posted in Working Around House | Leave a comment

When Does It Stop? Jeeeeez!

Posted on Wednesday, September 8, 2021 by Paul

Busier than a puppy in a room full of rubber balls.

We slept late today, not getting verticle until past 7:00 AM. That means no swim spa this morning as the kids begin to arrive at school by 7:30 AM; we had our coffee on the patio.

It was a perfect morning!

It was an interesting morning as we discussed the pictures on the walls and the fact all of Mary’s things are not out of the She Shed yet, and I did not want to hang certain pictures due to memories they brought back. I was so thankful that Mary understood me and read me this morning like a good book!

Our new iMac arrived with its 64GB of memory, 4 TB of SSD, and other necessities of life. We called Lin to come over and help move the data (or copy the data) between machines. I now have three iMacs, so the oldest will retire, and the workhorse will go to the workbench in the garage so I can see YouTube better! It is going to take 17 hours to do the transfer of data.

WFive Miles today; we were bad!

We went to Costa Mesa and stopped by a place that does diplomas and got Mary’s college and medical school diplomas in a display that shows Loma Linda University! We pick up the results on Tuesday and will be proud to hang them on the office wall. I am getting excited to hang my USC (Bachelors), Northrop University Masters), and Univerity of Illinois (Doctorate, Ph.D.) on the wall.

From the diploma framing store, we went to Old Ranch and had a wonderful lunch with Jeff are Marva. We arrived at Old Ranch and had a glass of vino before Jeff arrived. We sat around and jabbered for two hours, just laughing and giggling and having a great time.

After a great lunch, we headed home at about 4:00 PM and Irene called; she had to cancel this evening. We called David and Dianne, and they joined us for steaks! We had a super evening, and they departed about 9:00 PM; we finally crashed! It was a lovely day!

Posted in Friends, Working Around House | Leave a comment