Dang! It would be easier to remember your age if you didn’t change it every year!
Happy Birthday Hannah (our niece), Brenda (our dancing friend), Sandy Smith (our token liberal and good friend) and MaryJo (our golf..and work…friend). Each of these wonderful people have the same birthday and they are all about a generation apart! Must have been some cold December’s, say what?
We are both excited as our friends from the UK are flying in tomorrow! Yeah! Let the good times roll! The last time they flew over, Brian heard the following announcement: “We are pleased to have some of the best flight attendants in the industry. Unfortunately none of them are on this flight.”
I worked in the front yard removing the last of the tomatoes and lantern plants (tomatillo).
Did You Know? Tomatillos are small fruits (used as a vegetable) enclosed in a husk. The fruit resembles a small unripe tomato and is usually green or yellow. The yellow color indicates ripeness, but tomatillos are most often used when they are still green. Green tomatillos are firmer and easier to slice. The husk that holds the fruit is paper-like and is light brown. The flesh is slightly acidic with a hint of lemon. Tomatillos belong to the same family as tomatoes.
The Aztecs first grew tomatillos as far back as 800 B.C. and they have been popular in Mexico and other Latin American countries for many years. In the US, they are mainly grown in Texas.
The front yard is now cleaned of all tomatoes, tomatillos and sunflowers and is ready for fall planting. The ol’ roto-tiller worked perfectly! Last years mulch, straw, is ground up and into the soil ready to provide nutrition for next years crop! Straw comes from harvested crops and fields and is a naturally occurring substance. Now I just need a run to the store in about 30 days to get the winter plantings.
I recommend planting one bed in root crops (carrots, beets, and onions), another in cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and bok choy), and another in salad greens (lettuces, mesclun, spinach, and chard). Always have potatoes ready for harvest… makes for great soups!
Hooray…Hooray…It’s a golf day. Time to get cleaned up and head to Old Ranch for a round of golf…well I really mean nine holes with James!
flying backwards to see where they have been!
The “Ranch” was happy to see us…as we were it. We used to play three or four games a week but the last year or so we hardly played at all. We hope to return to twice a week, nine holes…good exercise and nice being outdoors!
We went inside and had a glass of “wine” and a “beer” before heading to the first nine. The day was just fine and the afternoon breeze was beginning…that makes for a great time on the course.
The clouds were quite amazing…all sorts of different patterns in the afternoon sky! Some of these clouds were probably over Palm Springs where the temperatures is on the low 100’s.
Everything was so green! In primitive society, when native tribes beat the ground with clubs and yelled, it was called witchcraft; today, in civilized society, it is called golf.
You ask how did I play since this was the second game this year? Well, my game is so bad I had to have my ball retriever re-gripped!
After the game, we met up with Linda and James in the clubhouse and drank more beer. I was worried about driving home after three Beck’s in a row! I had to go to Becks as I though I was drinking too many martini’s late last year! The last time I gave a urine sample in December it had an olive in it.
Mitch showed up about 5:00 PM and we continued visiting with James and Linda and them moved to the dining room where Mitch scarfed up a steak and I did the pasta special! We got the latest update on everyone. Seems Zachary and Becca are going to be waiting over the weekend for the baby…Remy does not seem to want to come out and visit us!
We returned home, watched some NCIS but thanks to a lady at Old Ranch and her “perfume”, Sue got a terrible headache and crashed about 9:30 PM so I worked on todays Daily Diary entry.
Along about 10:30 PM I heard Sue moaning with pain and rushed to her side…her head was killing her. My bride is NOT a sissy so when I heard her, I knew it was serious!! We tried ice compresses, four aspirin, and rubbing the area but to no avail. I asked Sue if she had any ideas…
Finally at 11:30 PM we were off to the ER in Los Alamitos. If Sue goes to the hospital, without being bound up and gagged, you know it is an emergency! As we entered the parking lot, we saw three ambulances unloading…not a good sign! The place was loaded, no beds, so we waited outside in the waiting room…somewhat patiently!
They did a CT Scan to make sure there was no stroke involved, then a blood test, and finally an EKG to check the ticker. After the tests, I went to the doc and asked (begged?) for something to relieve the pain…they gave her a narcotic pain killer and it started to work…it’s now 1:30 AM and the pain has not subsided. The pill was Norco (hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen) which is an opioid analgesic and antitussive (cough suppressant) combined with a pain reliever (analgesic) used to treat moderate to fairly severe pain.
Finally we went inside the ER to wait…Sue sat in her chair and I either stood or waited in an available chair (which I gave up to others several times). At 2:30 AM, after getting the initial test results, the doctor suggested “a headache cocktail” which he needed to order…she said “Anything, just help!”. I was so tired I do not remember what he said was in it but there were four ingredients for increasing blood flow in the head, reducing inflammation, and something else. The doc confirmed it was NOT a stroke nor heart related…that was good news.
At 2:30 AM she got two shots, painful in and of themselves due to the apparent thickness of the “cocktail”. She got relief fairly quickly. We were finally notified the they were releasing us at 3:30 AM and we departed the hospital at 4:00 AM…damn, it’s dark outside at that hour. She said the pain had finally gone away.
We finally crashed about 4:15 AM and I didn’t see the light of day until 8:00 AM. What a night!
