Off To See The Alley Cats!

Seriously!!

We worked hard in the garden for two hours, removing three tomato plants and picking tomatoes to take to Girl’s Night Out.

A tomato plant nearing the end of its fruiting phase may produce fewer flowers or stop flowering altogether, serving as a clear indication of the plant’s reduced productivity.

We filled one 90-gallon trash can completely and part of another.

Three down, many more to go!

We removed the plants, and while doing so, we picked the remaining good yellow pear tomatoes.  Yellow pear tomato, also known as teardrop tomato, belongs to a group of indeterminate heirloom tomatoes.  This tomato variety comes in yellow, orange, and red colors, with the yellow one being the most common.  They are generally sweet and have a pear-like shape but smaller size.

We had a load to take to the Elks Lodge!

We still have ten tomato plants left, but soon, they’ll be done, and we’ll move on to the winter garden!

We must have had 1,000 tomatoes off of these bushes!

9:30 am and time to clean up and get ready to go to the Elks.

Jeff came along with us, and we were so engrossed in our conversation that we forgot to take any pictures.  At a nearby table, six police officers from Santa Ana were having their lunch, and Mary and I paid for their meals, knowing they wouldn’t be drinking while on duty.  When they came to our table to express their gratitude, Jeff became concerned about what I may have done.  However, to his relief, there were no handcuffs in sight, only a round of “thank you’s” from Santa Ana’s finest!

George told us of the recent hunting accident:

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses.  He’s not breathing, and his eyes are glazed.  The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls 911.

“I think my friend is dead!” he yells.  “What can I do?”

The operator says, “Calm down.  First, let’s make sure he’s dead.”

There’s a silence, then a shot.  Back on the phone, the guy says, “Okay, now what?”

When we got home, we took a nap, and then Mary prepared a picnic basket for our visit to the Muckenthaler Mansion in Fullerton, where we will be watching the Alley Cats.  They are America’s Doo Wop group known for their tight harmonies, humor, and incredible amount of a cappella energy.

Did You Know?  Walter and Adella Muckenthaler built the 18-room mansion in 1925 atop this hill in Fullerton, and it served as the center of their citrus and nut farming business and their family home for more than four decades.

In 1965, their son Harold Muckenthaler donated the mansion and the surrounding 8.5 acres to the city with the proviso that his childhood home be used to provide the public with experiences that stimulate creativity and imagination while conserving the heritage and architecture of the estate.

In 1999, The Muckenthaler Mansion received designation by the National Registry of Historic Places.

Today, though the City of Fullerton maintains ownership of the property, it is managed by The Muckenthaler Cultural Center Foundation and its elected Board of Directors.  The City and the Muck enjoy a strong spirit of cooperation in the best interest of our mutual constituents.

We arrived at 5:35 pm and found our seats, which were center stage four rows back!  Vicky made excellent selections!

Mary, Yolie, and Jim!

Mary packed a vintage picnic basket over 40 years old.  In wine glasses, we enjoyed turkey sandwiches, plums, cherries, apple crisps, and grape juice!

Mary unpacks the picnic basket.

Do we look happy?  We are probably the happiest people within a thousand miles.  The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.

Just us!

We have so much fun together; it’s pretty amazing!

Little does Jim know that he will be on stage in a few minutes!

Yes, they borrowed the wine from us for the photo!

The Alley Cats are here, but there is a back story!  The “regular” Alley Cats were not here tonight!

Hurricane Lee has got us!  From the Alley Cays Facebook Page:
The Alley Cats are cruising and we’re suppose to disembark the 16th in Halifax but the storm has closed that port so we now stay until Nuuk Greenland Sept 20:
Newest update they can’t get us four flights out of Nuuk so we are now stuck onboard until Sept 25!!!!
Thankful Hunter, and Dennis immediately got on phones and found people to cover their gigs in Los Angeles the 22nd and 23rd and that I have a crew of guys to cover The Alley Cats gigs for that week in Los Angeles as well.
But we are making the best of it and getting ready for a new experience for all of us.  We will sail past the Statue of Liberty before docking in Manhattan for the night.  (Not the original plan but captain is going to keep us safe and behind the storm so we leave New Jersey soon for a 90 minute cruise to Manhattan where we will stay dock d until 8pm tomorrow.anyone have a gig for us in New York tonight or tomorrow….: Then we get to visit three cities in Greenland.  We will keep you all posted on this adventure!  7 day cruise is now 16 days .

The guys were outstanding this evening!

Jim sang his rendition of Blue Moon!  Jim got the lyrics perfectly, sort of:

Bom-ma-bom, a-bom-bom-a-bom, ba-ba-bom-bom-a-bomp,
b-dang-a-dang-dang, b-ding-a-dong-ding.

Blue moon, blue moon, blue moon,
Dip-de-dip-de-dip.
Blue moon, blue moon, blue moon,
Dip-de-dip-de-dip.
Blue moon, blue moon, blue moon,
Dip-de-dip-de-dip.

Jim gets selected!

Jim has a great stage presence!

 

The evening was terrific!  On our way home, we got a text from Robin!  Nick wore his costume and headed to Knott’s Berry Farm for their haunted night.  He is “The Joker”

Guess who is the Joker and going to Knotts Berry Farm?

We stopped at Ace’s Bar and Grille and had a fantastic experience.  Kendra, the bartender, and we hit it off as usual.  I shared a story about getting drunk in Hawaii and showed her a picture of Mary and me with a new friend from Villa Park.  Surprisingly, it turned out that Kendra and the new friend are good friends!

About Paul

Just an old retired guy trying to finish out my last years on this planet. I lost my best friend and wife in early 2020. I was blessed again by reconnecting with Dr. Mary Côté, a long-time friend. Mary and I got married July 28th, 2021, and are enjoying life together and plan to spend the rest of our lives being a blessing to our friends and family.
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