We were up and moving fairly early this morning because apparently retirement comes with a full itinerary and no snooze button. Once again, we had a packed day of high-stakes retirement excitement: office work, household maintenance, and surveillance of Miss Grace, our furry little fugitive.
Miss Grace is still roaming around outside like she owns the neighborhood, butshe’ss getting closer and closer to the strike plate in the trap. One or two more days of her thinking she’s outsmarting us, and then—whack!—she’ll be back in custody, probably filing a formal complaint with management.
Grace is smart, and it is taking time!! Here kitty kitty kitty!!
Mary went to the gym while I stayed home for my own workout: supervising the AC technician and nodding knowingly at mechanical things. As I suspected—because I am now apparently an HVAC whisperer—the starting capacitor was on the fritz. So we installed a”booster capacitor,” which sounds like something you’d add to a rocket ship, but it fixed the problem immediately.
He also raised the refrigerant pressure from 210 psi to the required 250 psi, which I understood completely as long as no one asked me any follow-up questions.
By the time Mary got home, we were $380 lighter, but the house was cool again. And honestly, in July,that’ss not a repair bill—that’s a ransom payment. At 10:30 am, we departed the house for our favorite Mexican/Caribbean restaurant in Seal Beach (next to Patty’s Place).
For your fix of Mexican and Caribbean flavors, look no further than Yucatan Grill in Seal Beach, CA. Located at 550 Pacific Coast Hwy, Ste 111, this family-owned spot has been serving a mix of Mexican classics and Caribbean specialties since 1988
We met up with Robin and spent an hour planning future events and catching up on the tales of “Nick and Kayla”.
Lunch with Robin!
We dressed for the occasion since it was another 90-degree day AND we were dining at a Mexican restaurant. We did get several comments about our outfits.
We matched!!
Without hesitation—or concern for my personal safety—I ordered the Shrimp Diablo: shrimp and vegetables swimming in a habanero sauce so hot it probably requires a waiver, served with rice and beans.
By the time I finished, I was sweating, my nose was running, and my eyes were watering as I had just watched the ending of a sad movie inside a volcano.
Absolutely delicious.
I’ve been going there since they opened almost 40 years ago, and apparently I still haven’t learned my lesson.
Shrimp Diablo!
We could not pass up the fried plantains. Plantains are a banana-like fruit, but they’re usually larger, starchier, and less sweet than regular bananas. They’re often cooked before eating—fried, baked, boiled, or mashed
Fried plantains
On the way home, we called Dianne and invited her to join us for a “midnight swim” at 7:30 pm, because at our age, that’s basically the witching hour. She was at Costco, which meant she arrived properly equipped with dessert—because Costco is less of a store and more of a dessert distribution center with forklifts.
Mary whipped up dinner: cucumber salad and a modified pizza featuring real tomatoes from the garden, not those suspicious red tennis balls they sell at the grocery store. We washed it all down with a glass of vino, because hydration is important.
Then we placed a call to Becky in Phoenix to celebrate her birthday. We delivered a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday,” which may or may not have been in the correct key, but was definitely delivered with enthusiasm.
I added my own thoughtful contribution to the conversation by asking Becky if she had received her Social Security card yet. Apparently, this was not the sentimental birthday question she was expecting. I was politely informed that she still has about thirty years to wait.
So basically, I was early. Very early. But still early.
Dianne found the goodies.
After we got home, we found Donilita and crew hard at work cleaning the house, so we did the only sensible thing: we retreated to the office and established a temporary base of operations. Very strategic. Very official. Mostly out of the way.
I headed for the computer and finished the latest pages involving “The Loft,” while Mary went outside and painted the outdoor statues, giving them a fresh new look and probably a better social life than most of us.
Best of all, we finally used some of the acrylic paints Colleen gave me six years ago, back when I was lonely and by myself. Nothing says”healing journey” quite like opening a tube of paint after half a decade and saying, “Well, today’s the day.”
Mary works in the office painting.
Joe called and asked if I had an electronic leveling device, and I dug this out from my workbench, complete with a tripod!
Joe needs this tool!
After a wonderful dinner, we all headed to the big hot tub for a relaxing soak. It was still light out, but we decided to wait until the lights came on!
Everyone climbed in, and as I was walking over to grab my float, I felt something in my pocket.
That “something” was my iPhone.
Apparently, I had decided it needed a spa day too.
Panic immediately set in. Mary sprang into action like a seasoned emergency-room nurse—except instead of a crash cart, she ran to the kitchen. She came back with a pan full of rice. We carefully placed the little drowned phone into its grainy recovery bed and covered it up like a tiny electronic mummy.
Rice absorbs moisture, they say. It also absorbs panic, blame, and several bad words.
And believe it or not—about an hour later, the iPhone came back to normal. No bubbles, no coughing, no complaints. Just a slightly more relaxed phone with a faint desire to order Chinese food.
After dinner dunk!
Mary took a few photos and then joined us as we floated around, chatted, and waited with great anticipation for the lights in the flower containers to switch on—because apparently that was our evening’s main event.
As soon as the Sun went down, we spotted the moon and Venus, which made us feel very astronomical and slightly more sophisticated than three people bobbing around in water for no particular reason.
It was a beautiful evening!
We ended up floating for almost two hours, solving none of the world’s problems but thoroughly enjoying ourselves. I heard Dianne scream, and then it dawned on me that Mary and I had left the pen open, so our pet shark, “Toothless”, and pet octopus, “Inky”, decided to join the fun!
Oops, I left the cages open!
By the time we finally got out, we looked less like relaxed adults and more like three very happy, very wrinkled prunes.
After the dunk, we went tothe firepit and then the patio to enjoy Dianne’s dessert. It is interesting because the sorbet is stuffed into half a frozen shell made of REAL orange, lemons, grapefruit, and other citrus. The dessert was delightful.
Dianne headed home around 9:30 pm, relaxed and ready to join us again!
