We Relaxed Today!

Fact: When we relax, the flow of blood increases around our body giving us more energy. It helps us to have a calmer and clearer mind which aids positive thinking, concentration, memory and decision making. Relaxation slows our heart rate, reduces our blood pressure and relieves tension.

It is Sunday and we decided to do nothing today except what might be fun. I worked in the garage most of the morning and Mary worked in the kitchen. She came up with several delightful meals and I got the car such that you can go in the garage with no problem.

Cooking up a storm!

Mary needed some items from the market and I volunteered to go; I asked Scout if he wanted to go with me and he said, “sure”. Well, it took longer than we thought at the market because I was after such items as capers, sliced olives, and other delicacies required by Mary’s new recipe. When we arrived home, Mary was tapping her toe wondering where we were. Maybe, being very brave, set the dog in first.

I was late getting back from the market!

The rest of the afternoon we watched another French series that was on Netflix and it also was very interesting. We decided not to go into the spa tonight as it was a little cool outside. We headed for bed around 8:30 PM and watched a little TV before I dozed off.

Indeed Indeed!

All in all, it was a great day; we needed a day to just relax.

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Happy 51st Birthday Joe!

Fact: When a person’s birth date and age are the same, it is called a golden birthday.  For example, if you were born on the 11th and turn 11, it is your golden birthday.  The most common birth date in the United States, excluding leap years, is 22 May.

It was time to get up and call Joe for his birthday, but the clock revealed it was 3:47 AM; we thought better and turned over for more sleep!

Amy, Carri, Joe with Alex & Charlie

We had our coffee and hit the garage for several hours of going through boxes, rearranging things, and getting ready for haircut day.  We called Joe, but he was on the phone with his doctor!

He he he!

We had a 10:30 AM appointment for my hair, and then Mary took several hours.  I returned home and worked in the garage.  Mary is making headway on her boxes and assisting me in getting the garage arranged.

Mary was working in the garage!

We now have two combination locks, so we have open the garage doors without going to the car or going inside.  I returned to the salon at about 1:30 PM, and Mary was so hungry that she was looking at her hairdresser.  I saved that day and took her four doors down to Christakis Greek Cuisine.

Mary was famished, so I ordered Saganaki to get her started.

Here comes the Saganaki!

Then I ordered MOUSAKA for her (layered eggplant, potatoes, spiced sirloin, bechamel ) and CHICKEN KLEFTIKO for me (Spinach, feta, fresh herbs, grilled chopped chicken breast, wrapped in filo).

We could only eat half of what they served; this is tomorrow’s lunch!

We had a glass of wine and discussed that day that remains.

Yummy!  And the food is good also!

We again attacked the garage upon returning home, but I was “overtired,” so I took an hour’s nap on the patio while Mary fussed in the garden.  I am not an early bird or a night owl, and I am some form of a permanently exhausted pigeon.

We got a text from Dianne, and our present for David had arrived; he loved his “Classic” T-Shirt!  The bags under my eyes were well past the carry-on limit.

David got his present!

We crashed before it got dark, and Mary brought me into a series entitled Le Bazar de la Charité (The Bonfire of Destiny).  I got into it and watched all of season one with Mary.

Did You Know?  Set in 1897 and centered around a real fire that killed 126 people at an annual charity event for the Parisian aristocracy, Le Bazar de la Charité is a fictionalized version of the story that follows the lives of three women who attended the event but survived.  A little soapy (in a good way), this well-plotted and -paced costume drama set in the Belle Époque is well worth a watch.

We crashed at about 10:30 PM and await tomorrow’s challenges!

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Friday Is Here; Hello Weekend1

Fact: Natural gas was first transported by pipelines around 500 B.C. by the Chinese.  They used bamboo to trap and transport gas that seeped to the ground’s surface.

At 7:00 AM, the temperature was a balmy 76 degrees!  We had coffee on the patio and discussed the work plans for the day.  The consensus was 1) outside yard work first, then 2)  inside work when the temperature rises!  Perfect, we have a plan!

I have decided to use smaller words on this blog!

Scout had some companions over to visit.  I overheard Scout delineating how the water closet functioned.  His elucidation was whimsical, but he was flawless in his interpretation of how this facility functioned.

Scout had friends over!

It was too warm to work outside after 11:00 AM, so we hit the yard by 8:00 AM, with Mary dead-heading the roses and me cleaning up the He-Shed and assisting the gardener in rerouting some water pipes/sprinklers.  The yard looks pretty good, and I have the grass quite green, thanks to some lawn fertilizer I found in the He-Shed a week ago!

Mary passed by me working in the garage and asked, “Why do gardeners plant bulbs?” I hazard two guesses, neither of which was close.  Then, she told me, ” So that the worms can see where they are going.”

Mary works in the yard.

Mary quacks me up, but I found out it was not her; we had visitors.  Daffy and Daisy landed in our pool!  They paddled around for a while, and then I decided it was time to chase them away before they were naughty.  OK, here it is: “What do you call a cat that swallows a duck?  A duck-filled-fatty-puss.”

We had visitors.

I sauntered to the pool and then yelled, “Boo!” Feathers flew, and they were off like a bat out of Hell, flapping their little wings reaching the speed of sound.  As they departed, I heard one of them say, “What do you call a cow and two ducks?  Cheese and quackers.”

“Off we go into the wild blue yonder, off we go into the sky!”

By 3:00 PM, we were done!  We spent three hours in the office; Mary emptied four boxes of stuff, and I went through half of the bookshelf and got all the iPads charged up.  It was time to get ready for dancing.

While checking the iPhone, it notified me that Google made a collage from recent pictures.  I checked it out and this is what I got!

Google made a collage for me.

We met Connor and Margo at the Elks;  We got there about 5:30 PM, and they showed up at about 6:15 PM.  We dined and danced for three hours and then it was time to go home.  They have known each other for many years, starting back in Junior High and the relationship has been on and off.

The kids actually did some line dancing!

Ronnie was the D.J. and he did a terrific job!  The old folks provided him with a list of songs to play, and he executed the list wonderfully.  We kicked up our heels and had a super time.  I asked Connor, “Why don’t ghosts like parties?” He was ready for a “Grandpa!” and I replied, “They have nobody to dance with.”

Ronnie was in rare form tonight.

Kids will be kids; this time, it seems serious!

Ah!

The kids do not mind visiting with the old folks, which is an excellent character trait.  It’s not a well-understood event but consider the following.

A big amen to that!

To this day, I wish I had spent more time with Aunt Opal, Aunt Edith, and Aunt Alma!

May will be the start of a video library of our friends telling stories for everyone to share.

We had two tables and twenty people this evening.   Mary is visiting Bob below, and everyone else is engrossed in conversations.  We have a fun group!  Loads of fun for all!

We had a full house!

The D.J. changed the type of music at about 9:00 PM, going for the younger crowd, and that was OK; we headed for home!

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New Members Of The “Girls Night Out” Gang

Fact: McDonald’s introduced drive-through service due to the military.  The first McDonald’s Drive-Thru was installed in a restaurant based in Sierra Vista, Arizona, near the Fort Huachuca military installation.  Military rules forbade the soldiers from wearing their military uniforms in public.  They weren’t about to change into civilian clothes to grab a burger and run back to base, so restaurant manager David Rich came up with a solution: cut a hole into the wall and allow members of the military to pick up their orders without stepping out of their car.  The convenience and simplicity of the idea.

We listened to the weather report this morning, and instead of giving us the temperature,  the weatherman warned us that “it is going to be so hot the chickens will eat hard-boiled eggs.”

We took a walk in the backyard to make sure all the plants in plenty of water in them as I turned on the sprinkler system to run the complete cycle, even though it was not a typical day for watering.

Everything was ready for the temperature onslaught!

Scout was getting his exercise early as he knew that his fur coats would make him sizzle by this afternoon!

“Hey, Dad.  can I have a haircut?”

Scout did stop and talk to me about breakfast!  Now I have to go to school to cook doggie food?  I told Scout, age is a high price to pay for maturity.

About six months ago, we installed a Hunter Wi-Fi-enabled sprinkler controller in the front and back yards.  Now we can walk the property with the trusty iPhone in hand and water specific areas as we see fit.  The system talks to the internet and will not water on days when it has rained already (or going to rain).

With the touch of a finger, the yard gets a bath!

We did some chores around the house, with Mary concentrating on the office and I still working in the garage.   Now we have our emergency supplies in the She-Shed and He-Shed; between us, we have enough emergency rations for a month!  We have two emergency kits, and the big generator is at the ready!

At 11:00 AM, we headed south to the Santa Ana Elks for Girls Night Out.  It is so hot… today I saw a funeral procession pull into a Dairy Queen.  We were stopped by two funeral processions and thought we would never get onto the main street!

Today we are having guests; Irene and Vicky!  It was, of course, hat day, and I wore my Fedora while Mary donned an Anita Page hat which she got at a silent auction many years ago.

Did You Know?  Anita Page (born Anita Evelyn Pomares; August 4, 1910 – September 6, 2008) was an American film actress who reached stardom in the final years of the silent film era.  She was referred to as “a blond, blue-eyed Latin”  and “the girl with the most beautiful face in Hollywood” in the 1920s.  She retired from acting in 1936 but came back to it by 1961 when she retired again.  Page returned to acting thirty-five years later in 1996 and appeared in four films in the 2000s.

Mary does have a way of making hats look amazing!

We were happy that the girls joined us; Vicky went to the steak special, and apparently, it was pretty good!

Vicky joined us for Girls Night Out!

In the 1920s and 1930s, hats were a big thing.  While dining, I looked through Anita Page’s images on the internet and came across “the hat.” On the left was Anita Page in her heyday in the late 1920s.  The right, well, that goes without saying!

Pages!

Dang!

After lunch, we departed in the heat for home!  By the time we got on the freeway, the gauge indicated 97 degrees.  It was so hot… the trees were whistling for the dogs.

We are departing the Elks after a great lunch!

Our weather station was going wild, and it felt like 101 degrees, except that the wind cooled things down.  I continued in the garage, and Mary worked in the office; we are making headway!

It is so hot… the birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.

It’s a hottie today!

At 8:00 PM, we stopped, made some phone calls, and then got ready to hit the Swim Spa.  It was 10:00 PM before we were submerged in the people soup!  The outside temperature was still in the 70s, and we watched the Moon trace a path across the sky!

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Busy Day And The Starlighters Are Coming!

Fact: Big Ben (Elizabeth Tower) in London is leaning over so much it can now be seen with the naked eye.  In 4,000 years, it will be at the same angle as the tower in Pisa is now.

The day started, and we were ready for it.  We will be busy all day long!  After feeding Scout, The Wonder Dog, we headed west to Old Ranch, where we had an excellent breakfast; we were the only ones in the dining room.  I had to spend the minimum, so it was a good choice.

We went to Home Goods and got some eggs for Easter.  Then we went to eat again, lunch with Robin at the Aztec Grill!  The waiter had known me for years, and he ordered Shrimp Diablo when all I wanted was a small salad, and I ate half of it, and then the rest came home.  We were as full as ticks.

One more errand to go.  We went to shoreline village and visited the Hat Store, where I got a Fedora.

A fedora is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.  It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and “pinched” near the front on both sides.  Fedoras can also be creased with teardrop crowns, diamond crowns, center dents, and others, and the positioning of pinches can vary.  The typical crown height is 4.5 inches (11 cm).  The term fedora was in use as early as 1891.  Its popularity soared, and eventually, it eclipsed the similar-looking homburg.

The take-a-picture sign was irresistible.  Mary looked great as a pirate wench!

Dang girl, you shiver me timbers!

The ghost ship appeared and tried to take us captive as we departed.  I was terrified they were going to capture us and make us eat again.  We escaped into the safety of the Rocket, which had no snacks!

They are aiming at us!

We zoomed home and began the final steps in preparing for the board meeting.  We decorated the Easter tree.  I am glad Mary was helping; otherwise, I’d still be on the ground!

Attempting to get up is a challenge!

No, that is NOT my new Fedora.  I grew bunny ears courtesy of my beautiful and teasing wife.  I asked Mary, “How do you know that carrots are good for your eyesight?”  She should know ow being a doctor, but I gave in and told her, ” Have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?”

That is an UGLY Easter Bunny

At 4:30 PM, we went downstairs, and Mary did the final prepping for our guests.  Vicky came over early, so we got a chance to chat.

The carrots below are from our garden, and wow, are they sweet!  The onions are also directly from the garden.  We can hardly wait until the big garden gets here.

So Mary, “What do you call a mischievous egg?”   OK, ready for this?  A practical yolker!

Veggies do NOT get fresher than these!

The board meeting started at 7:04 PM and lasted until about 8:45 PM.  Mary took notes, and I poured wine and kibitzed, teasing Bob Z. unmercifully!

A meeting lasts at least 1 1/2 hours; however, short the agenda—Parson’s Third Law.  I have also discovered that the length of a meeting rises with the square of the number of people present.

Say, Goodnight Gracie!

We crashed soon after that!

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Tuesday And All Is Well!

Fact: Dolly Parton once lost a Dolly Parton look-alike contest.  Dolly Parton once entered a celebrity look-alike contest as herself – and lost.  The competition was held in a San Francisco club.  To somewhat disguise herself, Parton exaggerated her features with makeup.  However, she got the least applause of all contestants and ultimately lost to a drag queen.

The baby was up at 5:30 AM sharp, scratching at the door.  I must remember tomorrow, wake up around midnight and take him out for an excursion in the south forty.  Perhaps running around the yard three or four times might settle him down?

I always say “Morning” instead of “Good Morning.”  If it were a good morning, I would still be asleep in bed instead of talking to people.

What else is there to do at 5:30 AM besides go to the garage and continue organizing all my “workbench.” I want Jon and Sarah, who were coming to visit us on the 15th, to see the shop and its radiant glory.

I decided I could rise and shine, just not simultaneously.

[In my home workshop,] generally, I’m mending things, which is interesting because you learn a lot about why they broke.

Another few hours in the shop and it will look OK… No extension cords.

Mary worked in the kitchen and made deviled eggs for tomorrow.

Happy wife; happy life!!!

Joe, our son, called mid-morning and needed some clarification on the new garden plans.   I sent him a picture of the wall in the back yard to the contractor can match the stones.  I also send a picture off the old Los Alamitos Garden and what we want done in Orange.

My garden five years ago!

We have the Starlighters Board Meeting tomorrow evening, so we did some minor straightening things.  I got the Casa Valencia sign hung on the porch.  I finished repairing the Easter decorations, which are more than twenty years old.

Easter 2001 decorations are still in good shape.

We got cleaned up and headed to the gym at 2:45 PM.  The gym provided us with a good workout!  On the way back, we stopped at the cleaners, CVS, and Albertson’s to select some platters for tomorrow’s Starlighters Board meeting.  We wanted to drop the medications and platters off at home before visiting Jan.

We brought Jan some goodies (she made a special request for more miso soup!) as well as a case of wine.

Returning home, we had a small dinner in keeping with my weight loss goals.  It was a busy day!  Scout was active over in the corner, so I went to investigate.  The battle of the squeaky toyss was still raging.

Scout seems to be ahead!

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Monday; We Week Has Started; Hopefully Not Without Us!

Fact: There are more card deck combinations than atoms on Earth. – Don’t blame your bad hand at the poker table on a stroke of bad luck; it’s just a matter of math, seeing as there are more ways to arrange a deck of cards than total atoms on Earth!  If a card deck is appropriately shuffled, there’s a pretty high chance it comes out in an arrangement that has never existed before because a deck of 52 cards has an astronomically large number of permutations. (Put simply: It’s a 69-digit number!)

The Sun would NOT stay down this morning even though we wished it so! At 7:00 AM, we arose to the barking of Scout, The Wonder Dog, who wanted outside.  We had our coffee and planned the day, starting with selecting a new washer-dryer from online Consumer Reports; the old ones are a quarter-century old ( I bought them in 1995) and just wearing out.  Just like me!

Before we left, Scout came to me and was happy that I was his daddy.

I guess I am his friend!

We worked around the house until about 1:00 PM, when we did errands. I worked in the garage for about three hours, putting in eight more plugs along the front inside of the garage.  My air compressor and drill press don’t have to have their wires drooping in the overheads.

Sometimes I feel I’m getting too old for this nonsense because it’s hard at my tender age of 77 to stand on the ladder with one foot on the workbench, my body squeezed between the tool cabinet in the garage door rail, and hold a power drill and a half dozen other goodies in my hands without dropping everything.

I was happy when Mary said, “let’s do errands.”

Oh my, did we do errands!  The first stop was Mary’s office in Huntington Beach to collect the paperwork she needed to do the monthly financial calculations.  Then we went to Home Depot first before we bought a new washer and dryer. Mary made her choices, and the rest is history; we will have new equipment on the 8th!.

Then we headed to our favorite market, Trader Joe’s, to replenish our Two Buck Chuck (BTW, it is now $2.99/bottle)  supply, and we picked up a case for Jan.  From there, it was off to the bank, so that Mary could make some deposits.  Finally, we ended up at CVS pharmacy, where I picked up some prescriptions and some 8 x 10 photographs that I had ordered for our family wall.

The car was full of stuff, and after it was unloaded, I decided to work in the garage for another 45 minutes while Mary prepared dinner.

Mary called me for dinner, and I dropped everything and came running because I had a suspicion that she was up to wonderful things, and my suspicion played out. We had a super dinner.

Pasta, homemade miso soup, and homemade coleslaw awaited me.

Dinner was wonderful.

One of my favorite side dishes is coleslaw, but I’m not too fond of the stuff in the markets because they generally are full of mayonnaise. Mary made the coleslaw tonight from scratch and used a little bit of mayonnaise sour cream, and everything was fresh as can be; you could hear the crunch 2 miles away.

Nothing like fresh coleslaw.

We often order miso soup when dining out at a Japanese restaurant, but I have never had it homemade. I can tell you now, but I may take Mary’s homemade miso soup to the restaurant with me and show the chef how it’s supposed to be done.

At its most basic, miso is a fermented paste made by inoculating a mixture of soybeans with a mold called koji (for you science folks, that’s the common name for Aspergillus oryzae) that’s been cultivated from rice, barley, or soybeans.

The chu=icken miso soup is now my favorite!

Artichokes are packed with health benefits – one whole one delivers 25% of your daily folate needs and 10 grams of fiber! Ten grams! That’s 1/3 of your daily need. It also has more antioxidants than almost any other vegetable.

We were so full the artichokes went into the frig.

We were pretty sore from today’s work, so we headed to the swim spa for an evening in hot water. We had a glass of wine, laid back, and watched the moon. The moon looked like a Cheshire cat, and I think it was staring right at it.

After drying off and getting ready for bed, Mary asked me to take Scout out.  As a dutiful husband, I did what she said, but I didn’t understand why she was upset when we returned an hour later!

“Scout, we are in the dog house now!”

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Time To Dance!

Fact: In the continent of Asia, the Chinese dance known as lion dance has managed to become one of the most popular religious and entertaining dances.  After more than a thousand years of its use in China, surrounding countries of Taiwan, Japan, and Korea accepted this dance into their culture, modifying it in their ways.  The basic principle of this traditional dance is to mimic the movement of a lion while wearing the elaborate lion costume. 

Happy birthday to my oldest grandson, Jon!  He is 33 today! Sarah, you deserve a medal for putting up with him!

I am very proud of this fine young man!!

Today we recovered from yesterday!  Mary was surprised at the kitchen when she made our coffee because it was relatively clean after yesterday’s whirlwind cooking activities!  She then realized that I was up for two hours cleaning and putting away the food.  I am lucky to be married to a real chef!

Did You Know?  A sous-chef de cuisine, or simply sous-chef, is a chef who is “the second in command in a kitchen; the person ranking next after the head chef.” Consequently, the sous-chef holds much responsibility in the kitchen, eventually leading to their promotion to becoming the head chef.

Mary loves to cook now because her sous chef does a great job assisting her.

While Mary worked in the kitchen, I was in the shop finishing off the electrical work.  I love having all the proper tools I need to fix things.  This morning I ordered several types of glue, including a hot-glue gun.  These were required after unpacking the Easter decorations!

We took a break at 11:00 AM to listen to Intouch Ministries on TV.  Dr. Stanley always has a good message for us.

The workbench looks OK since all the cords are no longer dangling in the breeze.  The drawers are getting organized by what I use the most!  Those items which are not used regularly are now residing in the storage cabinets on the other side of the garage.  I did not need to have six Makita drills in the overheads!
I set up a small nuclear power plant in my garage.  It was running well until I got busted by a fish and game warden of all people.  He gave me a ticket for not having a fission license.

On one of Mary’s visits to me, I informed her that a newly found pyramid in Egypt had a garage.  She was not aware of that fact.  I told her, “There’s a sign on it saying Toot and Come In.”

Another few hours in the shop and it will look OK… No extension cords.

Mary made coleslaw this afternoon, and she came for help from her trusty Sous Chef.  I chopped the cabbages in half and sliced them thin.  The dish was initially created in the Netherlands.  The term coleslaw originates from the Dutch expression koosla, which means “cabbage salad.”

I added red bark to the front planters this afternoon.

At 3:30 PM, we got ready to do our “meals-on-wheels” run, but alas, Bill was in the hospital, so we just visited Jan, which is always a treat.  We stayed with Jan until 6:00 PM before heading to Studio-M and our Sunday evening dance.  I was a little hungry and was happy when I heard Mary talking in the kitchen.

Yup!  It happened!

At Studio-M, there was no Bob and Donna; they were at home finishing off their taxes.  We enjoyed the Capps, Branders, and Ash’s.  The teasing was non-stop!  We danced until 9:00 PM and then departed to make sure Scout the Wonder Dog was OK.  He gets into trouble if we stay away too long at a time.

Scout was out late last night!

We crashed around 10:00 PM.  It was a good day!  Before the Sandman called, I asked Mary, “What dinosaur makes the most noise when he is asleep?” She thought about it and tried to leave the room!  I yelled, “A Tyrannosnorus”

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It’s Only Saturday Dear!

Fact: In folklore, Saturday was often viewed as the best day to hunt vampires, as this was the day of the week when they were restricted to their coffins.  The Balkans also believed that if somebody was born on a Saturday, they could see a vampire that was invisible to others and that these people were the best recruits to become vampire hunters.

Is Mary not retired?  The answer is yes because after sitting at the computer for an hour, she said, “It is Sunday, right?”  When you are not sure of what day it is, you are retired!

Today we puttered again!  It seems puttering is becoming a wonderful pastime.  Around 11:00 AM, we decided to do some errands and go to lunch.

I thought, “Let’s go to the Mexican restaurant on Chapman & Tustin,” but then remembered Mexican is not necessarily Mary’s favorite.  So I asked Mary to pick a place to go.  You guessed it; she chose the place I was thinking about.  Off to Ostioneria Bahia Mexican & Seafood, we went.

They have an extensive menu!  This is one of six pages!

From lunch, we went to the cleaners as I had 15 shirts ready, the result of hoping through my closets a few days ago.

We did a VFR to Home Depot, where we got some more plants, some redwood mulch, and I got supplies for wiring the garage from my new 50A subpanel!

Arriving home, Mary was excited about cooking, so she headed to the kitchen.  I stayed in the garage and added sixteen 115VAC outlets on the top of my workbench!

Now I have POWER in the garage!

I had a mess as the new wiring and boxes require a lot of tools!  Now I have power every few feet, and all the wires are in conduit.

Tomorrow the mess gets cleaned up, and I am in business!

Mary popped her head out in the middle of the rewiring and said we needed to do a “Ralph’s Run”; we were missing some ingredients.  I dropped everything, and we went to the market, which is 1.8 miles away.  We got cheese, miso soup mix, and a bunch of other goodies, including ginger root, spinach, cabbage, and carrots.

Returning home, I went back to the garage and Mary to the kitchen.  She came out again and said, “I miss you in the kitchen!”.   Well, duh, that was all it took.  I headed to the kitchen, where I washed, sliced, diced, chopped, and did Sous Chef things.  I enjoy being with Mary; the garage can wait!  OMG, I said, “The garage can wait?”!

We watched a series about English folks in the 1700s; it was entertaining.

Into the pot!

…and the cooking begins!

Now the magic occurs.  I think it is her smile that makes everything so good.  A guy in our area was arrested last week for stealing cooking utensils.  He still thinks it was a whisk worth taking!

On a serious note, the only way you can tell that the pasta you are preparing is done is if you have a good skill of Al-dente-fication!

Go, girl.

You know Mary, “A religious chef is a man of the broth!”

A lawyer who cooks lunch can be called a sue chef!

BEFORE!

Stir it in carefully.

AFTER!

It’s magic!

Meanwhile, Mary had the slow cooker going with Chicken Miso Soup!

We sat down, and I was going to take a few pictures.  Well, the meal was so delicious that the camera just stayed put!  At 10:00 PM, we called Jan to tell her of the culinary successes and promised we would stop by tomorrow and drop some off.

Dinner is served!  Mary had been cooking for hours!

After dinner, Mary was so tired that I sent her off to bed, and I returned to the kitchen to clean up and put away the remaining food.  I must admit, a fork I was holding somehow got two more bites of the main dish stuck to it, and I devoured it quickly.  The meal was terrific.

FUN IN THE KITCHEN1

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April Fools Day; Yeah!

Fact: Mr. Potato Head was the first toy advertised on TV.

The sun rose; we rose, and the roses rose!  We looked at the calendar of events, and it was zero; we can do anything we want!  It is Friday!

We decided to go to lunch at about 11:00 AM and went to a new place (for us).  It was  called Restorante Marscapone on Katella in Orange.  We had no expectations, but it was a  fantastic experience.   Mary tried Veal Piccata, and it was perfect.  I had a special, and it was indeed remarkable.  We sat outside and watched the world travel up and down Katella Boulevard.

We saw something Jan would like, so we got it and did a fly-by complete with wine tasting.

Scout was awaiting our arrival as the bus had just dropped him off from school.

“Hey Dad, guess what I learned in school today?”

Scout takes after his mommy and is learning how to be a doctor!  He has two more classes, and then he will be certified in “Squeaky Removal.”  Most dogs just chew the squeaky out; not so, Mr. Scout!  He asked me if he could use my Exacto toolset!

We should never have sent Scout to school!

We walked into the backyard, and Mary came running up with the good news; her little carrot garden was producing!  The trick of adding a lot of sand to the adobe soil worked wonderfully; the carrot was straight, and it tasted sweet.  I reminded Mary, “Why are frogs so happy?  They eat whatever bugs them!”

Our firstborn!

Off to the front yard, where we added some more color to the already kaleidoscopic landscape.  Although hard to see, the tulips are exceptional in their vivid color schemes. 

Mary and I agreed, “In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”

The front yard is looking great!

We so enjoy the gardening activities.

Mother Nature is so very creative!

The wind was coming up, and the flags were standing on end.  Finally, you can read the lower flag; it is heavy as it is two-sided and requires a stiff breeze to stretch out.

Flags were waving at Casa Valencia.

As the sunset in the west, we headed for the swim spa.  We sat there for almost an hour, getting loosened up after a busy day.  It is fun to sit and watch the stars come out as the sky gets darker.  Now that we have power to the sheds, one of our Alexa devices will sit in the shed window and serenade us as we soak!

Warm water makes for great sleeping!

We hit the sack at 8:30 PM and watched a movie.  I lasted about five minutes when the sandman came to visit.

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Thursday And We Were Hopping!

Fact: Dolphins sleep with one eye open!  Dolphins are known to be one of the world’s most intelligent animals—possibly because they can conserve their brainpower.  Because they must constantly be looking for predators, the marine mammals have developed a neat trick of maintaining partial consciousness even as part of their brain sleeps.  Researchers have tested whether this “half-sleep” negatively impacts the animals’ alertness during the day but have found that even after having their nocturnal alertness constantly tested, they’ve remained as alert and perceptive as ever.

I woke up realizing I had not “worked” in fifteen years!  Then why am I so tired and beat up?

The sky threatened to bring down another gully washer of a downpour, but the moisture stayed in the clouds!  We had plans to go to the gym for an hour and thought we would get back before Eddie, the electrician, was to come by and fix the spa circuit breaker.

The phone rang as we were departing the homestead; we call Casa Valencia.  It was the AAACalvert scheduler.  “great news,” she said in a bubbly tone of voice.  “Instead of coming to finish things off next Wednesday, we can do it today!” OK, that was good news, but the gym and we had a meeting we could not miss.

The phone rang again as we pulled up in front of the gym.  Eddie said,  “Hi, Paul, me and the gang are here!”   I told them to stand back away from the garage doors, and I reached for the trusty iPhone, flipped through an assemblage of icons, and tapped on Nexx Garage Door One.

Oops!

Eddie squealed with joy as the door opened; now he could get to work!

The guys are out in full force this morning.

Five jumped out of the trucks with tools in hand and went to work.  We trust these guys and especially Eddie; AAACalvert is top-notch!  I forgot to tell Eddie that Scout took his first singing lesson, so ensure everyone has cotton balls for their ears.

I knew I should not have given Scout voice lessons, especially country-western singing.

We were back home by 9:15 AM after stopping by the local donut store and getting a dozen devilishly delightful donuts; we call them DDDs.  The guys were happy as can be.  We stayed in the house for a while, and everything was completed.  We got two more outside dual-suplex plus.  The gazebo now lights up with iPhone control, and I can light up the attic, making it look almost light daylight!

We had to leave for the Elks Girl’s Night Out, and the guys were breaking for lunch.  Mary and I gave them #100 for lunch and told them to call when they got back, and we would let them in via the garage.

We popped onto the freeway with complete abandonment and whisked our way south along the 55 freeway, now called the Costa Mesa Freeway.  We traversed about half of its length of eighteen miles before exiting at Dyer and then to the Elks.

We were the first people in the lodge for lunch, and our table was ready.  Karen popped out with our drinks and announced, “We have oysters today!”.  Iris (known by her friends as the Oyster Monster) appeared by my side almost as if by magic.  We placed an order for twelve of these delectable sea boogers!  Iris squealed with joy and practically passed out when I pushed the plate in front of her.

I felt lucky to eat two of the first dozen without losing a finger or getting slapped by Iris.   33.4 milliseconds later, the plate was empty; Iris even ate the shells.  People from tables around us came to watch “the “great oyster massacre!”

I asked Iris, “What if chocolate has a shell and lives at the bottom of the sea?” I gave  her the quick answer,” An oyster egg.”

They had oysters at Girls’ Night Out.

We ordered another dozen to watch Iris devour them using only one hand!  George could not believe his eyes, and it was like magic!

BTW, recent research has shown that oysters have developed an advanced method of communication; they use shell phones.

Oysters?  You mean sea boogers!  

When Keren came to take our order, Iris had a small bowl of soup.  After gobbling down twenty oysters, we were not surprised.

I told Karen, “My oyster used to be quite shy; then he came out of his shell one day.”

Shhhhhh, I am reading about oysters!

We could not resist, so we ordered a third order, which was gone in about three heartbeats!

Mary and I shared our meals; she had cod, and I had their super-duper steak!  We had Bob Carlson, Bob Zaitz, Iris & Will, George Ennis, and Bill Capps today, and we all had a wonderful time.

When we ordered dessert, I asked for a fourth dozen oysters for Iris to take home; they had run out!  Iris cleaned them out!

We returned home to find the guys just about done.  We rested for a few minutes awaiting Robin’sRobin’sl, and at 4:45 PM, we blasted off for the Highway 39 Events Center and a birthday party!  It was a car show with live music, and many of the “old guys” who love old cars were there!

You have to love the old 409.

The sky was still threatening, but somehow everything stayed dry!

We’re ready to go in and reset the clock by 50 years.

Wow, we all loved that truck!  When you mention “fire engine red,”  this car comes to mind!

Would you like to have one of these in your driveway?

A classic Corvette.  The Chevrolet Corvette, colloquially known as the ‘Vette,’ is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet across more than 60 years of production and eight design generations.

1953 original!

Mary and I wanted to dance, but for some unknown reason, my sciatica kicked in, and I could not walk.

The room was in color, but we were in black and white

David and Diane show us how to dance.

I had to capture this on video!

After getting home, we sat up for another hour, just gabbing and telling stories.

Robin asked about Mary’s Mary’s last Saturday!

Stories are told, and we all had a great laugh!

We crashed soon afterward!

 

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Wednesday! Yeah! Hump Day!

Fact: The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows.

It was a relaxing day, NOT!  We hit the garden Brighton early before it got too hot. I was working in the backyard minding my own business all of a sudden I heard this bloodcurdling scream, it was from Mary; what could be wrong?

There was nothing wrong but Mary brought a brand new carrot from her little carrot garden, she was happier than a clam.  Did you know that in the US a typical carrot has to travel 1,838 miles to reach your dinner table!  Mary only had to travel 100 feet.

Mary will be unhappy to find out that The World  Heaviest Carrot record now stands at 22 pounds 7 ounces (10.17 kilos) grown by Chris Qualley from Minnesota USA. Recorded in September 2017.

Did You Know? The Victorians had a recipe to destroy crickets “make a paste of flour, powdered arsenic, and scraped carrots, placed near their habitations.” This was developed because it was discovered that crickets were very fond of carrots. (Magazine of domestic economy, volume iv, 1839)

Our first born!

After working in the backyard for about two hours, we hit it for the front yard. We had gone to Home Depot together some goodies and we came back with 18 geraniums and a bunch of other stuff. I got out the trusty old Makita battery-powered drill and proceeded to make mini holes in the garden; Mary followed up by planting all the goodies.

Drilling for oil!

When the planting was complete, I proceeded to use the flower fertilizer connected with the nozzle and gave everybody a nice bathy.  By the time we were done, everything was clean and looked beautiful.

We went into the house and Mary fixed a beautiful dinner, we watched a movie, and by 730 we were dead on our feet. We headed for bed and both of us were asleep by 8:00 PM.

  • I am drained. …
  • I am pooped. …
  • I’m wiped out. …
  • I’m worn out. …
  • I’m fried.

Everything looked very nice and we were very happy to see the results the next morning.

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Something Was Odd!

Fact: Uranus was first named George. – When William Herschel first discovered the planet in 1781, the English astronomer named it the Georgium Sidus (the Georgian Planet) in honor of King George III.

The shades flew open to a beautiful day with white fluffy clouds resembling cotton candy floating by the window.  Scout, The Wonder Dog, nuzzled us, meaning, “Poppy, I gotta go!”  We walked down the hall, into the kitchen, and out the back door.  Scout hit the grass running, and I was not too far behind!

Scout gets advice from his new friend.

We decided it was “putter-around day,” which is precisely what we did.  Mary worked in her closet, and I worked in mine; finally, things are organized.  I had no idea that I had twelve red shirts!  I also found three of my tuxedos and all ten formal shirts!  I no longer have any size 36 pants in the closet, and GoodWill now has many!

We had bacon and eggs for brunch, and they were terrific!

We ran out of “puttering time “and had to get ready for the gym at 3:30 PM.  Mary went for the gusto while I did a minimal set because we were going to dinner directly after the gym!  We go again Thursday, so I will make today up then!

At 4:30 PM, we headed for Seal Beach and Old Ranch Country Club, where we had dinner with Mary’s financial advisor at 5:30 PM.  We sat by the window and had a wonderful time.  The service was perfect and the meals fantastic.

We stopped on the way home to get some stationery.  I talked to the clerk and said, “Your finest Scotch, please.” “Yes, sir,” the guy at Staples says as he hands me a 12-year-old roll of tape.

We talked for hours!

On our way home, we stopped by Jan’s because we found a pasta dish at Old Ranch that looked good!  Jan will try it out and let us know.

We told Jan of yesterday’s gardening and rain adventures.  Mary has a better way of explaining what happened; I think it is called animation!

Mary tells of the rainstorm!

Let’s see Mary in action!

Then we headed home because the baby had been left alone for almost five hours.  He was happy to see us!

I had too much wine last night.  Have no idea how I got home from the sofa.

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Eight Months And Counting

Fact: 90% of U.S. money has cocaine on it.  Either from exposure or drug use, a study revealed that 90% of the dollars circulating in the economy have cocaine on them.  Traces of cocaine were found to reach 0.006 micrograms (several thousand times smaller than salt).  The green dye on dollars causes cocaine residue to stick to the bills.

It’s the 28th, which means we have been married for eight months!  Time goes so fast.  We are enjoying each other.  I have now realized that there is no place I would rather be but by your side; happy anniversary, sweetheart; more amazing years awaits us.

According to the weatherman, we had about three hours before the thunderstorm was scheduled to hit, so we got a coffee and headed for the backyard.

Our lemon tree doesn’t seem to be doing very well in your location at the edge of the west wall, so I moved it adjacent to our lime tree, and it will be in the sun all day long.  We hope this will solve the problem; otherwise, we may have to replace the tree because it could be root bound.

We worked in the yard for two hours before the rains came.

We walked around the entire backyard looking for things that may have to be done, especially before the rain starts.  Our Mr. Lincoln rose is doing exceptionally well, and the blossoms are the size of a softball.

Mr. Lincoln loves his home in the sun.

I fell in love with the Julia child rose when I saw her in the Rose Garden at the Huntington Library.  They called this rose the Julia Child rose because Julia child, the world-famous chef, loved to cook with butter, lots of butter, and the rose is the color of butter.

My Julia Child is also doing well.

Right on schedule, the rain began to come down.  We thought it would be a very mild rain, but around 1 o’clock, it came down in buckets.  We got over 3/4 of an inch of rain and about two hours.

We discovered our rain gutter on the front of the house was not functioning correctly.  So in the middle of the storm, I found a ladder and went up to investigate.

I got drenched, but I did discover that a little birdie decided to try to make a nest right near the downspout, and all of his efforts ended up blocking the downspout.  When I removed all the twigs, water gushed out of the pipe, emptying the entire 45-foot long rain gutter in seconds.

One of my dad’s favorite sayings came to mind as I watched the downpour.  “It’s raining harder than a cow pissing on a flat rock.”

We felt sorry for the mailman, so since I was already soaked to the bone, I walked out and met him and got our mail.

I asked Mary, “What do you call a bear stuck out in the rain?”  She seemed a little puzzled, then her face lit up, and she said, “A drizzly bear.”

The Silver Fox was dirty already, so I didn’t mind him getting a bath.  We had him in the driveway because Mary and I planned to get the Easter decorations over the garage attic.   With the car outside, we pulled down the ladder from the ceiling and searched for Easter amongst the thirty-plus Christmas boxes.

By 2 o’clock, the rainstorm stopped, so Mary and I got some towels out and dried the Silver Fox, making it look like it just came back from the car wash.

What do you call dangerous precipitation?  A rain of terror.

We got 0.75 inches in about two hours!

By 3 o’clock, the sun was out, and we again walked the garden because it was so beautiful after a rainstorm.

After the bath, everything looked fresh!

Our red maple tree in the front yard is coming on strong.  We got this tree at the same time we got another avocado and orange tree for the backyard; this was the only tree that made it.  The other trees are going to be replaced by Moon Nursery.

The tree was beautiful.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Mary was unpacking our respective Easter decorations.  Last year we had unpacked them and put them up in our homes, but we are in our new home this year, so everything had to find a new place.

Some of the decorations were so old they were not fixable, so we made donations.  The workbench is full of Easter decorations that require glue here and there.

We got the Easter decorations down!

Mary fixed an early dinner around 4:00 PM.  She is pretty creative because she asked if I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich, and I said, “certainly!” As I came to the dinner table, I did not see a sandwich; I saw a waffle with melted cheese on it; what a great idea.

We were both tired after today’s working around the house, so we went to the office, and Mary worked on her puzzle while I worked on our website.  But at 8 o’clock, we had hit the sack and watched a movie about Rubie The Dog.  It was a true-life story of a border collie out of control, and the police officer picked her up from the pound and decided she was going to become a K9 Officer.

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To The Mardi Gras At The Fullerton Elks

Fact: Mardi Gras is more than just a day, it’s an entire season. Carnival season begins on Twelfth Night (January 6) and ends on Fat Tuesday  (It’s called Fat Tuesday because it’s the last day that many people eat meat and fatty foods before Lent begins. ). It’s during this time period that king cakes make their debut – and fly off the shelves all season long.

We worked around the house all morning getting Easter ready to put up and preparing for the rainstorm which we expect tomorrow.  Everything was covered and battened down for the winds that are expected.

We got cleaned up and did a fly-by at Jan’s on our way to Fullerton.

At the Elks, we had a special table out of the way of the main speakers.

We are ready to dance the night away!

Beverly and George are fun to be with!

George and Beverly were at the table with us.

We walked through the silent auction items.  There were 86 items on auction tonight.  We bid on thee items but did not have any luck!

We found a fellow reveler to take our picture.

There were two bands, one in each of the large rooms at the Elks.   The Marti Gras was a fundraiser for music education. They sounded fantastic and they brought several singers along.

The band was form Fullerton College and they were good!

The parade got underway just before dinner.  Many of the ladies and a few of the guys joined the parade as it wound its way through both rooms.  The Chinese Dragon joined the parade; fun for all.

The parade happened just before dinner.

The end is approaching and Mary will follow the parade.

Mary waited for the last of the parade folks to come through the door.

She did it!  Several older gentlemen passed out.  I was going to join Mary but I would look like something that had gotten loose from Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

She sashayed down the middle of the dance floor!

We danced until 9:00 PM and then headed home to visit Scout, The Wonder Dog!

He was dancing up a storm!

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Saturday And Mary Is Getting Smarter!

Sad Fact: 30 years ago, America was the leader in the quantity and quality of high school diplomas, and today, our nation is ranked 36th in the world.

5:30 AM, and the Alexa goes off!  What?  Saturday morning and Alexa is having a conniption fit!  Oh, then I remember; it was Mary’s day to go to school, and she was off to Newport beach to spend a day learning about the latest in eye medicine and surgeries.

Scout and I made coffee for her, and then Scout went outside to walk the property and make sure no elephants had snuck in during the night!  After a few minutes, I looked for Scout and was met by a surprise.  Not only did he find an elephant, but he and the elephant were also sitting in a tree!

I was shocked!

I shook my head and went back inside, where there was a tad of normalcy in the air.  Mary did her shower thing, and I got a fresh new pair of jeans so I could begin my list of work items to complete today.

Mary blasted off at 7:30 AM en route to Newport for her CME symposia.  On the other hand, I got out the “to-do” list and began working on it with the only stop being to grab a piece of pizza from the microwave!

The phone rang at 4:30 PM, and Mary was leaving Newport with a mighty; hungry!  I suggested Aces, and she was ready to do it.

Last week, when Colleen and Mary were in the garage, I honked the horn, which scared them silly.  Well, payback is a bitch.  I was going into the house to get my iPhone, and MAry honked the horn, scaring me; I had to check to see if I was still dry!

Payback!

We both had salads at Aces Bar and Grille because their produce is exceptionally fresh, and the steak or Salmon is always excellent; this evening was another roaring success.  We played old music on their jukebox.

We were off to dinner at Aces.

The Salmon was so good that we ordered another salad, but we asked for French fries and Salmon for Jan this time!

We visited Jan for a good hour, relieving her overloaded closet of a bottle of wine!

Visiting Jan!

Of course, Jan said,” I am not hungry,” but the fragrance of the Salmon was irresistible!  Life is good when you have French fries and Salmon!!

Jan enjoyed her Salmon!

We headed home and decided it was a spa night!

Warm water makes for great sleeping!

I was pointing at the liquid libation because it was grape juice!

OMG, what a face!

We crawled out of the spa and hit the sack; we were asleep ten minutes later!!

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Friday Is Here And We Are Hard At Work!

Fact: If you work 40 hours a week up until 65 years, you will work just over 90,000 hours in your lifetime. Leonardo Da Vinci is credited with writing the first resume. The industrial revolution allowed people to work longer and year-round. work was no longer dictated by seasons and natural lighting!

My body yelled “Wake up dummy” at 5:30 AM this morning. Perhaps it was the sound of the owl who was hooting up a storm starting at 5:00 AM.  Now if there were two owls, would they be Hooters?  I thought to myself, “Morning is wonderful. Its only drawback is that it comes at such an inconvenient time of day.”

I hate it when I yell at myself so I got out of bed and headed to the office which is next door!  Scout, The Wonder Dog, followed me.  After a few minutes, he wanted to go outside.  It was his duty to check the yard for elephants.  I attempted to take a picture of him but he was in a hurry!

Scout provided some humor this morning.  In his best Aussie dialect, he asked “Why are dogs like phones?”  I thought long and hard but could not come up with an answer.  Then he barked, “Because they have collar IDs.”  I told Scout NOT to give up his day job!

As Scout’s breakfast was being prepared, we got two visitors.  We would have let them stay except for their naughty habit of decorating the bottom of the pool. They stayed long enough for us to take pictures of them and then we sent Scout out to send them away.

Daisy and Donald were talking to each other so I put on my duck to English translation app and here is what I heard Donald say, “What do mallards eat at a baseball game? Quacker-jacks.”  Daisy said, “What did the duck say to the banker? “My bill is bigger than yours.”   I closed the app immediately after that!

It’s now springtime so the ducks are appearing off. Donald and Daisy stayed for about five minutes.

I moved eight more boxes from the “She Shed” to the kitchen where Mary proceeded to open them and decide what to keep and what to donate. The washing machine and dishwasher were busy the entire day. It was like Christmas opening packages.

Mary worked in the kitchen most of the day.

Mary is amazing as I heard my name being called and she had fixed lunch for us on the patio.  She probably did this because I was so dirty she didn’t want me in the house. After lunch, we continued working.

The side of our house was difficult to walk by if you were pushing a lawnmower or pulling a trashcan because the Rubbermaid upright storage units were wide. I decided to move them to the backyard. We have one for gardening and yard supplies, one for paint, one for general outdoor storage.

I moved three of our large standup containers from the side yard to the backyard.

Now it is a straight shot from the backyard to the front yard. While I was out there I also added a drip line for Mary’s little cactus garden down the walkway. Now we don’t have to worry about dragging the hose over there.

No, it is easy to walk down the side of the house.

Mary fixed dinner at about 5 PM and it was excellent. We had the TV in the kitchen so I watched part of a movie as we were finishing dinner. Even though I was stiff as a board, I decided I had to go back out to the yard for another 45 minutes to make sure I had all my tools put up, the gates were locked,  and the drip line was working.

After coming in Mary told me, “Working in the yard could add years to my life.”  She was right—I feel ten years older already.

We were both tired so we hit the sack around 8 o’clock and watched a movie. Mary is going to participate in a Continuing Medical Education activity tomorrow so she will be gone all day leaving me to do odds and ends around the house.  As a doctor, she’s required to do at least 24 hours of continuing education every year.

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Girls Night Out; Colleen Leaves For New Hampshire!

Fact: Your heart is the hardest working muscle in your body. It beats approximately 100,000 times per day, pumping almost 2,000 gallons of blood.

Today would have been my 34th anniversary with Sue but being with mMAry and the girls made it not so bad.  Tomorrow it will be one year since Del passed on.  Life does go on!

We were up before the chickens today and we had our gym class at 8:15 AM.  They hate it when I show up in my jammies!  We went to our normal cycle of exercises using the machines in about 50 minutes.  Every week we go up in the amount of weight that we were pushing pulling and today I could feel the difference.

Returning home, Mary continue going through her boxes and I took the trash out which meant I had to collapse all the boxes Mary had unpacked this week.

We went by Bill’s house and Jan’s house on the way to the Elks.  We brought them some food items which I know they really appreciate.  At the Elks, the swordfish was again on the specials list and I couldn’t resist, it was fantastic.

I could not pass up the swordfish it was absolutely delicious.

Well, I should not have ordered the eggs but I did anyway; they had barbecue sauce on them and they were quite tasty.  I was able to share with others around the table.

No matter what I do, I cannot lose these 18 pounds to get back to 190.  I mean I have tried everything short of diet and exercise.

Deviled eggs with barbecue sauce, interesting!

Mary wore her new tennis shoes to “Girls Night Out” and we all took turns chasing her; the fact is, they are quite nice looking.

Someone wore their brand new tennis shoes to Girls Night Out.

Shoe-Shopper’s Rule: If it feels good, it’s ugly. If it looks good, it hurts.  Or as Mary often says:

After returning home, Colleen finished packing for a trip home. Robin stop by to say goodbye and the four of us decided to go to Rockwell’s glass of wine and some appetizers. We decided that Colleen must return on or before the 29th of July so we can have a surprise birthday party; don’t worry, she will not remember the arrangements!

MAry and I told her about becoming 50:

  • You spend more time trimming your nose hair than head hair.
  • You realize with some irritation that your parents were right about nearly everything.
  • The street vendor says “Yes, Ma’am” instead of “Sure thing, Gorgeous.’”
  • You finally get your head together, and your body has other ideas.

Robin called Mary and said she would be by at 3:30 PM to say goodbye.

As we came home the sun was just setting and I snapped this picture of the sun going down at the horizon. We packed the car with Colleen’s suitcases and then headed for the John Wayne Airport for her departure.  Robin said good bye and drove off to home=.

The sun was just setting as we came home and get ready to go to the airport.

All masked up and ready to go, she had a 9 PM flight into New York City and then a connecting flight into New Hampshire. Mark will be picking her up so all will be well. I don’t know how Scout is it gonna deal with her being gone because they became really good friends.

As Colleen took off, the crowd yelled “it’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s supergirl”

There she goes!

When we got home it was still warm so we decided to jump into the spa and we did.  It was a beautiful evening.

Warm water makes for great sleeping!

OMG, what a face!

We crashed within minutes of exiting the hot water!

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A Wiring We Will Go!

Fact: Master Electricians Train Almost as Long As Doctors– There is no room for error in the highly hazardous field of electrical work.  Electricians who have become Master Electricians have been training through classroom work and hands-on experience for many years.  After completing an apprenticeship and becoming a licensed electrician, they need to work in the field for three years before applying to be a Master Electrician, and their credentials are thoroughly checked.  Like doctors, electricians need to be highly trained to diagnose electrical problems and find the correct solutions.

There was a knock at the door at 7:30 AM sharp; Eddie was ready to go to work with a big smile.  They attacked the “He Shed” and the “She Shed” first and then routed the powerline to the back of the property and over to an outlet box at the far end of the pool.  We can go into the “She Shed” or “He Shed” at night should we need to find something.

No more blown fuses for the Swim Spa.

The guys worked hard to get the job done.  AAA Calvert is a top-notch company if you need any electrical work done!

Running the conduit down the wall almost 120 feet was a challenge!

Colleen kindly volunteered to go to Dunkin doughnuts and get the guys a selection of their excellent products.  That was so nice of her to do that, and I think she may have got a cup of coffee while she was there.

Mary continued working on the boxes in the “she shed” and, as of today, has gone through twelve boxes.  Most of the continent was glasses, cups, and mugs, so we are finding places to put her collection around the house; she collected a coffee mug from all of her travels, and that is quite a bit.

Colleen left the house relatively early this morning so that she could pay a visit to her mother, who is still residing in La Mirada.

We departed around 2:30 PM to do our gym workout from 3 PM to 4 PM.   We hurried home to get freshened up before we hit the road as we were going to La Habra tonight to have a family dinner.

Mary and Colleen wanted to stop at the Brea mall and walk around for a few minutes.  Mary found a brand new pair of swanky tennis shoes, and she got the protective cover for her new phone.

Shopping at Brighton.

Scout, The Wonder Dog, stayed home, but we heard he had an “over the wall” conversation with the doggies next door.

When we got to the Olive Garden restaurant, Zack, Becca, and the kids were already there, so we went inside the bar and had a glass of wine while waiting for Joe and his family, plus Connor.  I told Zack, “Two wrongs don’t make a right, take your parents as an example.”

 

We were waiting in the bar area.

Dinner started right on time at 6:00 PM, and we had a load of fun.  It’s interesting to sit back as an older adult and watch the kids, and the grandkids interact, and the great-grandkids, dang, I am getting old.

Joe asked me, “Dad, can you tell me what a solar eclipse is?” I quickly responded with, “No sun.” I replied, “A parent’s job is a daily struggle to help a crazy person stay alive.”

We are seated and ready for food!

Joe canceled his soccer practice to join us this evening for Colleen’s almost last day here.  I am thrilled that my daughter and son get along so well.

Joe and Amy are lovely people.

OK, you can probably see it in his eyes, but Alex is the spitting image of his grandpa.   He is the spitting image of his dad and me; I feel so sorry for him!

The boys and Mary get along wonderfully.

Aunt Colleen and the boys are a fantastic trio.  They laugh, giggle and do evil things to tiny animals regularly.  I overheard Charlie say, “I can’t touch my aunt, or I’ll explode.  She’s made of auntie matter.”

Of course, Aunt Colleen is the apple of their eye!

We all had a wonderful time, and the food was very delicious.  When I made my order, I looked at the menu and understood how many calories there were in my dinner.  Therefore, being wise and old, I took half of my meal and put it in a to-go box before starting.

Stories are told.

The poor waiter was asked to take a group photo; it was OK because I had a heavy-duty lens on the camera this evening.  Quite a group if I don’t say so myself.

The group shot, and everybody is here; we are missing Robin!

We departed just after the sun had set it and shuffled out to the parking lot so we could head for home.

Ready to depart.

After departing the Olive Garden restaurant, we decided to stop by Jan’s house because we had ordered a meal for her.  Mary Colleen and I sat with Jan for a good hour, had a glass of wine, and told her about the day’s events.

Jan had a little gift for Colleen.

The pin was simple but had a lot of sentimental value in it.  Today marked Jim’s passing eight years ago; tomorrow will mark Sue and my 34th anniversary; Thursday will mark one year since Del departed us.

Quite pretty.

We headed home well after dark, and there was a little bit of a breeze, so we got to see our new Easter flag flying at the top of the poll.  It looked great.  We crashed, but I decided to leave the widescreen door in place and did not lock the back door; it was cool all night long.

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Initiation Day! Retired Fifteen Years Today!

Fact: Since its founding on February 16, 1868, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE) has been recognized by the noble creature that is the symbol of the Order.  The elk is a peaceful animal but will rise in defense of its own in the face of a threat.

Today was shocking, AAA Calvert (an OUTSTANDING electrical company located in Long Beach) came to town, and the third day of electrical activity began at 7:30 AM when Eddie arrived.  Eddie, the leadman, arrived early as he lives close by.  He loves this job because it is so much easier than driving into Long Beach!

After a week of delicious Mary creations, I got cleaned up and decided I would weigh myself.  Oops, the scale lies!

Marry is such a good cook that I had to get on the scales, and it was a frightening experience.

The AAACalvert team got the power subpanels done in the attic and the garage and wired the two backyard sheds.  All the labeling was completed, so now I know what breaker does!  Yeah!

We went to the gym at 3:00 PM and did an hour’s workout.  Returning home, we cleaned up and headed to the Santa Ana Elks at 5:00 PM.  We arrived ahead of Robin, Bob, and Nick, so we had a drink and downed an appetizer.

We’ll wait for three arrivals of Robin & Bob Nick.

We got a chance to visit with Bill.  The girls compare outfits; Mary is wearing one of Colleen’s blouses and likes it.

The girls like the style of blouse.

Bill makes a couple of calls; this one is to Colleen, asking if she will be there tonight.

Hello, hello, hello.”

Dinner was served as, as usual, it was outstanding!  The swordfish was so excellent.

Swordfish for dinner, yeah!

Bill is happy to have Colleen and Nick join the lodge this evening.  Nick brings the average age down to 65!  Colleen helped that along also!

Bill and Colleen are always a barrel of fun.

After the ceremony, we had a glass of wine before going home.  Mary told me to put on my glasses when I could not read the menu!  I did just as she said!

Mary told me to put on my glasses so, I did!

Dang!  I had to begin behaving; not an easy task for me!

Oh darn, I have to behave.

Bob and I won two of the drawings in the meeting.  Bob took the vin,o and I took the Scotch!

Did You Know?  Scotch whiskey, or Scotch, is mainly made from malted barley.  To bear the name, it can only be produced in Scotland.  There are two main types — single malt and single grain (2).  Single malt Scotch whiskey is made from only water and malted barley at a single distillery.

 

The Elks salute with a bit of help from my friend.

By 9:30 PM, we here heading home and crashed.  It was a great day having two more Elks!  I had to laugh at this one!

So true!

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