Saturday Has Arrived

Posted on Saturday, November 6, 2021 by Paul

My family told me to stop telling Thanksgiving jokes, but I said I couldn’t quit cold turkey.

We were up at 6:00 AM, awaiting the sun to show through the heavy fog.  Scout headed to the south forty.   Although the house was 72 degrees, we were cold, so I pulled up two rocking chairs to the fireplace and lit the fire.  Within two minutes, we were warm!

The next task was to coordinate our calendars which we did with the help of Vicky!  We are now synced.

Thanksgiving humor!

We worked around the house in the afternoon and then got ready to dance with our friends at the Elks Lodge in Santa Ana; it was Italian Night!

Look out, pasta, here I come!

The place was loaded with fire trucks, and I believe we were part of a memorial gathering in the next room.

It’s going to be a hot time in the building tonight!

The skeletons are gone, and the farmers are here to celebrate Thanksgiving.

The Elks sit down for lunch!

Dinner was amazing.  They had spaghetti and angel hair pasta, chicken piccata, shrimp pasta, and lasagna.  To top that off, they came around with homemade pizza, and they were terrific.  What a meal and music also!  We had a wonderful time!

Donna and Bob are here; the party can start.

Bob Carlson showed up, and we thought he might have a friend, but alas, he was solo.  It was nice that he was next to us because he helped us down a bottle of wine.

Bob showed up by himself?

Who are these two?  Well, it is a twenty-one-year story!  We ate, drank, and danced from 5:00 PM until well after 9:00 PM.  Our feet were tired after the first twenty dances!

Who are these magnificent people?

Line dance? Did someone say “Line Dance?”  Mary hit the floor and worked off her pizza while I was sneaking another piece of that delightful addition to the menu!

Go Mary, Go1!

While the girls were up dancing, Bob and Bob were exchanging war stories.  Next time I will try to record them; they get pretty funny.

Bob explains to Bob the word Bob.

All of a sudden, there he was, Dr. Ronnie, making the rounds.  He whispered something into Iris’s ear, and she laughed for ten minutes.  He is a friend who we see on Thursdays at “Girl Night Out.”  He is quite impressive, a  gentleman, and loaded with laughs.

Ronnie is being naughty again.

We are fortunate to have him as a friend.

Our friend assisted me in doing the Hokey Pokey.

Then, Traci swooped in.  She went to the wrong Elks Lodge and ended up in Newport Beach.  Finally, she made it, and now we knew why Bob was keeping a seat open next to him!

Well, hello there, little girl!

Traci fits right into this group; she is charming and can hold her own with the best of us!  I see a lot of dancing in her future!

Traci had some dinner, and then we were off and running!

Go, Traci, Go!  She is demonstrating the proper way to do the Watusi mixed with some definite 1970s moves!

Only eight steps! Easy Peasy!

Bob gave it a try but decided he could do it in only seven steps!  He is so clever!

Traci & Bob are cutting a rug.

After 9:00 PM, my feet were killing me, especially after leading the entire room in the Hokey Pokey.  It was recorded, but the censors deleted the file!  I guess I was putting certain parts out that better should have been left alone?

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Friday And I Am Back!

Posted on Friday, November 5, 2021 by Paul

If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.

The sun rose in the east, and I was anxious to see what Scout The Wonder Dog wrote about yesterday.  He did an outstanding job translating Dog to English, although he did wag a participle a couple of times!   Scout doing the writing made the day easy, so he may be volunteered again sometime soon!

The fog was intense, and we could not even see the mountain behind us, so I suggested Mary hit the road early; she did, and it was a wise suggestion!  She made it with a bit of time to spare.

Scout, my trusty sidekick, and I began our chores.  We did the wash, cleaned the garage, did some errands, and even got the comics from the local Staples store.

The story of October 2021 in cartoon fashion!

We went for a walk, so I could say I walked Five Miles.

In the afternoon, which crept up on me quickly, I entertained the gardener and our pool guy.  At 5:00 PM, I had to fix dinner, so I made a broccoli and cheese quiche and fixed up some artichokes plus, I found some bourbon whisky flavored ice cream buried deep in the bowels of the freezer!

I did a good job, and now we will have the rest for breakfast over the weekend!

Mary got home about 6:00 PM, and I had the spycam on when she showed up!

When the rocket shows up on the screen, I head for the garage with a glass of wine!

We sat and had a pleasant dinner, chatted with Colleen for a while, and decided no hot tub tonight!

We were both tired, so we adjourned to the TV/Living Room and watched “The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas” and laughed and giggled for two hours.

We hit the sack around 10:00 PM, for we have a busy weekend!

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Thursday And All Is Well!

Posted on Thursday, November 4, 2021 by Paul

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. —Mark Twain

You are probably wondering about the quote in today’s blog.  Well, it is from me, Scout, The Wonder Dog!  Dad was so busy I decided to write the blog today to help him out.  So, here it goes!

Yes, this is me; your well trained and educated blogger par excellence!

Mom and Dad got up at 7:00 AM, a little late, but it was just in time to take me outside as mother nature calls.  While they made coffee and did their morning small talk, I explored the periphery of the yard, making sure no elephants had snuck in during the night; it’s a dangerous job, but someone has to do it. I sniffed and piddled at least six times, making sure everything was well marked!

I smell the icky liquid Mom and Dad drink every morning; I think they call it caugh-phee or something like that.  When my nose detects that smell, I know that breakfast will soon be served!  Dad fixed breakfast for me, and he is always generous about the contents!

If you worry about my doggie sense of humor, I chewed on Daddy’s magazine, NOT the Playboy, and found these pictures.

My sister was here this morning, so I got some extra scratching in and another crotch to smell; it’s a doggie thing, you know.  I heard my humans talking, and I guess my sister is going to Girls Night Out at the Elks with them today.  I plan to sneak in the car and go with them; after all, I am writing the story today!

It was 11:00 AM, and I heard the keys rattle; that’s my queue, so I went to the garage and jumped in the back seat of The Silver Fox.  We were off like a flash.  Mom was yelling, “Giddy Up Go,” and Dad was pulling back on the reins!

We made a stop in about five minutes; oh dear, did they see me?  I peaked up and they were walking into a large building, and other humans were bringing out food in baskets? I was puzzled.  After five minutes, I saw them coming, and Dad opened the back door and spotted me; I am toast!  He is a lovely man and did not say anything except, “Do not eat the birthday cake!”  Cake and me in the back seat all alone? It’s a recipe for disaster and a definite sugar high! I controlled myself.

We arrived at the Elks Lodge; I was hoping to see a real Elk because I wanted to chase it! NO real Elks to be seen.  When Mom and Dad exited the car, I followed behind; I must see this Elks Lodge thing for myself!

Well, they sat at a big table, and my sister Robin was there.  I stayed in the shadows at the next table and watched!  Dad took out that noisy black thing and began pushing buttons on it.  I think it captures souls!

My Sister and Mom; they are joined at the hip!

Hey, my friend Sydney is here today, and she brought her sister, her Dad, and Jeannie.  I wonder what’s going on?

Hal, Jeannie, sister, and Sydney!

I wish I could go over and smell the guys, but I had to stay “hidden.”  I used to eat garlic. My bark was worse than my bite.

My friends John and Mike came today also!

Oh! Oh boy!  There is a cake, and Mom is kissing Hal; it must be some weird human celebration.  Let’s see; I heard Hal say he was 92.  Will, I am eleven in people years, making me 77 in doggie years!  Oh dear, I am as old as Dad!

Mom gave Hal a big birthday kiss!

Everyone settled down and ate.  Dad dropped a couple of pieces of steak just for me.  Mom posed, and Dad took her soul with that camera thing?

Mom is so cute (I guess, at least Daddy thinks so!)

We got into the car after saying goodbye.  Mom and Dad said there were going to Sherman Gardens.  That will be fun as I can patrol the gardens and watch for elephants!

They took me to Sherman Gardens after lunch!

Oh boy, Oh boy… I get to run and play and poop and pee in new places!  This is more fun than a visit to the hot dog factory!  Did I tell you that a local dog gave birth at the side of the road?  She got fined for littering.

Oh! Lot’s of room to run and hide!

Mom found a big water bowl for me but one look inside and I opted out, “Mom, I’ll take a beer instead!”.  I really needed water because there was so much more to pee on, but I digress!

Mom asked me if I wanted a bath, I said, “NO!”

We walked inside a nice warm building with lots of flowers which I discretely watered as I was walking by them.  Dad stopped and Mom did the click-thing!

Mom used her magic box to capture Dad’s soul!

I heard a lot of noise, but I refrained from barking for fear I would scare the workers.  I do not know what it is, but Dad kept making funny sounds and pulling at something from the sky.  I think he was saying, “Choo Choo; Toot Toot!”  Humans are sometimes a little weird!

I hope they bring me back so I can chase the train!

Dad worked on his website after we got home so you can see all the pictures from our visit!

We jumped in the Silver Fox, and this time the cat was out of the bag; they knew I was here, so I sat up in the back seat and watched the other cars whiz by.  It was dinner time when we got home.  I can’t tell the time, and every time is dinner time for me.  I think it was 5:30 PM.

Mom and Dad went upstairs and finished off the Thanksgiving tree using the newly arrived autumn garlands.

Mom and Dad finished off the Thanksgiving tree!

When they came downstairs, they decided to go into the swim spa, whatever that is.  They took off their fur and jumped in hot water; humans are indeed odd!  I patrolled the yard and barked at some neighbors just to let them know I was doing my job.

Mom and Dad watched TV, so I placed myself on the floor right in their way, so they had to walk around me when they went to the kitchen; I am good at doing that!  They watched some movie called “Stripes”; they laughed a lot.

At 10:30 PM, Dad took me out to do my business.  He was amusing because he did his business also.  We both watered the grass; I don’t think Mom knew!

It was lights out at 11:00 PM.  Dad is considerate; he took off his jammie top and put it across me thinking I might get cold during the night.

Well, it was exciting to take on the blog today and give Dad a rest!  Remember, “Growl, Woof Woof, Bark!”.  In doggie, that translates to, “Have a good night and don’t let the bed bugs bite!”.

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The Turd Of November And We Are Busy Again!

Posted on Wednesday, November 3, 2021 by Paul

If you’re a girl and participate in no shave November, prepare for dateless December.

Oh My!  The clocks have to be reset on Sunday morning.

I was up early, and as I peered over the end of the bed, Scout The Wonder Dog was still sound asleep wearing my jammie bottoms.  I thought he might be cold since we slept with the windows open!

The baby still had on my jammies when I got up at 6:00 AM

We had our morning coffee and discussed the day.  Them we walked Five Miles.  We are so happy Scout allows us to change his name.  I told Mary, “I don’t get it. The trail looked so flat on the map.”

We walk early, and that is always fun.  As I mentioned to Mary, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from hiking, it’s that the early bird gets the face full of spider webs.”

The fog was beginning to burn off.  We could see the hills behind our home reappear.

The fog was intense while we were having our morning coffee.

The picture reminded me of the movie “Brigadoon.” The Legend: The legend of Brigadoon is the story of a mythical village in the Scottish Highlands. The town became enchanted centuries ago, remaining unchanged and invisible to the outside world except for one special day every hundred years when outsiders could see and even visit.

Leftovers from Halloween?

We did chores, put up Thanksgiving, and searched for the remaining Halloween decorations when we got home.  Mary found the blow-up turkey, and he looks pretty good in the living room!

Mr. Turkey sits in a place of honor!

Robin came over about 6:00 PM, and we made dinner.  Fresh eggplant from the garden coupled with homemade breadcrumbs and cheese, we had a delightful dinner.  We added to that three pieces of pizza from last Saturday and margaritas.   We were ready to watch TV.

Robin joined us for dinner and a movie!

We are not sure what to call it, but it was NOT fried; baked and healthy!

Eggplant directly from our garden!

We decided it was time for a Christmas movie, so Robin suggested “Christmas Vacation.”

Mary had not seen it before and laughed herself silly.  Great fun with the family! We laughed so hard we dern near fell off the couch.

Robin stayed over and is going to join us at “Girls Night out!”

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Tuesday And All Went Well

Posted on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 by Paul

What sound does a turkey’s phone make? Wing wing wing!

Mary was home today, so we will work getting all Halloween put away and bringing out Thanksgiving! But first, we had to make a trip to Los Alamitos!  We had breakfast with Miss Charlotte, my golf buddy.  We met at Old Ranch and spent an hour and a half catching up on things!  She is a lovely lady and a good friend.  We decided that sometime during the holidays we would get together!

There is a lot of truth in this thought!

We departed Old Ranch at 11:00 AM and made it to the doctor by 111:30 AM; he is adjacent to the Long Beach Airport.  Today’s visit was easy; he took out my stitches which was perfect; I liked to have the stitches during Halloween!

We headed home but decided we would stop at a new place for a glass of wine; Aces Bar and Grille!  It used to be called Opus and was Italian.  It was a good visit as we met the owner and asked about dancing and perhaps a “Sinatra Evening” where the music would be mild!

The visit was excellent!

Now it was back to work at Casa Valencia.  Mary took down the Halloween decorations on the holiday tree while I worked on the Halloween website, finishing it off!  Then we both decorated the tree for Thanksgiving.

We are starting to collect devorations!

Our garland was too short, so we wrapped it around the stairway, and I went to Amazon and ordered a new autumn-leafy garland that should be here on Thursday!

The Thanksgiving tree is up!

By 5:00 PM, we were tired and hungry, and we looked at each other and said, “Aves!”.  We returned to Aces and had dinner.  Wow, Mary did the salmon, and I did the steak.  Both meals were fantastic!  I was taken aback by the quality of the food.  They also took directions well; we wanted al dente vegetables, and that’s exactly what we got!

Another great decision was formulated and voted on by the two of us; we visited Jan’s.  We spent a good hour with her talking about dancing and friends and our activities.

We visited Jan to check up on her!

We needed to return home and water Scout The Wonder Dog.  If we are gone too long, he gets upset.  Departing Jan’s home, the sky was pretty, and out came the camera in a flash, no pun intended!

We departed Jan’s a little after sunset!

We crashed upon arriving at home; it was a full day!

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Down Comes Halloween! Up Goes Thanksgiving!

Posted on Monday, November 1, 2021 by Paul

We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.

It’s Monday, and that means another tune from Paul’s past! Today it is “Come Go With Me” by the Del Vikings!

Did You Know? “Come Go With Me” is a song written by C. E. Quick (a.k.a. Clarence Quick), an original member (bass vocalist) of the American doo-wop vocal group the Del-Vikings. The song was originally recorded by The Del Vikings in 1956 and was released on Fee Bee Records.

Norman Wright was the lead vocalist on this song. When the group signed with Dot Records in 1957, the song became a hit, peaking at No. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also reached #2 on the R&B chart.

Written in just five minutes, “Come Go with Me” was recorded in the basement of Pittsburgh disc jockey Barry Kaye.

We walked Five Miles, and he enjoyed the exercise.  Mary departed for work at 8:05 AM, just after school started, because the traffic was nil.  I hit the house running and boxed up Halloween.   I did have to tell Scout, The Wonder Fog, about the Halloween joke and doggies!

I worked for about five hours getting everything down and packed away.  Some decorations were left as they also are suitable for Thanksgiving/Fall.

For a break, I put up the house numbers on the front since they were removed when the rain gutters were installed.   I was the consummate house-husband today; I did the wash and did the dishes and prepared a great dinner of leftovers.

I didn’t even leave the house.  While in the garage straightening things up, I reset the timer on the watering system and cut it back to M-W-F only since the weather has changed. We purchased two brand-new internet and Amazon Alexa compatible water timing systems but have so busy that we have yet to install them!

Maybe this week?

Dinner was miso soup, cottage cheese, a nice salad with tomatoes from our back yard, and a glass of wine!  I set everything up at the bar.  It felt good to have the house look great when the working half of our team arrived; that also gave me a good reason to fall asleep while watching TV.

We watched two Dudley Moore movies entitled “Arthur” and “Arthur Two.”  Great films to make you laugh and giggle!

We finally crashed at midnight.  Mary likes my choices in movies.

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Happy Halloween

Posted on Sunday, October 31, 2021 by Paul

Halloween was confusing. All my life, my parents said, ‘Never take candy from strangers.’ And then they dressed me up and said, ‘Beg for it.’

We just begged all day and did not even leave the house except to get additional candy just in case!

Mid-afternoon, we sat and had a glass of wine and remembered the Venus Flytrap had not been fed.  So, I brushed Mary with some bi=utter and sprinkled sugar on her arm.  It’s odd; she does not attract flies?  So I put my arm out and zot, flies, came from miles around.

We bopped one right on the head and took it inside while it was still moving.  Seymour, our Venus Flytrap, was tickled green! Pme thing troubled me.  I had a plastic flyswatter while Mary was carrying a three-pound sledgehammer.  I am so glad I saw the fly first!

I swear I heard him burp!

Mary dropped it in one of his blossoms and zap; the sucker closed at the speed of lightning.  We watched it for a day, and it squeezed the fly to where it was almost flat.  Imagine that, a flay fly…say that three times!

Did you know? Venus flytraps can eat human flesh. In the wild, they can capture and consume meat from small reptiles or rodents. However, due to their small size, Venus flytraps can’t eat a human. The Venus flytrap has developed successful trapping mechanisms and a taste for meat.

We went to the swim spa about 5:00 PM to get ready for the scads of little trick or treaters! We started a movie with Bruce Willis in it; it was not so good! We were out by 6:00 PM and went to the Living Room/TV Room to be close to the front door.

Well, we had a total of eight kids! We crashed as Mary has to work tomorrow! By 900 PM were done and watched the rest of the movie.  We should have gone to the Halloween dance party in Chino!

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Carve That Pumpkin; Tote That Bale!

Posted on Saturday, October 30, 2021 by Paul

Eat, Drink & Be Scary

We were up by 7:00 AM and getting the house for the family to join us around noon!  Mary worked in the kitchen and I attacked the outside.  The pizza was ordered at 11:00 AM sharp!

Fun with Family!!!

You can see the details of the carving activities on our website.

We even got into the carving activities!!

Everybody had a great time and by 4:00 PM everybody had hit the trails for home.  Mary and I took a well-deserved nap and got up at 5:00 PM so we could get to the Elks at 7:00 PM sharp!

We had twenty-two of the gang here tonight and we had quite an amazing time dining, dancing, and visiting! You can see the party activities on our website.

We had nice compliments on our attire!

It is so much fun and so special to be surrounded by loved ones!

One scary group!!!

We got home around 11:00 PM and totally crashed! Tomorrow we rest!

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Friday And Mary Has A Half-Day Schedule! Yes!

Posted on Friday, October 29, 2021 by Paul

Why aren’t zombies ever arrested? They can’t be captured alive.

Halloween is almost here; how about a bit of music to get you into the “spirit”?

We finally got up at a reasonable le time, 6:00 AM.  Mary headed for the shower, and I went into the Family Room and sat with Robin, where we plotted the rest of the holiday season!

I started the fireplace, and it looks pretty good, and it puts out heat; what a bonus!

After Mary and Robin departed, I went to work around the house doing chores like cleaning up after last night’s dinner, doing the wash, getting wiring ready for a driveway light, walking Scout, etc.  I kept busy!

When Mary called while on the way home, I was so tired that I decided to offer lunch at Rockwell’s, Mary did the top sirloin salad while I had my regular, the Paper Boy Sandwich!

We think she just crawled out of the fountain.

The new person was a little too close for comfort, so we moved to the other end of the table; she looked hungry and kept looking at me!

We did give her the number of a dentist!

Rockwell’s had several new clients posted around the store. Bones here played a mean guitar, a little loud but acceptable.

Play it again, Bones!

We went over the Elks Halloween Costume Party attendees and had one remaining seat in case of an emergency; well, Vicky decided to go!  Yeah, all seats were taken, and twenty-four of us will have a ball!

Final coordination for our Halloween party got underway when the iced tea arrived.

We stopped at the market for last minutes supplies and then headed home (a whole 1.8 miles), so we could go back to work. I washed a pealed a ton of goodies while Mary finished off the spiders! Veggie man must rise from the garden.

Spiders, Oh My!

We carefully put them away in the outside frig for fear they would get loose and come inside and wreak havoc!

We were going to buy exotic spiders from the pet shop; then we realized we could get one cheaper on the web.

Who will be the first to bite into a biter?

I saw a spider on my computer keyboard earlier, but not to worry. It’s under Ctrl.

Mary, our resident surgeon, operated. I assisted by washing and peeling, dicing, slicing, and creating the necessary ingredients. Mary found “Veggie Man” in a book and had been studying it for weeks now. I cut her just short of creating a monster.  When she asked me to fly a kite and then connected the wired to the pickles in his neck, I said, “No way, José.”

Mary’s starting point.

The perfect hard-boiled egg!  Where does it go?

We worked for two hours.

Just like Frosty The Snowman, he came alive.  Unfortunately, he was pickled and could not walk! Speaking of pickled, it was 9:00 PM before we shared our first glass of wine!

Veggieman is now ready to be served.

The hero of the evening!  Tomorrow ought to be an excellent time for the family to all be together and chop up the pumpkins!

She worked and then came home and worked!

It was early, and I decided we would watch “A Summer Place,”; a pretty risque movie for its time.   While we dined, we had artichokes and shared a cup of miso soup from last night.

Interesting note: The movie was released in the 1960s, but the csars were all last 1940s!

Did You know? A Summer Place is a 1959 American romantic drama film based on Sloan Wilson’s 1958 novel of the same name, about teenage lovers from different social classes who get back together 20 years later and then must deal with the passionate love affair of their adolescent children by previous marriages. Delmer Daves directed the movie, which stars Richard Egan and Dorothy McGuire as the middle-aged lovers and Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue as their children. The film contains a memorable instrumental theme composed by Max Steiner, which spent nine weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1960.
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It’s Been Three Months And All Is FANTASTIC!

Posted on Thursday, October 28, 2021 by Paul

My wife and I have started aggressively planning for her retirement, and by that I mean we’re playing the lottery 3-5 times per week.

Three months ago we exchanged vows and we are so happy about that!  Time is moving on and we are getting the home in shape for the holidays; we are excited about the holiday season!

Another 4:30 AM arrives, and we are up and going.  Mary has to be at a Women’s Business Council meeting of Orange County; their meeting is at Denny’s in Huntington Beach on Beach Boulevard at 7:00 AM.  This morning will be the last one Mary will be going to since she is retiring.  Over the years, she has held many offices in that group, including El Presidente!  We are bringing some gift coffee cups filled with Halloween candy as a goodbye gift.

I told Mary that I used to wake up every morning and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I was not there, I went to work.

6:00 AM, and on the way out the door, we called our daughter and surprised her with the early morning video visit.

We surprised Colleen by calling so early!

Well, while the ladies did their thing in the meeting room at Denny’s, I did mine!  The Lumberjack Slam was my choice, and I had ninety minutes to get it down.  Geez, what a meal!  Mary used her pumpkin joke; it worked out well!

OUCH!

I assisted by bringing in the cups as they were heavy.

Everyone gets a mug stuffed with candy; you would think she is a dentist!

I procured another piece of iPhone software called “Splash” to control the colorization of pictures.  It seems to work pretty well!

The black & white background was done using Splash!

By the time the meeting was over, I had downed a Lumberjack Slam and four cups of coffee.  I was fully wired!  I was so stuffed I could hardly wiggle!

…and it comes with two huge pancakes!

We departed Denny’s and headed to Mary’s office to drop off some mugs and pick up a heat mask for my eyes.  We visited for a few minutes before heading home to get Scout for this appointment with the Vet!  Scout got his walk which means, we walked Five Miles!

At the Vet, Scout was getting his ears checked and getting groomed for the party on Saturday.  Scout does make a big deal after the grooming visit; he stops walking and begins prancing!

Normal? Scout? No way José

From the Vet, we stopped by The Salvation Army and Goodwill looking for hand mixers.  We do not need a mixer, but we do want the beaters to attach them to an electric drill and clean out the punkins!

Now it was time for Girls Night Out at the Elks.  Mary and I shared a tri-tip steak and Swordfish!   We also managed to down a glass of wine while we were visiting everyone.

Returning home, the Santa Ana’s had kicked up, and the flag was waving.  No people can see the writing on the flag!

The flag is excellent; we have ordered more!

We retrieved Mr. Scout on the way home, and he was purdy!  He knew he was purdy! Scout was hoping the Vet would be at the party on Saturday so he could introduce his friends to her! That is one intelligent dog.

Scout! You know better than that!

Robin joined us this evening, which is always a pleasure.  We fixed a Korean dish where we put our meat and veggies in boiling chicken broth.  The meal was quite good and certainly something we had not tried at home before.

Dinner was served; from the Korean market.

We made the famous Korean drink to go with the meal; Margaritas! All had great fun! We made a big batch of drinks and downed them as the Korean food was consumed.

Slurp; the margaritas go down!

We called Jeff, our neighbor, and told him to be prepared for an invasion.  Robin, Mary, and I headed over with drinks in hand, and we visited Jeff for about 45 minutes before heading back home to crash!

The flagpole light was on courtesy of Joe.  It looked pretty good, and the Santa Ana winds had finally died down.

We were heading home after visiting Jeff.

We checked the backyard before hitting the sack, and Scout was on his throne looking out over his vast property holdings.  When I called him to come inside, I got a rude response as he was apparently taking another beauty nap!

Scout surveys his kingdom!

We love our yard, and schools lights stay on all night long, which is excellent!  It was 72 degrees outside at 9:30 PM, thanks to the heat of the day!

It was a magical evening!

The three of us talked for a while before crashing.  Tomorrow Mary works half-day, and I will be doing errands around the area until she arrives back home.  We will put the finishing touches on the party plans this afternoon and then we begin worrying about Thanksgiving.

Mary asked if she could carve the turkey this year; we do have some minor questions!

Good night all!

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Hump Day! Not For Us Retired Folk!

Posted on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 by Paul

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.

It’s getting exciting; Halloween is almost here!

We are ready to go!

Again we ake up at Oh-Dark-Thirty, and this time we have to hit the road for Los Alamitos at 5:45 AM to visit my dermatologist.  We arrived a little early, but we got in, and the doc also had time to see Mary about a little place she had on her leg.  We came out with bandages everywhere.

I was early when we arrived!

It was 7:30 AM when we departed the doctor’s office; we went to Old Ranch Country Club and enjoyed a glass of champagne while we awaited Vicky’s arrival.  Vicky has been my next-door neighbor for three decades, and her company is always welcome and quite entertaining.

Breakfast at Old Ranch.

We sat and talked for almost two hours enjoying omelets and other delectable.  The coffee went down with precision, and then we headed out shopping at 10:00 AM.

Beautiful view of the course.

We went to my old Ralph’s market because I knew where everything was located.  The shopping was for Saturday’s party at our place; the pumpkins must be carved!  We talked about last year, which was a load of fun!

This event was Dr. Mary’s second year, and she is a pro! She is a natural hostess and also loves family!

As soon as we got home and watered the dog we departed again for the dentist.  Iy was time for a checkup.  We passed the test although I must go back after the first of the year and get a small crown on an old tooth.

Dr. Annie gave us good grades!

On the way home, we stopped by the CVS as prescriptions were piling up!

When we got home, we fired up the new fireplace, and I spread out a little more of the ember material.  Tomorrow we get the rest of the lava rock, and it will be complete!

While we were enjoying the fireplace, I asked Mary if she knew what kind of food you would find on a haunted beach?  Then I reluctantly told her, “A sand-witch!”.  I received two “boo’s,” one and a half “hisses,” and another sound which I am still unable to describe.

We love the new fireplace!

We had two movies in mind, but before turning them on, we talked (via Alexa) to Zack and family and attempted to connect to Colleen.

The movie we first watched was Apocolypse Now, followed by “17 Again”. Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic psychological war film directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, and Dennis Hopper. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola and John Milius with narration written by Michael Herr, is loosely based on the 1899 novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, with the setting changed from late 19th-century Congo to the Vietnam War. The film follows a river journey from South Vietnam into Cambodia undertaken by Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Sheen), who is on a secret mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Brando), a renegade Army Special Forces officer accused of murder and who is presumed insane.

We enjoyed “17 Again” a lot more as it was funny, predictable, and heartwarming.

We crashed early as we have to be up at 4:30 AM to get the Huntington Beach by 7:00 AM for Mary’s meeting with the ladies.

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Hello Tuesday; Are You Ready For Us??

Posted on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 by Paul

Know why skeletons are so calm? Because nothing gets under their skin.

We thought today would be restful, but alas, we were on the go constantly.  There is always something to do when you are a homeowner or like to party!

We walked Five Miles and that felt pretty good.  Scout liked it a lot and we needed the exercise.

First things first, I put the glowing embers into the new fireplace and turned it on!  Wow, what a difference.  Artificial burning embers are designed to be placed underneath the burner in your gas fireplace. They do an excellent job imitating the look of the natural wood fireplace. There are several types of glowing embers. Rock wool is the most common type.

I did ask Mary if she heard about the fire in the shoe factory?  Wait… Here it comes… No booing… Many soles were lost.

If that weren’t enough, I asked Mary if she heard about the fire at the circus?  OK, hold on, this will be worth the wait… It was intents.

Warm and now beautiful!

Mary decided she needed her toes done and wanted a Halloween theme.  Of course, I went with her and got my feet all fixed up!  It does feel pretty good, and besides, I no longer poke Mary with my sharp nails!

Mary made me do it!

We were going to go out to lunch, but we are expecting an estimator at 1:30 PM.  He is going to tell me how much I must find to insulate the house properly.  I think it will be at $10,000, but that will be OK since it will save a lot of wasted energy the now cools and heats the attic!

So Mary whipped up a steak and chicken, and she sent me out into the north forty catch some tomatoes.  I was surprised that we have 10-20 tomatoes still coming ripe this late in the year!

We still have tomatoes for our salads!

We sat, had a small glass of wine, and planned for Saturday as we are expecting the family to join us for a pumpkin carving activity.  We were talking about costumes, and I remembered years back we would go to the Elks.

Robin and Bob made for a striking couple and always had awesome costumes on that day.  I especially remember when Robin was a Nun, and I did not recognize her at a distance of three feet.

2012 was a good year.

After the main course, Mary whipped up dessert, baked apples and peaches; OMG, I have died and gone to heaven!

A dessert fit for a king!

The estimator came by, and we liked him a lot.  We were right about the cost, but that means total cleanout of the attic (and it is 3,000 square feet), removal of everything non-essential, and place in solar-barriers on the ceiling of the attic plus add R-38 batting between all the joisy=ts and on the walls (we have two rooms with cathedral ceilings).

I was tired just thinking about it, so we called Chuck, our bartender at PAtty’s, and asked if we could join him for dinner.  We headed to Patty’s at 4:15 PM, arriving one minute before our reservation at 5:00 PM.  We had a small spread of salmon and filet mignon sliders; we shared them.

We have been telling our neighbor Jeff about Patty’s place, so he now has an invite!

Arriving home about 7:30 PM, we dropped off dessert for Jeff (he likes key lime pie and bread pudding) before going inside and crashing.  We have to get up at Oh-dark-Thirty as I have a dermatologist’s appointment at 6:30 AM in Los Alamitos and then we are having breakfast with Vicky at 8:15 AM at the club.

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Monday Is Here And Mama Is Home!

Posted on Monday, October 25, 2021 by Paul

It’s as much fun to scare as to be scared.

It’s Monday so here is another of my favorite songs from the 1950s.  It is beautiful!

We had a small breakfast and then headed to the “local” Korean Market to get a stash of Lychees for tonight’s dinner as well as Saturday’s carving activities.  After all, a good eye doctor needs to keep in price! Busy day for us, but that seems to be the norm.

Dang, I hate that when it happens!

The weather forecast was calling for rain, and it was a dreary day, but we threw caution to the wind and went to a second market to get supplies.  Well, the weatherman was quite right!  It began to rain at 2:00 PM, and we got wet!  We got six more pumpkins for the carving activities, plus other goodies.

I slipped on a pumpkin when loading the car. It caught me off gourd.

    • What kind of alley does a ghost prefer to haunt? A dead end.
    • Why wasn’t the vampire working? He was on his coffin break.
    • What’s a ghosts favorite ride at the carnival? The roller ghoster
    • What did the mother ghost say to the baby ghost? Fasten your sheet belt.

It was pouring rain when we returned to the car!

We invited Karen and Nicole over for dinner, and I BBQ’ed steaks in the rain; well, heavy mist!

Before they arrived, I got a doorbell ring, and it was the poor old Amazon driver asking me what the heck was in the boxes, bricks! I thought he was going to strangle me! I had to tell him, “Yes, they were bricks.”

It was 4:00 PM, and I quickly, like a bunny, unleaded twelve bricks and placed them in the bottom of the fireplace, and plumbed in the gas line.  I unloaded the sand into the burner tray and restacked the logs.

Then I put in 20 pounds of lava rocks around the sides of the fire pan and lit the sucker off!  We have fire! A beautiful fire.  Tomorrow morning I will put in the embers, and we will be good to go!

I did tell Mary, “Take a nap in a fireplace and you’ll sleep like a log.”

We had a fire!

Nicole and Karen were right on time, so Mary served up eyeballs for an appetizer as I lit off the BBQ.  Within a few minutes, the steaks were coming along nicely.  I admit I did burn one a bit as it was the first time with the new burners.  It worked out fine!

We dug out our red wine supply and made sure our guests were never with an empty glass.

Hubby was working late tonight, so he did not join us; I had purple gin ready to go!

We dined in style! Steak, potatoes, salad, and my special apple delight for dessert!

The fireplace came out looking good!  Tomorrow I will find a remote valve and a way to control it via Alexa and my phone; hey, I got to keep Alexa busy!

We love the new fireplace.

The ember materials need to be shredded and stuffed into the fire-pam on top of the sand.

I installed the ember material, which worked out swell.

The poor driver had to lug twelve of these puppies to the front door!

We crashed after doing the post-dinner cleanup, and I need to say I did NOT get to see all of Goosebumps yet.  I swear tomorrow afternoon I will watch it standing up drinking hot coffee.

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Sunday; Time To Rest! NOT!

Posted on Sunday, October 24, 2021 by Paul

Why do ghosts go on diets? So they can keep their ghoulish figures!

We were up at the crack of dawn if dawn is 7:00 AM!  We had our cup of coffee and then back to work; things to do around the house.  We hung some pictures and then made sure everything was ready for tomorrow’s rainstorm.

Mary fixed a delightful brunch that she calls an “Egg McMommy” Dang, it was good.

Eight more days to work, and then she is free as a bird!

At 11:00 AM, we watched our televangelist, and again the messages were good.  There is indeed a Devil, and he comes to us in unique ways.

With the 80″ TV, he is almost in the same room as us!

We walked Five Miles, and he enjoyed the excursion.  On the walk, we met Pam, Jeff’s daughter.  Jeff is a new friend and close neighbor. We made sure she knew we were keeping our eye on her Dad!

I dug out the fireplace hardware and was rudely made aware that the pan needs to be flush with the hearth.  Dang, the bottom of the fireplace is five inches lower than the hearth! The new hearthstone was extra thick.

So I did the next best thing; I ordered the necessary bricks and lava rocks from Amazon!  That way all I have to do is carry them in the house!

Two courses of firebricks underneath will raise the system to the correct level; we will be in flames tomorrow about 60 minutes after the stones are delivered!

No fire tonight but that is OK we will probably have one tomorrow.  Before we headed to the Elks for dinner dancing, we called a neighbor and asked if they wanted to come to dinner on Monday!  We will put steaks on the BBQ and I am going to make an apple tart!  Life is indeed good!

Yes, it is!!!

We enjoyed a glass of wine and then got ready for dancing and dinner with friends at the Elks.  Mary and I love to dance, and we will celebrate until we close the place down.  Do NOT get excited; it’s the Elks; we will be done at 8:00 PM.

Conrad was at the Elks tonight and we had not talked in several months.  We usually talk once a month just to make sure we are both upright and breathing.

Conrad was there tonight and we brought Sydney so I put them together.

Beverly told us how much she enjoyed our party and that we wanted to meet up with our neighbors again!  Ken was on a roll that evening.

George and Beverly chat with Mary.

Careful George!

George decided to ask Mary to dance and they did pretty well. Mary took it easy on the 89 years old!

The line dance started so out onto the floor we went.

As soon as we got there, I ordered a drink.  Guess what it was?

Never mind! I will hold the Mary!

Then we headed home and watched a movie.  I only got through about five minutes of Goosebumps before I was out like a light!  Tomorrow I plan to watch it last in the afternoon so I can finally see it.

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The Weekend Is Here!

Posted on Saturday, October 23, 2021 by Paul

The best part about retirement is that you don’t have to worry about getting caught for doing nothing.

What? Can it be? It’s wet outside; not quite rain but undoubtedly wet!  We know it is supposed to be raining on Monday but this early?  We need all we can get, so it is OK!

Late at night, when Mother Nature calls, I go back to bed and look at the app called SkyView. It is fun to watch the planets and other objects move about the sky! Below are the Moon and Neptune, which happen to be below the horizon this morning.

I love my app; I can always find the moon!

I went back to sleep and then woke up to a wet yard!  The rain came early.  Mary joined me in the kitchen for the surprize so I asked her a question!

Q: What do you call it when it rains chickens and ducks?
A: Foul (fowl) weather.

The weatherman said it would clear up by mid-afternoon!

Scout did go outside and do his business, but he skedaddled right back inside looking for a dry towel.

Scout stayed inside!

So we have been in the house several months now, and I must say Mary does need a little help with the dusting activities.  The cobb webs have taken over the fireplace.

Mary needs a little assistance with housekeeping; the cobwebs are getting out of hand.

Did You Know? As it turns out, the majority of cobwebs actually consist of abandoned spider webs!

Web-building spiders create elaborate webs for catching prey (wandering spiders chase after their prey, rather than building webs). Over time, however, mechanical stress and dust accumulation weakens the web, forcing the spider to abandon it and build a new one. That’s why you never see a spider on a cobweb, even though the eight-legged arachnid is responsible for its creation!

The word cobwebs comes from Old English, coppeweave, and originated sometime in the 14th century. Coppe comes from attercoppe, which means spider or literally “venomous head.” Web also has its origins in Old English and means tapestry or something intricately woven.

Then it hit me, or perhaps better stated, she hit me and reminded me it was Halloween.  So, we will just live with the cobwebs for another couple of weeks!

Mary quickly pointed at the new Halloween sign! What can I say?

Even Scout is worried about all the spiders lurking around the house.

Q: Why did the spider teen get in trouble with his mom?
A: He spent too much time on the web.

“What are all the webs about Dad?”

Now we are getting serious about pumpkin carving.  We decided this year we were doing pizza at home, so we are tasting local pizza joints knowing we have First Class Pizza to fall back on! Dianne suggested Zito’s, but she did not tell us it was hidden away in the back-streets of old-town Orange.  We walked for hours, trying to find the place.  Finally, we spotted the door down a dark and haunted alleyway; I suggested Mary go first!

We walked forever to find the pizza place, well hidden.

Zito’s be the place.  We had a glass of wine (after all, it was almost 9:00 AM) with our pizza.  OK, it was afternoon!  The pizza was excellent, so it is on the possibilities list!

Goof pizza!

We were good and ordered a small pizza, two chunks each!  That was excellent as we could have chewed down a larger one quite easily.   I asked Mary, “What do you call people  who don’t have an affinity towards pizza?” She looked puzzled, so I, with great trepidation, answered, “Weirdoughs!”

Chomp!

Yes, it is a selfie.  Mary was so busy downing the pizza she could not snap a shot!

I was having too much fun!

Then it happened!  Someone put bubblegum in her pizza.  It was horrible when the gum snapped, and the pizza went flying across the room, landing in a large brown of soup being eaten by a rather significantly sized football player.  I jumped into action, pointed at Mary, and told him she likes to throw her food when we go out.

There were strings of gum and cheese everywhere.

We made a hasty retreat, leaving via the back door just under the speed of light!

We walked next door to a bit of shopping at a store that sold exciting goodies.  There was a sign that mentioned something about “No Shoplifting,” and then we spotted the side yard; needless to say, we were very honest!  We did not want to end up like the last people!

The back alleys of Orange are awash in spooky things.

Great goodies were available for sale.  The sign below was for Scout, but we realized he openly speaks Australian, and of course, the sign was in English, so he would not understand it.

A sign for Scout

We got the feeling we were being watched.  We were right; the tree was staring at us.  I thought it might bark, but it didn’t make any sounds that we could hear!

A fascinating man wanted to go home with us.

We bought some goodies, including little gifts for Bob and Donna plus Robin.  Well, while I was paying for the goodies, Mary wandered next door to Rudabagor’s Restaurant, and who was sitting there having lunch?  Bob and Donna.  Finding them was good as we did not have to carry the presents back to the car!

Drinks with Donna and Bob a little early.

We joined them in a glass of wine before we all departed for the afternoon know owing we were going to see each other again at 6:30 at Renada’s!  We walked inside the restaurant, and it was pretty nice.

Rudabagor’s has a fantastic menu.

We spent some time on chores around the house, including hanging up pictures and reading the instructions for the gas logs!

The time was 6:00 PM, and we headed for Old Town Orange for dinner.  Traci and

Time to depart for dinner.

Dinner was terrific! It was great to have Traci and Robin join us; always a hoot! We had another present for Bob and Donna, and they gave us a beautiful wedding present.

The restaurant was Italian, and of course, Bob had to ask his questions of the day!

Q. How does an Italian get into an honest business?
A. Usually through the skylight.

Traci, Robin, Bob, and Donna joined us at Renada for a beautiful dinner!

We put the wedding present from Bob and Donna tight in the middle of the dining room!

The snowglobe is beautiful!

We are blessed to have such a wonderful family and friends; thank you, Bob and Donna, for being our dear friends!

The inscription says, “Paul & Mary; This is the beginning of always!”

After getting home, we crashed; after all, it was past 9:00 PM.  Tomorrow we are going dancing at the Elks and celebrating the fact Mary is NOT working Monday!

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Eight More Days And She Is Free!

Posted on Friday, October 22, 2021 by Paul

Retirement is like coming home one day and telling your husband, honey, I’m home… for good!  Now that is frightening!!

We changed the bedcoverings to a down cover last night; we were toasty.  In fact, I had to throw out my feet a few times to keep from overheating.  Fall is here; yeah, bring on the rain!!

I made a significant decision to rename my “To-Do” list to my “Opportunities” list. Then, each day is a treasure chest filled with limitless opportunities; I could take joy in checking many off my list.”

We could not find the Duvet, so we ordered one last night from Amazon, and it arrived Saturday!

Did You know? A duvet; from French duvet  or ‘down’) is a type of bedding consisting of a soft flat bag filled with either down, feathers, wool, cotton, silk, or a synthetic alternative, and is typically protected with a removable cover, analogous to a pillow and pillowcase. Sleepers often use a duvet without a top bed sheet, as the duvet cover can readily be removed and laundered as often as the bottom sheet. Duvets originated in rural Europe and were filled with the down feathers of ducks or geese. The best quality feathers are taken from the eider duck, known for its effectiveness as a thermal insulator.

The word Duvet is of French origin, meaning “down.” Its first known mention in English came in 1759 when Samuel Johnson used it in one of The Idler’s essays. In Australian English, a duvet is also called a doona. In American English, it may be called a comforter; however, a comforter is usually a slightly different type of bedding that is not as thick, does not have a cover, and is often used over a top sheet.

We walked Five Miles this morning which takes us about 20 minutes for 0.8 miles.  That is not too bad, considering Scout has to stop every eleventh step and sniff his surroundings and piddle to mark his territory!

Mary and I are off to work!

Mary has a full day today.  Her retirement letter went out and people are scrambling to come to see her! That is good and bad!

I have several items on the to-do list! Mary had right of refusal and most of the items were eliminate; there goes my fun for the day!

OK, time to be serious. My list included getting pumpkins, going to the market, and getting ready for the 30th when the whole family is coming to visit and do our annual pumpkin carving.

I began the day by getting ready for Mary to come home to me tonight!  I cleaned up everything, did some wash, did the dishes, put a doorstop on the door (cussing the cheap Chinese screws that strip if you look at them), and a myriad of other little things. I save the biggies for the afternoon like the BBQ redeux.

Our mason brought us a bag of little bitty lemons; I opened one up, and they are delicious! These are Meyer lemons from a tree that is overproducing and therefore dropping some fruit early.  The taste is outstanding! I’ll see frozen lemon juice soon!

We have lemons!

We had BBQ’ed all summer long, and the poor BBQ’d burners rusted out, so I ordered a replacement set from Amazon.  The kit consisted of new burner tubes, new crossover channels, and a set of flame tops.  It was not too hard to do except for some of the screws being brittle and breaking when attempting to remove them.

Before every barbecue, I tell myself I’ll eat healthily and stick to the salads.  But then my plan takes a turn for the wurst.

My grammar may be poor, but my grilling is impeccable.  I’d steak my reputation on that.

Everything fit like a champ!

The job was a little dirty as the BBQ had years of crusty material at the bottom, but a wire brush took care of that!  I had the BBQ back to its original condition in about an hour, putting out vast quantities of heat and looking pretty good!

I did have to go to Home Depot and get some stainless steel screws, but other than that, it went well!

The BBQ is now rebuilt and ready for action!

Scout was happy that his poppy was getting the grille ready.  He thought in his little pea-brain that he was getting steak tonight!  Ha, we fooled him!

Scout (a.k.a. Five Miles) loved his yard.  This afternoon, the gardener/landscaper dropped by, and I had him trim all the trees in the back yard to the same height so they would fill out lower down in the tree.  They looked pretty good after he was done!

He had 18,000 square feet to patrol! Master of all he can see!

The mason finished off today, and we have a fireplace.  We can have a fire in it tonight, but we plan to wait until Sunday to make sure everything is dry!

I asked Mary, “Which English King invented the fireplace?” It was painful, but I had to tell her, “Alfred The Grate.”

If that weren’t bad enough, I asked Mary, “What do you call a woman who puts her credit card statements straight in the fire?” She gave me this PLEASE STOP look!  I didn’t stop; I blurted out, “Bernadette.”

The grey tones are a perfect match for the flooring!

As I mentioned yesterday, our beautiful fountain came inside and has a place of honor adjacent to the fireplace.  I plan to, but a remote Alexa connected plug on the fountain to turn it off/on remotely and put it on a timer!

Looks great with the waterfall inside!

We were going to go out for pizza and try out the place, but after arriving home at 6:30 PM, Mary was too pooped to pop, so we got into our jammies and watched a movie instead.  We had chili, and Mary had granola; we are eating light these days!

I thought I heard something in the backyard so I sent Scout out to investigate!

That was a mistake; he ran back inside and wanted to sleep with us!

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Thursday And We Are Off And Running!

Posted on Thursday, October 21, 2021 by Paul

Believe nothing you hear and only one half that you see. – Edgar Allen Poe

I was rooting through some old photos and found one I plan to enlarge and place on the patio to keep the flies away from the back door.  Remember: Stare at the dark too long and you will eventually see what isn’t there.

OMG! This man has a bad dose of U G L Y!

Iris liked our party pictures so well; she said she put it on her entranceway table to remember to be happy like us.  Well, apparently, she was not kidding because here is a picture of her entranceway.

Iris uses our picture to chase away ants!

We did some chores and visited our fireplace progress before getting cleaned up and heading for Girls Night Out by way of Albtertons’s Market to get the cake and the thrift store to drop off two boxes of books!

The cake came out pretty well, and it was a surprise to George!

George has his usual burger for lunch.

George did not know we knew it was his birthday, and when they would have brought out his usual burger, they put the cake in front of him, and we sang happy birthday instead!

I like birthdays, but I think too many can kill you.  Mary is George’s eye doctor, so we knew to ask the doc, “I get heartburn every time I eat birthday cake.” Well, Doctor Mary responded with, “George, next time, take off the candles.”

He got a kick out of the surprise!

Bob Z came in well after we sat down because he was at the airport dropping off Cyndy!  It was good to see him!  We departed for home at about 1:30 PM, and at 3:15 PM, Juan showed up and washed the fleet; all three cars looked great after he was done!  He even put the car cover over the van!

We were tired, so we both took naps and woke up about 5:00 PM when Robin dropped by for a visit.  Mary dished up some of her famous Chili and cornbread, and we talked for a good hour before Robin left for home; she has an early day at work tomorrow.

After dinner, we went to visit Jan and share a bottle of the vino.  Jan was so gracious to give us two cookbooks; one is all about John Wayne, and the other was an autographed copy of Pilar Wayne’s favorite recipes.  We will have fun with these!

The girls were jawing about cookbooks!

Mary and Jan just laughed and giggled for quite a while as we discussed our children and wondered why they do what they do!

Time to go home!

Upon arriving back home to take a look at the fireplace and it is going to be beautiful. Tomorrow George, our mason,  will lay in the hearthstone, which are about 200 pounds each, and then by Friday evening, we can have fire!

The quartz stones are beautiful by themselves, but when stacked, wow!

Tomorrow is the big unveiling.  We will get a fireplace screen as we have no little ones running around, which will maximize the view to the ones!

Some minor grouting will be used, and he will remove all the spacers and shims.

It was bedtime, so we crashed, but Mary found a movie with her favorite actor in it; Bruce Willis had to be seen.  The movie was excellent, and I even stayed awake.  It was “Premonition.” The film’s plot depicts a homemaker named Linda who experiences the days surrounding her husband’s death in non-chronological order and how she attempts to save him from his impending doom.

It was a clever movie, and we could never guess what was coming next!

Good night all!

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Mid Week And All Is Well

Posted on Wednesday, October 20, 2021 by Paul

Why don’t mummies take time off? They’re afraid to unwind.

Decisions decisions!

We decided that our beautiful new waterfall is coming inside the house and will be by the fireplace as soon as the fireplace is completed.  It is too pretty to leave outside to the elements.

The card from our friends who chipped in to buy the fountain was terrific, thanks to Miss Vicky, who is so talented and creative.

We are lucky to have such great friends!

The poor old rooster is going out of business!  I was up and gone by 6:00 AM, heading to the dermatologist and getting a spot “burnt-off” or, better stated, frozen-off.

The outside temperature was 51 degrees, so Fall is indeed here.  The house stayed at 68 all night long, so we are relatively well insulated.  After the new insulation is added, we should be as snug as a bug in a rug all winter long!

We are heading north!

I arrived at 6:55 AM and proceeded upstairs, where the good doctor did his thing.  Four squirts of liquid nitrogen and I was cured! We talked for a while, and then it was back on the 22 freeway in the Silver Fox arriving home at 8:00 AM!

The freeway was slow going home. A truck full of hair restorer tonic overturned and spilled on the freeway today.  Police are combing the area.

I found out today that I was actually born on a freeway! My mom says that’s where most accidents happen

At the docs!

The cleaning folks came to visit about 8:30 AM and the mason a few minutes later.  We worked in the office and loaded up three boxes of books which we removed from our overstuffed book-shelves; things are looking pretty good now!

We had errands to do, so it was off in a cloud of dust with the first stop Michaels to get some pictures we are having framed.  Then we did Home Depot and got new filters for the heater/air conditioner.  If that was not enough, we went to Staples to get some plastic boxes to stash valuables and then to Albertson’s Market for some shopping.  Mary has a quiche she has wanted to try, and I could not wait.

Finally, at home, the place was spic and span, save the area around the fireplace.  I unloaded the car while Mary began cooking!

The market was all decorated.

When we got home, our mason was out to lunch and had to get another blade for the saw.  This stone is incredibly hard, and the saw blade just went dull!

Two more days and we will have a fire.

Mary hit the deck, cooking up a storm while I unpacked the car from all of our errands.  She made an asparagus quiche which was to die for; fantastic talent!  I am blessed!

Did you Know? Quiche is a French tart consisting of pastry crust filled with savory custard and pieces of cheese, meat, seafood, or vegetables. The best-known variant is quiche Lorraine, which includes lardons or bacon. Quiche can be served hot or cold. It is popular worldwide.

The quiche is in the oven! While the quiche was a cookin’, Mary made a mess of chili!  OMG, Fall weather and chili are my two most favorite things!

We are going to have chili real soon!

While Mary was making the chili, I asked her. “Why couldn’t the chili practice archery?” She thought for a while and I gave her the answer, “He didn’t Habanero”

The picture shows the start, and she found other goodies to add to the concoction!  By the time it was underway, the pot was packed to the top with goodies!

The witch’s cauldron is alive and well in Orange!

We enjoyed the quiche and then took an hour nap as we are going dancing this evening.  Off to Chino in Precious; she needed the run!  The traffic was horrible, but we had the FastPass, and that made it bearable!  We arrived in Chino at 7:20 PM, and Mary brought her eyeball surprise drinks!  The gang liked the goodies.

Someone is in the kitchen with Mary!

For special people like us and Bill C. (whose name will go unwritten), we had Belvedere Vodka to add to the mixture!  Delightful!  We only did the waltz because of my recent operation, as that dance step does minimal stress on the forearm.  We danced from 7:30 PM until 9:30 PM before heading home.

The eyes have it! We made about twelve glasses of eyeballs!

Everybody brings something to snack on, and we got two packages of BAKED Cheetos; hardly any calories!  Mary fell in love with them!

She discovered a new favorite, and of course, I went on Amazon and ordered a case!

Mary slept on the way home, so Precious and I had to talk to stay awake.  We did just fine, and she kept it under 80 MPH the entire time.  It is a lot of fun to drive; 60 mph crops up in approximately 4.5 seconds, with an official top speed listed at 168 mph.

Mary was sleepy but before she dozed off I told her, “With the rise of self-driving vehicles, it’s only a matter of time before we get a country song where a guy’s truck leaves him too.”

That reminded me, my wife had her driver’s test the other day. She got 8 out of 10. The other 2 guys jumped clear.

Mommy’s Hot Rod!

We returned home, and Mary went out like a light.  I stayed up and put away the chili, which had been simmering for hours!  I admit I had a bite or two, and it was FANTASTIC!

 

Oh dear, another eye joke?

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Busier Than a One Armed Paperhanger With An Itch!

Posted on Tuesday, October 19, 2021 by Paul

We are busier than a vampire at a blood bank.

Mary had a Zoom meeting at 7:00 AM, and I was busy doing “stuff” like finishing off the Daily Diary, etc. 6:00 AM.  Alexa woke us up with two crazy guys yelling at us; too funny! While Mary zoomed with her group, Scout and I had breakfast and did some chores.

Of course she can!

Mary has just a few more trips to her office before she is retired, and I have been retired 14 years, six months, and 29 days so I will be able to help her through the process.  She will wonder what hit her as we take off to explore the world together and not have to “work” another day in our lives!

First things first!  We had to walk Five Miles this morning to make up for yesterday’s rain interruption.  This time we took a longer path and saw new parts of our neighborhoods, plus Scout (a.k.a. Five Miles) got to get his sniffer into overdrive with the new smells. Decorations were in full swing!

Watch out for the bats.

The yard was full of creepy crawlies; we passed by quickly for fear of getting bitten!

We walked fast as they were beginning to move around!

At the next house over, we met a very nice guy who invited us for dinner.  Of course, it was too early to commit for sure, but we did say we would think about it!

Come in and sit a spell!

A little farther down the street, the garden was infested with Halloween goodies.  Some of them were funny, and others were scary!

Interesting.

We then headed to my doctor in Long Beach.  On the way, we decided to stop at Old Ranch and have lunch as a glass of vino! After arriving home, we talked to our mason, and he forecasted Thursday to be done.

At 12:45, we went to his office, where he removed some skin cancer off my right forearm, and he got it all on the first attempt, so I was closed up and sent on my way.  It was perfect timing because he went to Mary’s doctor in Los Alamitos and arrived with minutes to spare.

While Mary was inside, I went to the local hardware store and got some goodies for our shower and a few odds and ends.

From there, we headed back home to water the baby before we headed to Santa Ana Elks for Bob’s ten-year service award with the Elks.  The regular table in the front window had been modified a bit!

Dining at the Elks.

We had dinner, and it was “Taco Tuesday.”  The meal was a whopp[ing $7.94 each (note: Our lodge number is 794). Mary was well behaved and had a salad while I did the Taco Salad, which was good!

Mary tries their salad.

I did, however, keep from filling it to the top and went lite on the cheese.  It was quite good.  We did a glass of wine and a margarita to wash down the food.

Paul went for the taco salad!

The waitress snapped a picture of us to provide we were both here!

It’s easy to smile with Mary around!

Bob and Robin joined us for dinner, and at 7:30 PM, the program was started, and they passed out awards for people in five-year increments.

He was getting his ten-year service award.

The handsome devil he is!

Good Man, Charlie Brown!

Before going to bed I asked Mary if she was going to miss working.  She thought a bit and relayed an event to me that is best shown in the following picture.

Mary is excellent with a knife!

We came right home and crashed.  We watched Goosebumps again, but I closed my eyelids early, and Mary got almost 50% through the movie.   Perhaps tomorrow we might see the entire film!

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Monday And All Is Well! We Are Off Like A Shot!

Posted on Monday, October 18, 2021 by Paul

When is a retiree’s bedtime? Three hours after she falls asleep on the couch.

Ten more drives to Huntington Beach and Mary is done, kaput, fini!  She will have to suffer with me all day long every day; poor child!

It’s Monday, so here is another of my most favorite songs of the 1950s.

There will never be music like the 1940s and 1950s again and too bad.  Tunes you could tap your toe to and words and messages you could hear! We lived in a wonderful time!

https://youtu.be/bD_4IzbsbOM

Gogi Grant sings her massive hit single “The Wayward Wind.” The original song reached No 9 in the UK Charts on the 29th of June 1956. This version is taken from 2004 whereby Gogi was 80 years old, performed at the Trump Taj Mahal, Atlab.

I woke up in the middle of the night screaming; I had a nightmare about doctors and eyes and Halloween.  Could it be true??  I told Mary that I have won first place in the Halloween costume contest 16 years in a row. This year I plan to dress as a hotdog. I’ll be  on a roll.

The doctor is at work!

We were up early and attempted to walk Five Miles, but alas, the rain came, and we turned around and headed back home after five minutes.  Our mason called and said he would show up when it dries out a bit.

I was leaving my eye doctor’s office!

While at the office, I took home four large mirrors that we plan to use in the ballroom.  Now all I have to do is get them up the stairs!

The shop needed some attention, so I headed to the garage and attended to its needs.  Mary only had three patients in the afternoon, so she was home about 4:00 PM.

We have decided to eliminate the remains, or should I say leftovers, from the freezers.  Tonight it was Chinese.  Everything was OK except the vegetable fried rice had no veggies, so we found our own and whopped them up and added to the rice.

Vegetable fried rice AFTER we worked on it! The mushrooms were a great addition! I pulled out my brand new ginzo-knife I got from the shopping channel and threw a handful of mushrooms into the sky, and with lightning-fast wrist action, I chopped them (and part of the curtains) into small pieces.  The sound of the knife going through the air was loud because I saw Scout heading for the back-40, walking on two legs and covering his ears with the other two legs; it was a sight to behind!

We love those mushrooms!

We had spicy chicken and fried rice plus veggies for dinner, and of course, a glass of vino! It was dark by the time we finished because we spent a lot of time just talking to each other,  Mary told me about her day at work, and I told her all the foibles of being a “house husband”!

Mary whipped up dinner in a flash!

My costume for Halloween begins to appear today from Amazon, and by Saturday, everything should be here.  Mary is going in her German dress, and I am being dared to wear lederhosen! OUCH!

Speaking about uncomfortable clothes, Mary reminded me of what it is to ride a broom on Halloween!

Oh dear me!

We did not do the swim spa tonight but instead opted for watching a movie in bed.  It is getting to be cold outside; the forecast is for 51 degrees!  We are happy that the fireplace is taking shape!

The stones were laid out, ready to go up against the wall tomorrow.  By Wednesday, we ought to have a fireplace!

Each stone is set individually, we did not opt for the false stone.

The hearth-stones are about 1.5″ thick and heavy! They will go in last! The bottom must be precise as the stack-stone will be laid on top of each other for each course.

The bottom has to be just right before the remaining stack-stone is put into place.

The colors are perfect against the greyish floor and ver pale-green wall.  Out interior decorator gave her approval, so it can’t be wrong!

When hit with light, the mica glimmers, and it should be my beautiful with the fireplace going!

Before going to bed, we called Colleen and talked to her for a while; it was 46 degrees there last night!

Tomorrow I go for an outpatient operation right after lunch; then, we go over to Los Alamitos to visit Mary’s doctor. Then we are off to the Elks to participate in Bob’s 10th-anniversary presentation!  We will be meeting Bob Zaitz there, so all is good.

We love our neighbors as they keep their eyes out for things, and we all share phone numbers, so we feel very safe when gone; plus, Scout is a fantastic guard dog!

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