It’s Thursday And The Week Is Speeding On By!

Posted on Thursday, September 9, 2021 by Paul

It’s never a good idea to keep both feet firmly on the ground. You’ll have trouble putting on your pants.

We were up at the crack of dawn as Mary had a Zoom meeting at 7:00 AM.  The mating of the iMac’s finished about 6:00 AM, and I finished the setup.  The solid-state drive did make an amazing difference, and I plan to take the “old iMac” down to the store and put in 4 GB of a solid-state drive; that would speed it up!

We plan to walk Five Miles this morning as he feels bad.  We had to lock him out of the office because he bugs us on the PC/iMacs.

Five Miles (Scout) concurs!

Mary got all her “greenery up,” and it looks really nice.  We diddled around all morning until we headed to the Elks Lodge for Girls Night Out.   Our handyman came by and hung some pictures, and we discussed how to best get electrical outlets in the wall so we could light up the China cabinets.

We are off like a herd of turtles and arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule.  Mike was already there enjoying a large cup of coffee.

Just in time!

We all visited for an hour and a half.  Teasing is the top priority, and clean jokes a close second! It was good to Mike again!  Bob Z is floating down the Danube for another two weeks.

Linda, Bill, and Mike!

Mike Ash was on a roll this afternoon!  All had great fun!  I sent dessert home with George for Beverly and I must call her and tell he it was “my fault”.

George, Mike, and Will

We left about 1:30 PM and went to The Container Store as I needed a set of rollers for a container that would be used for Mary’s knitting/sewing activities.  I had looked all morning for the set I had kept for years, but alas, they were gone.  I got home, put them on, and when I turned the basket upside down, guess what fell out…yes, the rollers/casters I had been looking for; dang, I hate when that happens!  As I always say, “It’s not the fall that kills you. It’s the sudden stop at the end.”

At 6:00 PM, Mary departed for an Ophthalmology meeting in Irvine, adding to her necessary 50 hours of medical training every year.  I stayed behind and attacked my closets! I made a hundred trips between three closets where I store my goodies.  I now have all the dress clothes, jeans, casuals pants, dress shirts, suits, and tuxes together.

Mary returned home about 9:00 PM and had a glass of wine before crashing; she must work tomorrow!

Well, about 11:00 PM, I was awakened by thunder, and for almost an hour, we were pounded with lightning and thunder.  Five Miles went wild, so he jumped in bed with us!  It was so intense that we called Jan M. to make sure she was OK. I reminded Mary, “They say marriages are made in Heaven. But so is thunder and lightning.”

Shot out the bedroom window!

Same shot as above, only a second later; it took about 100 shots to capture the strike! The strike behind the clouds, but it lit up the yard like daytime!

Yard just after a strike!

It got so close that I decided to step back from the window!  It reminded me of my golf buddy’s quote, “If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron.”

The iPhone worked well, but this was a by-chance shot!

My iPhone went off, and it asked me to open the lightning strike app, which I did.  We could follow the storm in Tustin as it went down the 55 freeway and over Villa Park, just a mile from our place.

The dots are strikes (The blue dot is us)

Five Miles (Scout) jumped into bed with us, and we soothed him for a good 45 minutes. It was the thunder that worried him; he did not seem to be bothered with the lightning.

I had to ask Mary, “Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn’t zigzag?”  After the storm passed, about 2:00 AM, Scout and I went to the kitchen, and I let him out; he was ready to go!

We walked into the kitchen, but Scout was not ready to go outside just yet!

The beating stopped at midnight but restarted about 1:00 AM for a while!

 

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When Does It Stop? Jeeeeez!

Posted on Wednesday, September 8, 2021 by Paul

Busier than a puppy in a room full of rubber balls.

We slept late today, not getting verticle until past 7:00 AM.  That means no swim spa this morning as the kids begin to arrive at school by 7:30 AM; we had our coffee on the patio.

It was a perfect morning!

It was an interesting morning as we discussed the pictures on the walls and the fact all of Mary’s things are not out of the She Shed yet, and I did not want to hang certain pictures due to memories they brought back.  I was so thankful that Mary understood me and read me this morning like a good book!

Our new iMac arrived with its 64GB of memory, 4 TB of SSD, and other necessities of life.  We called Lin to come over and help move the data (or copy the data) between machines.  I now have three iMacs, so the oldest will retire, and the workhorse will go to the workbench in the garage so I can see YouTube better!  It is going to take 17 hours to do the transfer of data.

WFive Miles today; we were bad!

We went to Costa Mesa and stopped by a place that does diplomas and got Mary’s college and medical school diplomas in a display that shows Loma Linda University!  We pick up the results on Tuesday and will be proud to hang them on the office wall.  I am getting excited to hang my USC (Bachelors), Northrop University Masters), and Univerity of Illinois (Doctorate, Ph.D.) on the wall.

From the diploma framing store, we went to Old Ranch and had a wonderful lunch with Jeff are Marva.  We arrived at Old Ranch and had a glass of vino before Jeff arrived. We sat around and jabbered for two hours, just laughing and giggling and having a great time.

After a great lunch, we headed home at about 4:00 PM and Irene called; she had to cancel this evening.  We called David and Dianne, and they joined us for steaks!  We had a super evening, and they departed about 9:00 PM; we finally crashed! It was a lovely day!

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Another Busy Day In Paradise!

Posted on Tuesday, September 7, 2021 by Paul

It’s never too late to be who you might have been.

The morning has arrived, and we are ready to take on the day!  First things first, we need to walk Five Miles!  We did our standard 0.8-mile jaunt skipping and whistling the whole time, or should I say we meandered around the block!

One of our clever neighbors has bugs in the front yard, so I stopped and took a couple of snaps.  These two are dating, we think!  I mentioned to Mary that I heard a rumour of a giant butterfly in Santa Ana.  It was probably just an urban moth.

Bugs everywhere!

Look at the smile on this ‘ol boy’s face; he looks as happy as I feel.

“I am waTCHING YOU!”

We talked to Scout as we walk and a picture came up on the iPhone of Scout one year ago when we tried to introduce him to H2O; he was not a happy camper!  We still have his inflatable pool.

One year ago today!

Arriving home after walking Five Miles, Mary headed to the kitchen to make her “Egg McMommy’s.”  We sat on the patio and worked on the plans for the rest of the day!

The cook gets to sit down finally!

I love these little devils! So good and chucked full of proteins!

Breakfast is served!

We worked in the office for two hours with Mary still changing addresses, and I unwrapped my new iMac, which I plan to put onto the network tomorrow.

The ISP and I have been battling to get some things fixed, and it appears most of them are now working again.  I have not been on the website doing much in a year, and things got changed, meaning things broke.  It appears as though it is all working now.

Our wedding pictures are online and not too bad, and I cut the picture cont in half.  I am still working on some of the comments.

Just little ‘ol us!

We made an appointment for File Miles to get his shots updated and get his ears cleaned at 3:00 PM.  At 1:15 PM, we headed for Lowe’s to get some small throw rugs for the entrances to the house.  We then went to Trader Joe’s to resupply our dwindling stockpile of Two Buck Chuck!

The other day I was proud of myself as I bought lemonade for my son Joe.  Well, after getting home, I found out I reached in and got orange juice instead.  Mary saved the day and made sure she bought Trader Joe’s lemonade. Now we have a cache of juice for the working man!

Of course, I could not pass up asking Mary, “How do you make a lemon drop? Hold it high and let go.”

Joe now really has lemonade!

We dropped off Five Miles and were going to wait for thirty minutes, but Stater Brothers market was three doors down, so we went shopping.   We used our time well as soft drinks and some mixers for the party, plus goodies for dinner tonight!

Fibe Miles was happy to see us.  In fact he is working on his doggie sense of humor.  After visiting the vet he barked, “Did you know that Vets don’t like to buy stuff on Amazon?” We gave up quickly just to humor him. Then he barked, “They prefer choosing from a CAT-a-logue instead!”

We called Sydney, and she decided to join us tonight to help us put pictures on the wall. We did OK, but I must go into the She Shed and find some other pictures from Mary’s house before doing the pictures in the family room.

We had dinner with Sydney at Casa Valencia.  Mary brought a chicken home, plus we scrounged up corn chowder and chili, plus our lady friend, Marie Calendar, supplied us with a berry pie which we three made disappear!

Nighttime in the family room.

After Sydney departed we crashed. I was disappointed because I thought we had all the pictures in the house so I plan to get a day laborer to come and empty the She Shed so we can go through all the boxes before repacking the She Shed again!

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Monday Is The New Sunday?

Posted on Monday, September 6, 2021 by Paul

My therapist says I have a preoccupation with revenge. We’ll see about that.

The sun rises, and so do we!  We fixed our coffee and headed to the swim spa for an early morning dip in the water.  We could see the moon still bright in the sky, and we could hear a train far in the distance, other than that, peaceful and quiet.

We organized the attack plan for the day.  Mary decided to cook (always a good thing) as she knew Joe was coming over along with Greg.  She made chili, and it was OUTSTANDING.  MAry added veggies to the concoction directly from our garden.  To top it off, she made cornbread muffins.

Making magic!

Joe joined us about noon, and we put the permanent flag light on the house.  I had to laugh as Joe would be on the ladder and ask me to get stuff for him; I told him I remember when the roles were reversed, about forty-five years ago! Carri also joined the fun.  Mary gave both of them a to-go box with chili and muffins!

The years will rush by, and now I am seeing my son as a man, and feeling incredibly proud that he is caring, safe, making a contribution, and hopefully going far beyond me in the scope of his life.

Joe did an amazing job at hiding the wiring.

Greg joined the happy group and visited for an hour, sharing the latest activities.  He is a good friend, and I forgot the take a picture we were so busy sharing.

We had issues with the local birds; they like to sit on the top of the lamps and do what birdies do, or soo-soo!  Well, I visited Amazon and got a box of “Birdy Pokers” and put them on the mailbox and the lamps.  Now it is bye-bye, birdie!

Birdee birdie, go away!

We continued working after everyone departed, and about 4:30 PM, we decided to call it quits, and we went to the movies.  Five Miles, Mary and I watched “Once Upon A Time In Venice.”

Plot summary: Los Angeles-based private detective Steve Ford (Bruce Willis) lives a carefree life. After performing a favor for a friend, Ford runs afoul of a local gang. The gang’s leader Spyder (Jason Momoa), seeks revenge and steals Ford’s dog. Ford is forced into a sequence of convoluted and intertwined tasks across the Venice area to recover the dog.

It was a pretty funny movie, even with the anticipated violence!

At 6:00 PM, we got the “wine call,” our neighbor reminded us it was “wine time.”  We wandered across the street and visited  Jeff for a good hour yucking it up.  Mary brought him some chili and muffins, and we got her clean Tupperware from the last visit!

As we went home, I snapped a couple of pictures of the new light and the flag! Look at the bottom left-hand corner of the picture, and you will see Jeff’s flag waving in front of his place!

Others in the hood are thinking about flying the colors!

Joe’s aim was perfect as it lights both flags and does not light the house up.  Thank you, Joe and Carri! I am lucky to have a super son that takes time to assist the old man!

Looks great!

We went back to another Bruce Willis movie, but I think we crashed in the middle of it, so we will rewatch it tomorrow!

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The Four Day Weekend Is Half Over!

Posted on Sunday, September 5, 2021 by Paul

Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday!

Sunday morning and we had our coffee in the swim spa at 7:00 AM.  We could even see the yard being watered, and Five Miles gets hit in the butt by the sprinkler; a shocking experience for him!

Mary spent the morning washing all the plastic and silk flowers we had stored in my bathtub.  I went to Home Depot and got supplies for hooking up the bug zapper and properly installing outlets under the eves of the house; it’s going to be a one switch Christmas without a single extension cord involved!

We bought two verticle outdoor heaters and covers to keep them nice.  We decided to put the covers on this morning; a perfect fit!

She is amazing; looking this good after being in the spa! We are opening our heater covers!

Back inside Mary began breakfast, but we ran out of time before we wanted to watch our Sunday morning televangelist show, In Touch Ministries with Dr. Stanley!

An excellent set of sermons today!

Today Dr. Stanley talked about relationships, and it was outstanding.

We listened carefully and talked about the various items he discussed after the show and throughout the day!  Mary brought in some berries and sliced peaches so we would not starve to death!

We worked around the house the rest of the day, and I did a Home Depot run to get extension cords for the bug zapper!

We were ready for a meal, but Mary was busy with her plants, so I cut spaghetti squash in half and put it in the microwave for 20 minutes in a baking pan of water.  We are going to have spaghetti a little later!

Salad mostly from our garden!

I have no idea what she put in there except for the eye of neut and the bat’s wings, but it was a wonderful concoction which I was savoring at a distance.

The sauce fragrance wafted throughout the house!

The inside of the squash comes like just like spaghetti and NO CARBS!!!  This is a good thing! I asked Mary, “I always wonder if mixing pasta and antipasto is like mixing matter and anti-matter.”

Mary makes the spaghetti strings by using a fork against the squash flesh!

We dined at about 2:00 PM, which was perfect!  The meals service with cold cranberry juice was perfect!

A meal fit for a king!

I set the zapper temporarily, and Mary and I sat outside cheering it on.  We lost track after 50 zaps!  Die, sucker, die!!!

Zap Fizz Squeal Pffff

It was dark, so we headed to bed and turned on another Bruce Willis movie, and he was so young!  Storyline: Walter Davis is a workaholic. His attention is all to his work and very little to his personal life or appearance. Now he needs a date to take to his company’s business dinner with a new important Japanese client. His brother sets him up with his wife’s cousin Nadia, who is new in town and wants to socialize, but he was warned that she loses control and becomes wild if she gets drunk. How will the date turn out – especially when they encounter Nadia’s ex-boyfriend David?

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Saturday Has Arrived And We Are Ready!

Posted on Saturday, September 4, 2021 by Paul

I used to think I was indecisive. But now I’m not so sure.

Today was chocked full of activities starting with a terrific breakfast of cereal!  Yes, I said cereal.  We had two steaks in the freezer, and I planned to cook them up for breakfast.  Well, while teasing my bride, I said, “Let’s have cereal for breakfast.”  She thought me serious, silly girls.  I had the grill on and was ready to plot the steaks on, and I see Mary coming out the door with two bowls of, of, I can’t say it… cereal!  I turned off the grill, and we had the most delicious cereal, something new I never had before!

Mary has the most interesting pantry!

After breakfast, we popped into the swim spa for a little bit, and then Mary had to get ready to go shopping with Robin and Cici.  They are shopping for party goods for our future shindig.  They also went to Rockwell’s for breakfast.  Mary’s gets Elf Poop and then a real breakfast; I am stuck with Elf Poop!

I stayed behind because our window washer was scheduled at noon, and we were also expecting the delivery of our grandfather and grandmother clocks.  The clocks came first, and they sound so amazing.  The two-month visit to the clock spa did them a world of good.  They are set two minutes apart so we can hear them separately.  Did you know you can tell when your clock is hungry? It goes back four seconds.

The place was awash in people because Tom was also over the was doing some work in the bathroom, and he shortened two doors so they would go over the carpet easier.  The handyman asked when he should come to fix the hinges. I said anytime. The door’s always open.

It was a hot day, so late afternoon we retired to our master bedroom and watched a Bruce Willis movie and partook in a glass of vino!  Later in the evening, we snapped a shot of our back yard which is coming along nicely.

It’s going to be magnificent when we get the 400 square-foot dance floor installed, and the dance floor will be covered with 80 bistro-lights!

We crashed at 8:00 PM, and then, amazingly enough, we were up at midnight watching another Bruce Willis movie until 2:00 AM.  It’s great being retired.

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No Going To The Office Today; She’s Mine!

Posted on Friday, September 3, 2021 by Paul

Friends are the most important ingredient in this recipe of life.

No work! Yeah!  We can work around the house all day!!  We did some chores about the house and then went to Rockwell’s for lunch and to finalize the cake order for the party!  The cake-ologist is delightful and very helpful.  Rockwell’s bakery is excellent.

Order placed and it will be delivered at 5:00 PM on the day of the shindig!!

On the way out after a terrific lunch, we did a double check!

1 + 2 = 5; No, that’s not right!

Rockwell’s paid tribute to our fallen heroes.  Damnation on the ragheads may they burn in hell with their bastardized religion!

God Bless Our Military!

Only one thought occurs to me.

Take that you liberals whackos!

We declared victory and laid down and watched three movies, no more work today!!

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Thursday; You Know What That Means!

Posted on Thursday, September 2, 2021 by Paul

Happy Thursday! P.S. It’s almost Friday!

Life is so very good!  We awoke and headed to the swim spa at a bright and early 6:30 AM with our coffee in hand!  We have a busy day planned, starting with walking Five Miles! During our walk we captured two interesting photos.

We think he is giving us directions, to go back from whence you came!

We keep walking and more interesting things appear!

Neat idea! We may have to do something like that also!

After walking Five Miles, we decided we would get the fireplace in shape for the party!  That starts with taking pictures of what we have, yuch!

We are going to the fireplace store today!

Now it is off the “Girls Night Out,” and we never know who will be there! Today we had Bill, Will, George and of course Ronnie!

George ‘splains things!

They made their decisions, and then we visited, telling stories about those things that never happened.

Bill and George placed their orders!

Ronnie popped over to get his dose of harassment from yours truly.  He is ex-law enforcement and a very talented DJ, amongst other things.  A day spent with friends is always a day well spent.

A good friend and fellow Elk, Ronnie!

Today they had a rack of lamb on special, and they had only four left, so I put dibs on one, and we shared. A rack of lamb is the equivalent of a standing rib roast of beef. It is the portion from which rib chops are cut.

I quote from a 1936 cookbook, “That part of mutton called the rack…is cheap food. It is not more than four or five cents a pound; four pounds will make a dinner for six people…If your family be small, a rack of mutton will make you two dinners….”  I should have shown this to the chef!!

The Elks Lodge has amazing food!

Mary went for the sandwich, and we shared it!  It was delicious!

Rack of Lamb and it was fantastic!!

We headed home via the fireplace store, and we were disappointed, so we will call our interior designer and get the heat turned up on this remodeling activity.    In the afternoon, we were doing chores when the phone called, and it was Miss Vicky.  She and Irene went to Roger’s Gardens and called to see if we were home.  Indeed we were, and they visited for quite a while; it is ALWAYS pleasant to visit them!

Remember, Friends, are gifts you give yourself!

We visited upstairs in the Ballroom!

We crashed and watched an adventure movie with Bruce Willis.  Tomorrow Mary does NOT work, yeah!!

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We Made It Through Hump Day Unscathed!

Posted on Wednesday, September 1, 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.

Today we woke up, and it really was 6:30 AM!  We are still laughing about yesterday.  Both of us have done that in the past separately; now we can admit it and giggle!

We called Colleen to check in and shared for about twenty minutes; She is a jewel; we are so blessed to have Joe, Colleen, and Robin in our lives.  We need to see Michele more often!

The morning call!

We are off like a shot after we walked Five Miles.  Walking our dog, Scout, now known as Five Miles,  we saw a guy in a suit walking his dog, and I know Five Miles is thinking I don’t dress nicely for him anymore.

We headed to Banning to visit Annie and Virgil, friends of Mary and now my friends also.  They are in their mid-90s and enjoy our company.  We stopped at a fruit stand and got some goodies.  MAry bought pound cake and some strawberries, and she fixed them for Annie and Virg while I went shopping for them.

Mary and Annie have been friends since the 1970s!

Annie and Mary, a team to watch out for!!

They are an amazing couple totally dedicated to each other; good role models for us!

Annie and Virgil; the love birds; married 26 years and lovin’ it!

We got back in town about 2:00 PM and went to the Post Office to mail our quarterly estimated taxes using the certified mail system.  Then to the market where we got goodies on our shopping list.

The cleaning folks came about 4:00 PM, and we got ready to go dancing!  Yes, dancing on Wednesdays, yeah!!  All the regulars were there.  We arrived about 45 minutes early and decided a quick snack at Vintner’s Tavern would be a good idea.

We were amazed as we have not been there for a year due to COVID, and our waited looked at us and said, “You guys dancing tonight?”  He recognized us; well, probably Mary as she is a looker, me, not so much.

Dinner at Vintner’s Tavern!

We ordered appetizers, and then I went wild and ordered a cheese plate and salmon to share.  When we were done, we were just this side of being stuffed.  We needed the energy boost to be able to dance for the next three hours.

As we departed the restaurant, I saw myself in the glass door and thought, “Time may be a great healer, but it’s also a lousy beautician.”  Mary does notice me because as we walked toward the dance studio, she said to me romantically, “I love what you’ve done with your hair. How do you get it to come out of the nostrils like that?”

Who be the lucky guy to find such an amazing person so late in his life? Oh, it’s me!

We came bearing gifts! We brought cheesecake for the other members of our table; tonight, it was the Branders and the Capps!

We waltzed and waltzed and waltzed with me, remembering some new steps as we moved.  It was a wonderful evening. We are going to take a refresher in the Texas-Two-Step.  We have also declared victory on the Cowboy Cha-Cha.

Line dancing means Mary hits the floor; I am signing up for line dancing as soon as the house gets together, which by definition will be the first of October!

We headed home about 9:30 PM and visited with Five Miles before crashing.  I checked the outside of the house, and it was ablaze in various colors.

I let the colors be random, with them slowly changing between all the various colors.

We are planning already for our first Halloween in the new house.  We even ordered a special flag to fly for Halloween.  The flag ought to arrive next week!

Mary gets ready for Halloween!

Good night everyone!

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Tuesday Kept Us Hopping

Posted on Tuesday, August 31, 2021 by Paul

What are four hundred Easter bunnies hopping backward?  A receding hare line.

We were up early and hit the swim spa about 6:00 AM.  In fact, we woke up the roosters this morning.  We had our coffee in the spa, which was definitely a change for us!  We had visitors planned; Tom, our handyman, at 11:00 AM and then Chuck Shirley and Mike Henshel of Nine Carat Gold at 11:00 AM.  The band members (leaders)  came to see the backyard as they will be playing with the whole orchestra at our “Dancing Under The Stars” party that is coming up.

They have played for us before and do an amazing job!!

After their visit, we went to Rockwell’s for lunch. We had a great time, and the guys departed from there. We went home and did some work and then called Jan Mongel and invited her over to the house.  I went to pick her up, and we visited for an hour, and she saw the house nearing completion.

Big Sister & Little Sister

After returning home, I joined Mary to continue watching TV.  We both fell asleep.  We woke up at 7:00 PM, looked outside, and thought we had slept all night long.  We got up, fixed ourselves coffee, and wondered why it was getting darker outside.  It dawned on us; it was 7:00 PM, NOT AM!  We laughed ourselves silly.

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Monday Was Another Busy Day!

Posted on Monday, August 30, 2021 by Paul

Why this song, you ask? It was released just around Mary’s birthday, and we dance to it even today!  It was number one on the charts for five weeks!

Mary was off to work but only in the afternoon.  I attacked the garage reorganization and de-cluttering.  Mary attacked the last of the packing boxes!

She departed for work at 11:30 AM, and I continued in the garage until about 4:00 PM when I was going to prepare dinner.  I was in the kitchen, and she scared the far out of me when she sneaked up behind me and said, boo!   I never really got it started.

Check The Bartender dropped by at 4:00 PM, and the Robin came in, and the four of us planned the “Dancing Under The Stars” party.  We will get a 400 square-foot dance floor, tables for 70+ people, and we selected the hors-deouvers.  Check went through our bar supplies, and we have everything needed for 70+ people!

Robin stayed a while after Chuck departed, and then she left about 7:30 PM.  Mary and I scrouged in the frig and had a bite to eat before hitting the swim spa for the rest of the evening.

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Sunday And Time To Soak?

Posted on Sunday, August 29, 2021 by Paul

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.

We were up bright and early, 7:00 AM, and decided the swim spa was the answer, but we did not know the question.

Into our birthday suits and out my bathroom door since it is five feet from the swim spa.   I asked Mary, “What do you get when you drain a hot tub full of clowns?” After a puzzled look, I answered, ” Several gallons of laughing stock.”

I was relaxing in the tub when my beautiful wife pointed her finger at me and gave me a furious look… I knew I was in hot water.

Upon stepping out of the tub, I reminded Mary that we ought to take our birthday suits to the cleaners and get them pressed!  I got the “mommy look!”

I am going to get in trouble over this one!

After the soak, we walked Five Miles. He enjoyed the new path we took, and he was pooped by the time we returned home after only 0.97 miles!   We see many funny things on our walks but today this sign cracked us up!

We have many choices for our walks, and as the weather cools down, we will adventure into the east-of-Cannon neighborhoods.  We are looking for a good two-mile path to take every morning.  It is working as I am at 194 pounds this morning.

We met several other dog walkers, and Five Miles has new friends!

We worked the rest of the day.  Our handyman was here, and he put in some drywall fixes around my new electrical outlets, and he also got us a new medicine chest; the original was “cheap”.

Mary called me inside, and to my delight, she had made a breakfast casserole from scratch.  It was amazing.  I tried to control myself, but I went back for seconds and thirds.  She also cut up some fresh peaches and plums, and we had an English muffin with Kerrygold butter.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

I worked in the front yard and made the two lights on the pathway to the front door “bird proof”.  While I was inside the fixture, I changed the bulbs to be internet-controlled and capable of 64,000,000 different colors.  Now they are on times going on and off with the setting and rising of the sun!

At the holidays, I can make them match the colors of the holiday!

I let the colors be random, with them slowly changing between all the various colors.

We crashed at 8:00 PM as Mary has to work tomorrow.  It was a good day!

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Saturday And We Are Ready To Work

Posted on Saturday, August 28, 2021 by Paul

I Could Agree With You, But Then We’d Both Be Wrong.

We are ready to rock and roll; progress is to be made!  Mary worked inside, and I finished off the “He Shed” and worked in the garage!  We first walked Five Miles to get the body warmed up!

The day went pretty fast, and I only made one trip to Home Depot, a new record. Around 11:00 AM, Mary called me, and she had made a beautiful breakfast with eggs and turkey bacon, and fresh fruit.  We gobbled it down and returned to work.  By 3:00 PM, we had to stop and get ready for dancing in Chino.  We decided  NOT to go out to dinner as the chowder was just too good to pass up.

We did stop at Jan’s and dropped off fresh tomatoes, and corn chowder wince it was on our way to Chino.

Mike and Marsha had birthdays this past week!

We danced until 9:00 PM and then headed home; we were pooped!  I told Mary, “I take limbo dancing so seriously that I’d bend over backward to win a competition.”

We got home at 10:00 PM and watched a little TV before crashing!

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Friday And We Are Busier Than Ever

Posted on Friday, August 27, 2021 by Paul

Busier than a pickpocket in a nudist colony.

MAry headed to work, and I headed for the to-do list.  Joe was going to come over, but I reminded him of what happens when I go, and he stayed home!

Joe panicked!

We walked the baby before Mary departed for work.  We walked Five Miles!

I worked in the storage shed, and garage plus I got a 100-foot heavy-duty extension cord for the band who will be playing hee. I hung the LED lights on the patio and picked up 200 feet of LED lights for the backyard.  AT 3:00 PM, I decided to cook dinner and surprise Mary, so I did corn chowder.  I placed all the ingredients and had the equipment ready when Mary scared the wits out of me.  Her last patient canceled, and she headed home.

We decided to split the cooking, so Mary finished the corn chowder, and I cooked the Bubba Burgers.  She made a fresh salad from our garden, and we proceeded to have a marvelous meal!!

Mary brings much joy into the house as she sings while cooking(Scout and I go to the backyard and wail at the moon)

I always assist, and this time I did the burgers, set the table, poured the wine, and messed around cleaning up.

Lots of truth in that!

We ate out on the patio as the evening was delightful.  Fresh salad, corn chowder, and a burger, life does not get better than this!  Add a little wine, and we are good.

After dinner, we went over to Jeff’s house and sat outside with him.  He had scotch, and we did our Chardonnay.  We brought him some of the chowder, and it made a hit!

Sitting on Jeff’s porch looking at our place (with the flags flying)

We talked for a good 45 minutes before going home to clean things up!

Best seat in the house!

Arriving back at Casa Valencia, we cleaned up and prepared chowder for delivery to Jan tomorrow on our way to dancing.

No! We did not finish it all. We will bring some to Jan tomorrow.

We got into the swim spa and talked for a good hour before crashing; it’s been another great day!

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We Had A Great Day Even Some Relaxing!

Posted on Thursday, August 26, 2021 by Paul

R.I.P boiled water. You will be mist.

OK, the week is coming to an end, and we declared ourselves tired.  So we got up at 6:00 AM because MAry had a Zoom meeting with the WBC group.  I went onto the patio and had a cup of coffee with Robin, who stayed overnight!

Enjoying her morning coffee.

We walked Five Miles this morning, and it was a good walk. We have one path figured out, but we will expand our paths over the next couple of weeks.  We visit the dinosaur ranch and are beginning to name them.  Meet Pinky below.

We talk about a lot of stuff when we walk,  Robin gave Mary the low-down on her family and visa-versa.  Attempting to join the conversation I reminded Robin that Mary spent eight years in Europe.  I did ask Mary, “What is the best thing about living in Switzerland?” and she quickly replied, “Well, the flag is a big plus.”

The dinosaurs were back in action.

Robin is helping us plan the “Dancing Under The Stars” open house we have to celebrate the new house.  We have about 60 invites going out, and now we have to do the work.  Mary is making decisions about what, where, who, when, and how.  We are having a nine-piece swing band that evening, Nine Carat Gold!

Decisions decisions!

After an hour of planning, our little pea-brains got tired, and we headed to the Elks Lodge for some well-deserved lunch and perhaps a drink or two! Halfway through the meal, the Packard folks joined us.  Very nice folks who are the leaders of the Packard International Car Club of SoCal.

Friends at the Elks!

They hap[opened to have the latest magazine with them, and we got to see us in print.  At the car show, our engagement was announced, and we got rousing applause from the membership!

We were in the Packard Magazine this quarter!

Mary did the soup today while I went for the swordfish.  I am trying to reduce my weight and am current;y at 194 and dropping, yeah!  On the second drink, I begin to get weird thoughts.  I asked the table, “Did Noah include termites on the ark?”

Time to dine at “Girls Night Out.”

George was in rare form this afternoon.  We all laughed and giggled until 1L30 PM; it was time to go back to work!

George was hungry and ready to kibitz!

Returning home, we did chores around the house, and I took a two-hour nap; I was exhausted.  We jumped into the hot tub for a good hour and then went into the TV room and watched a Steven Segal movie about a Battleship being hijacked by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busy.  Well, it started out bad because I could not find my remote controllers.  Then I remembered, whenever I lose my TV controller, I always find it in a remote location.

Under Siege is a 1992 American action thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and written by J. F. Lawton. It stars Steven Seagal as a former Navy SEAL who must stop a group of mercenaries, led by Tommy Lee Jones, on the U.S. Navy battleship Missouri.[3]

Released on 9 October 1992, Under Siege was successful in critical and financial terms, receiving two Oscar nominations for sound production and is often considered Seagal’s best film to date.

We crashed as soon as the movie was over.  We have a lot of things to do tomorrow.  My son is coming over to do some work on lighting, and our handyman is joining us to hang some pictures and adjust some doors.

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Mid Week And We Get Window Coverings Today, Yeah!

Posted on Wednesday, August 25, 2021 by Paul

Thanks for explaining the word “many” to me; it means a lot.

I am retired, of that, there is no doubt.  We woke up at 6:00 AM, and I said, “It’s Sunday morning. Let’s have our coffee in the hot tub”.  Then I was informed it was Wednesday, duh!

I continued the third module of my seniors driving class until it was time to take Scout, The Wonder Dog, for his morning walk. Actually, I think it is more for us than for him.  I asked Mary, “What idiot called it a vet instead of a dogtor?”  No reply, and that is probably good.

We walked Five Miles this morning!  It felt pretty good. During our walk, I asked Mary, “Did Noah include termites on the ark?”

Animals are so smart, and Five Miles is no exception. He barked and barked, and I think he said, “Did you know that dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish?”

Hurry up; it’s time to walk!

During our walk, we all talk, yes, even Five Miles tosses in some observations about people.

Indeed this is the case.

The patch on the sprinkler pipe seemed to hold, so I buried the pipe and will wait until tomorrow for a final judgment. If all goes well, we will not have a trail of mud down the front walkway!

The doorbell started ringing at 9:00 AM as we have a handyman, Tom, coming over to install some bathroom cabinets; the curtain guru was scheduled to hang the new valances. Finally, the shuttle guy has four rooms where shutters are going to be added!  The place is coming together!

The shutters were put up on four of our large windows, and they really look good.  I am happy to control the light in the office because of the computer screens.  Now I don’t have to hand my underwear over the windows at night, yeah!

Now we can control the light with ease.

The valances in the family room and kitchen were installed, and they came out perfect.  Our designer has a great eye for colors and materials!

The valances are strong and can support some of Mary’s collection of coffee cups!

I finished off the electrical plugs in the bathroom, and I had to take each plug out and redo them.  The ol’ eyes play tricks on me these days.  I did NOT give up as I was going to do it myself or else!

We had dinner reservations at 4:00 PM at Patty’s, but the shuttle guys didn’t leave until 3:45 PM, so we called Robin and Chuck, telling them our situation. Our bar stools were reserved, and we had a great dinner.  We took a quick snap of the sunset before we departed.

The sunset was most interesting!

Off to Patty’s to meet with Robin.  We took the hot rod to give Precious a little run on the freeway.

Dining at Patty’s Place

We drove home and had a glass of wine before crashing.  Mary and I went to the neighbors to deliver some tomatoes, but they were out for a walk.  We talked to Jeff for a while, and then the people came in our direction.  We introduced ourselves.  Mary told them she was “the greengrocer.”   The lady is about to be a mommy for the first time, so we mentioned that Mary was an MD should they have any issues.

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Fun Tuesday!

Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2021 by Paul

After Tuesday, even the calendar goes W – T – F.

The old saying is, “you reap what you sow.”  Well, I got this picture from my son Joe, and I guess the apple does not fall far from the tree!

I had to laugh; my sense of humor returns!

NO work for the boss today; time to sleep in, but that did not work; she was up and going at 7:00 AM.   We had to walk Scout The Wonder Dog as he needed to sniff the new neighborhood again.  We passed by a house with dinosaurs in the planter and thought children or grandchildren would love to play here.  Well, this morning, as we passed by, I commented to the lady of the house about the dinos.  She said, “My husband moves them around every couple of weeks to keep it interesting!”   Maybe I should ask Mary if I can collect plastic dinosaurs for our garden?

His name is “Pinky.”

We kept walking, and other interesting things became visible, so we snapped a shit of Froggy and the Doggy.

Froggy-Doggy, good friends!

We got cleaned up and went to Lowe’s and bought four wall-mounted cabinets for our various bathrooms.  By the time we were done, it was lunchtime, and we headed to Rockwell’s.  Two glasses of wine later and a great meal, we headed home.  Mary took a nap, and I attacked my “to-do” list, a full-time job these days!

We both worked in the office starting 4:00 PM and continued until almost 8:00 PM.  We have window treatments coming tomorrow, so we wanted the guys to be able to get to the window.  I am taking a “seniors driving class” online, and it will save us 15% on our auto-insurance, a good investment in time.

We called Colleen and Robin.  We sent the following picture to Robin!

Just too funny; sorry, Bob!

We crashed about 9:00 PM after going into the den and watching the galaxy display for an hour and quietly talking about stuff.

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Monday Was Almost Shocking

Posted on Monday, August 23, 2021 by Paul

I can’t afford to pay for electricity anymore; these are some dark times.

Monday and time for one of my favorite songs. I love these guys, great music form a great time.

It’s Monday and time for Mary to go to work to keep me in the lifestyle I have become accustomed to.  She departed at 8:00 AM, and I was going to accomplish so much today; my to-do list was a mile long.

OK, first things first!  More sockets for Miss Mary as she had to plug and unplug her beauty gadgets continually.  I have never heard of an electric toenail trimmer nor an electric skin softener, now an electric cuticle remover!  She had all this, plus the standard electric hairdryer, electric hair curler, and electric toothbrush: eight gadgets and only two gazintas.

What you ask is a “gazinta?”  A gazinta is another name for a power plug because the power cord goes into the plus; naturally, ga-sin-ta!

So, I attacked the wall with vigor and a few selected tools like the Makita

I was a member of “The Hole In The Wall Gang”!

What I thought was going to be a two-hour job turned into six hours!  The #12 wiring was so stiff that I fought it hour hours trying to make it go into the new box.  I was tired and learned that older adults should pick their chores more carefully.  Not only can’t I see, but the #12 wires and my hands with the mild arthritis are not a great match!  I finally got it done and ready for the drywall guy who is coming on Thursday!

I did leave a text for Mary making her, “What do you call a bad electrician?” I followed up with the answer, ” A shock absorber!

Things got messy as the afternoon progressed!

On the bright side, I am happy I could do it; the old grey matter is still working.  So, when she arrived home, she saw this and committed I “overachieved”!

One more adjustment, and it will be ready for drywall!

Mary called before departing the office, and I told her of my less than stellar day.  She volunteered to bring home dinner, and I agreed.  Besides, I know it would be veal piccata!  We set the table on the patio, got our wine in the new genuine outdoor safe wine glasses, and parked our carcass for a dine leisurely dinner!

Dinner is served.

The veal was perfect, and Mary fixed a salad from our garden, and I sliced fresh tomatoes.  It was a delightful meal.

I love the shaved parmesan cheese topping.

We have a “ritual” at dinner time!  No radio, no TV but a time to share our day and plan for tomorrow; it’s a special time for us! Sometimes I share my daily joke, “A neutron walks into a bar and asks, ‘How much for a drink?’ The bartender replies, “For you, no charge.”

Mary mentioned that she went to the doc today to see how she was doing.  She got her answer!

What could I say???

Dine to dine and share our day!

After dinner, we cleaned up and headed to the swim spa.  We downed a boggle of wine and talked for a good hour until we were getting prune-like.  We decided not to watch the news as it is all bad and seeing Biden makes us a little nuts!

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A Slow Sunday; We Are Still Recovering!

Posted on Sunday, August 22, 2021 by Paul

Smile more than you cry, give more than you take, and love more than you hate.

Sunday and we still are not 100%, this flue-bug-germ is a real pain everywhere.  We did go into the swim spa and had our morning coffee.

We called the Chartier’s at 9:00 AM and decided we would stay put for fear of giving them something they did not need.  We stayed home today except for a quick trip to the nursery for some space filers.

We got a yellow plumeria to go with the pink one we have next to the swim spa.  The pots are pretty close and it will look great as it grows taller.  We also got some veggies and some flowers plus we willed out Mary’s succulent grade in the east forty!

Oh oh… Run!! Here comes my little helper!

We were moving pretty slow today but we could not just sit all day.  We finished up around 4:00- PM after planting Mary’s new Bay tree.

Fresh bay leaves whenever we want!

The plant is the source of several popular herbs and one spice used in a wide variety of recipes, particularly among Mediterranean cuisines. Most commonly, the aromatic leaves are added whole to Italian pasta sauces. They are typically removed from dishes before serving unless used as a simple garnish. Whole bay leaves have a long shelf life of about one year, under normal temperature and humidity. Whole bay leaves are used almost exclusively as flavor agents during the food preparation stage.

Ground bay leaves, however, can be ingested safely and are often used in soups and stocks, as well as being a common addition to a Bloody Mary. Dried laurel berries and pressed leaf oil can both be used as robust spices, and the wood can be burnt for strong smoke flavoring.

We watched a movie and rested trying to get completely rid of our colds.   I did walk outside prior to turning on the flag light and saw that I apparently punctured my sprinkler system when I was trying to plant some flowers.

 

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Saturday And We Are Still Not 100%

Posted on Saturday, August 21, 2021 by Paul

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills, and wills.

We arose at 7:00 AM and declared victory over whatever we had, but alas, by 7:01 AM, we decided the “bug” has yet to leave the building.  I am getting tired of not feeling well, but at least we are not spreading it to others!

Yes, indeed, that is me!

We had our coffee on the patio and then worked in the yard for a bit.  Mary attempts to bring the lime tree back to life, and I planted some additional veggies in our various pots.

We started the day working in the garden!

I bought Mary an “egg bite” maker, and we tried it this morning with fresh veggies from the garden.  She also made pancake batter, so I did pancakes, and she made the bites; it was a delicious brunch.  As we were sitting there enjoying each other’s company, I mentioned my hair was getting long.  All of a sudden, she jumped up and whisked herself into the house toward the book of knowledge.  She pronounced, “Dang! We missed our appointments at the hair saloon”.  Fortunately, she knows the owner, and we mention what happened.

We jumped in The Silver Fox and headed down Chapman, the tires stretching and the smell of burnt rubber following us.  We were thirty minutes late, but we got in, and now, I no longer can wear my ponytail!

Breakfast/brunch is being served!

I was done in about twenty minutes as there are only seventeen hairs left on my head; Mary, on the other hand, takes two hours.  So I went to the market and did a little shopping and headed home and did chores.  The chores also included cleaning up from brunch as we departed in micro-seconds of the panic phone call to Linda.

Having a few minutes on my hands, I connected my backup drive to the Apple and looked at Facebook.  I had to send this cartoon to Bob and Donna as they are leaving for Europe next week for a month!

Thinking of Donna and Bob!

Mary called around 3:30 PM, and I picked her up.  We returned home and did some chores about the house.  At 6:00 PM, we went to bed to try and recover from the bug, but I lasted about five minutes before I was sound to sleep.  We didn’t get to see a movie.  Now, of course, I woke up at midnight ready to go; midnight?  Never to sleep in the middle of the day!

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