T-1; The Countdown Continues!

I was thinking about taxes this morning.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Giggle Time:

We both slept until 6:30 am, so we must have been tired. When Mother Nature called, I got up twice during the night but did not go into the office; I returned to bed. Scout was worried. He was also tired, as he refused his late-night tinkle trip. I expected him to wake me up in the wee hours, but he slept right through the night!

Based on yesterday’s phone call, it turns out that when asked who your favorite child is, you’re supposed to pick out one of your own. I know that now.

S-h-h-h-h Supervisor at work!

Did you hear about the red and blue cruise ships that crashed into each other at sea? All the survivors were marooned.

Today, I did a final check on the electronics. Can you believe that in the world of wireless, we are taking these, not to mention Mary’s seventeen electric and gasoline-powered beauty aids?

2 Kindle Whitepages book readers
Kindle 10″ Firebook
Apple Laptop
2 Hearing Aid Chargers
2 Apple Watch chargers
2 Apple Watches
2 Water Picks
2 Electric Toothbrushes
Camera Charger
Headphone charger
Multiport USB Charger Station

We made a last-minute pass through our checklist and decided to go to the Elks, have lunch, and then return and finish 99% of our packing. I am so happy that Mary has been going to the gym because your sense of balance has improved dramatically.

That a girl, Dr. Mary, I’ll run and get the scissors to trim the edges!

At 10:30 am, we were off to the groomers. Scout wanted to look very pretty for his aunt Irene. Then, on our way to the Elks, we stopped at Freeway Honda to get new van wiper blades. We wanted to ensure that Diane had new blades since Dianne will drive the van while we’re gone.

I stopped by the Red Cross just before getting to the Elks. I tried donating blood today…NEVER AGAIN. There are too many stupid questions: Who’s blood is it? Where did you get it from? Why is it in a bucket?

We went to the Elks for Girls Night Out, and Mary was the only girl. We had a guest, Griffin, who knows all of us because he stops by occasionally.

Griffin is Bill’s grandson and a long-haul truck driver.

Bill keeps his financial eye on the TV during lunch, ensuring his strategy of buying high and selling low does not change!

A good boy I was as I had soup and salad, and now that I am 196 pounds, it will not last!

I melted an ice cube with my mind just by staring at it. It took a lot longer than I thought it would.

Bill enjoyed Griffin’s visit.

The entrance was decorated, and it looked like Father’s Day.

The Elks are ready for the next holiday!

We stopped by and retrieved Scout, who was so pretty and smelled terrific. He pranced around the house like he had just won a beauty contest, but I had other things to do!

I just sold my homing pigeon on eBay for the 22nd time.

I am pretty!

He came into the office and was getting suspicious of our trip as he had to walk around with suitcases, and in Mary’s case, large moving bags with built-in wheels and a small motor.

A shoutout to everyone who can still remember their childhood phone number but cannot remember the password they created yesterday. You are my people.

“I am so pretty!”

We worked until 6:30 pm and finally decided we could finish in the morning, so we went to the swim spa and cooked in the h hot water for an hour. After that, we were in bed by 8:30 pm, getting ready for a trying day tomorrow,

Panama Canal, here we come!

Good night all!

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T-2 Building to A Crash-Endo!

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Giggle Time:

We are back to normal.” Get up, get ready, and go to a doctor—any doctor! This morning, we are going for my echocardiogram.

Did You Know? An echocardiogram, also known as a diagnostic cardiac ultrasound, is performed by transmitting high-frequency signals into the heart and recording the resulting sound wave patterns, according to the American Heart Association. A computer processes the patterns as images, allowing doctors to see accurate representations of the heart’s size, shape, and effectiveness at pumping. The pictures also show the anatomy and motion of the heart walls, the movement of blood through heart valves, and the presence of unhealthy growths in heart tissue.

We thought we were going to see the cardiologist but when we got there, we found out he was in Hawaii on vacation! Good for him.

The test was a no-brainer, except the instrument he ran across my chest was colder than a well digger’s butt! (That was an old saying courtesy of my Mother).

I was seeing the screen and asked several times to change channels or adjust the rabbit ears but the technician kept of watching the snow storm anyway.

No, it is not our baby!  It’s an ultrasound of my ticker.

While there, my memory kicked into high gear, and I remember what I was like at forty; I didn’t even realize I had a heart!  Yes, that is me with hair.  I got this post from Colleen’s Facebook site.

Goofy as ever!

I thought a lot about my cousin Claudia, who will reach the ripe old age of eighty sooner than me, by just six months!  I need to call her because I am sure her hearing must be going!

July, Claudia, and yours indeed about seventy years ago!

On the way home, we stopped at “The Original Pancake House” and had our regular; we shared a veggie omelet, and I had a side of bacon!   You all know what I say, “If life gives you lemons, throw them away and get some bacon.”

We returned home and did some serious packing. As of this afternoon, we are 90% complete. Mary’s steamer trunks are finished and locked.  They are hard to miss as they are identical to each other.  They would be better if they had rollers.

Only 145 pounds per trunk!

We called our grandson Jonathan, who turned 35 today. He is an amazing young man; we’re very proud of him. We had a three-way teleconference with him and his mother and sang Happy Birthday to him.

We invited Sarah and Jon to come to California at the end of summer to join us on a cruise!

Later in the afternoon, we took the Grey Ghost to Goodwill and gave them many boxes of items we no longer needed. We went to a gift store where Mary picked out something for her daughter’s bridal shower.  She said she would get her a penguin; I have no idea what that is! Mary invited me inside, where I assisted in packing one out:

My choice was not well received!

Did You Know? A peignoir is a long outer garment for women which is frequently sheer and made of chiffon or another translucent fabric. The word comes from French peigner ‘to comb [hair]’ (from Latin pectin?re, from pecten ‘comb’) describing a garment worn while brushing one’s hair, originally referring to a dressing gown, bathrobe or lounging robe.

I was invited to leave and return to the car. I was puzzled.

We returned home and worked in the garden for about 30 minutes, putting the final touches on several areas and planting some new peas with the sow bugs killed the previous attempt. They will not get near the new plants as we used Bug Bait.

Greed got to me, and I went to the liquor store and bought some lottery tickets. I might have a 1 in 292,000,000 chance of winning; it could happen!

We had dinner and watched a little TV.  Mary made Mac & Cheese with Soyriso and it was pretty good.  The salad was excellent.    I checked my weight and I am now 197 pounds so my goal of being under 200  for the trip is happening.

Tomorrow is T-1, and we will be ready, one way or the other!  While watching Young Sheldon, Mary’s head indicated the Sandman had arrived.  I cleaned up the kitchen and took her to bed.

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T-3 The Busy Level Is Increasing!

Today, we are getting serious about our trip. First things first, we need to get our hair done. Mary’s hair will take a little longer since it’s longer than mine. I can get in and out of the seat in five minutes and be done!

When I was finished I walked to the nearby coffee shop and retrieved a latte and an egg bite for my bride.  I, on the other hand, was hungry so I walked another two stores and ate tacos at WaBa Grill.

Waba  in Korean means “come and try” It was named the fastest growing small chain fresh quality to their customers.   The tacos were pretty good!

the service was quick and the place was clean!

On our way back home, we took the 405 to the 55 and stopped at CVS to pick up some meds we needed for the trip!  After that, we started seriously packing and I did some things around the house.

We strolled through the garden and were pleasantly surprised to see loads of tiny apples forming. These little guys are well on their way to becoming this summer’s apple pie.

They look healthy; let’s hope we get mo more Santa Ana winds!

All the grapes are doing well so we will not likely fertilize them until later on in the season!  We will have to keep and eye our for birds but the whirlygigs should help the situation!

There are probably a hundred grapes forming on just this branch.

We take sweetpeas everywhere we go; the ladies in the doctor’s office get a kick out of them as they are fragrant and quite pretty.

These were supposed to be all different colors; the label lied!

The rest of the day was spent packing, with an emphasis on the electronics. On my last trip, there were only two outlets in the cabin. This time, I came prepared with several power bars and a 15-amp power source for all our electronics.

While packing, my brain wandered a bit, so I have these questions for you:

If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

No TV tonight. We went to bed at midnight because tomorrow is a doctor’s appointment.

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Ready for another one?

Due to my time alone, I finished three books yesterday.   And believe me, that’s a lot of coloring.

We looked at the calendar, and OMG, one quarter of the year is kaput!

The garden is going wild!

After having breakfast, we went to run some errands.  We needed CPAP supplies for our upcoming trip and decided to purchase new equipment.  The store was in Santa Ana, but we avoided the freeway due to the expected heavy traffic and took the side streets instead.  Before heading home, we stopped by CVS to purchase some last-minute medications for the trip, some of which needed to be kept cool.

I am thinking about getting new glasses.

It is sometimes embarrassing!

My nose was going crazy, leaking like a sieve, so I stayed close to the bottle with Alka-Selzer tables.  We walked in the backyard, and things look great; we might have tomatoes when we return after three weeks!  We are so happy our grandson stays at the house while we are gone.  No one will mess with a 6’4″, 240-pound young man.  Young?  How about 35?

The sun is drying everything out after 4 four inches of rain!

The weatherman said we might get an inch, but Mother Nature had another idea!  Four inches in two days and more coming on Friday!

We have to empty the rain gauge once a week these days!

I had some time to think today. I grew up with Steve Jobs, Johnny Cash, and Bob Hope. Now there are no jobs, no cash, and no hope. Please don’t let anything happen to Kevin Bacon.

We had a nice dinner courtesy of Dr. Mary, who is getting homemade soup down to a science.  We stayed up until 10:00 pm watching a series called Young Sheldon.  Summary: The timeline for the series begins in the fall of 1989, and it follows Sheldon Cooper’s early life as a child prodigy in the fictional town of Medford, Texas.  As he grows up, he tries to fit into a world of people, including his family and friends, who struggle to cope with his intellectual capabilities and social ineptitude. The passage of time is indicated by episodes referencing historical or pop cultural events from the early 1990s, some of which are unique to the US.

Good night, all, and have an excellent April!

 

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Happy Easter

This morning, I am ashamed of my country’s “leadership” and hope that Biteme and the people behind the curtain meet with a severe punishment for their attempt to ruin this country!

Today is the anniversary of the opening of the Effiel Tower in 1889!   All is not lost! Scan through the gallery but remember, most of the pictures are on the website.

 

Last year’s weather was perfect. This year, not so much! One year later, there were three and a half inches of wet stuff.

We headed to the Elks at 9:15 am to be there ahead of everyone. There, we met the Easter Bunny.

You can see the whole event on our Easter Website.

Just us and the Easter Bunny!

We ate and ate and ate before going back to the house.

The food disappeared quickly!

It was raining like mad, but everybody made it back to the house for egg coloring.

It was such a nice day with wonderful people!

Michele, Franklin, and Theo joined us later in the day, and we visited for quite a while!

By the end of the day, I was beat, and so was Dr. Mary, so we crashed.  Mary did some last-minute cleanup, and the place was back to “normal”

Good night all!

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The Easter Bunny Is Lurking This Evening!

Cover your eyes; we are hiding the eggs tonight!

I was up and feeling pretty good after weeks of bronchitis.  I decided I would surprise Mary and make breakfast for her.   Flour was flying, and the batter looked pretty good.  As I prepared the first stack, Mary dropped the bomb on me!

What do you call someone who can’t turn pancakes? A flip-flop!

I was trying to be a good husband!

We had to drop off the tax checks at the post office today as we sent them certified mail. On our way there, we decided to stop at Rockwell’s for breakfast. Oh my, we both ordered hash browns, and they must have had too many in the back because we got one plate each of delicious hash browns.

Next we went to the market and got supplies for tomorrow!  We then stopped at Jan’s and dropped off an Easter Bunny and some sushi; we did not go in as I am still potentially bad news to old people; Mary is an exception!

The rain stopped for a few minutes after giving us two and a half inches last night and this morning.  We scurried outside and inspected the garden for varmints, and as it would have it, there was no evidence.  They are probably holed up in a local Motel-6.

Our eyes looked to the north, and the temporary tarp had apparently been moved by last night’s huge wind. I took a picture, sent it to Joe, and mentioned I might attempt a fix.

Well, within a few minutes, our phone rang, and Zack was on his way to make the repairs.  I love my son and grandson; they are good friends, and apparently, they love Dr. Mary and I.

The harsh wind did its work.

We returned to the house, and Scout gave us an evil look, wondering if we had wiped our shoes.

S-h-h-h-h Supervisor at work!

The house was warm, but it felt “damp,” perhaps it was all in our heads.  We lit off the fireplace and let it run all day and the house became toasty!

We kept the fire on all day to keep the dampness down.

During a lull in the downpour, I went to get my tall ladder from the side of the house, and one of the spa heaters took a nose dive into the grass.  I attempted to set it up, but the glass tube was out of place, so it will have to stay there until it dries out next week.

Oops!

Zack came over, and in a few minutes, the tarp was back in its proper location. Talk about feeling useless! Twenty years ago, I would have popped onto the roof and taken care of that, but at eighty, my brain engaged, and I decided I better stay on the ground. Besides, I did not want Dr. Mary to brain me!

Zack saved the day!

While he was here, Zack got the Sonos Sound Bar to work, and we are on track to fix several of the TVs by buying the newest model of Firefox Alexa devices.  Mine are years old and out of date!

Night Night!

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It’s Friday And I Am Better!

Finally I am feeling a little better!  It’s been two weeks of coughing and hacking but the new antibiotics seem to be working.  Whatever, I decided to kick back and continue resting.

Going through the closet and pulling out trip clothes was on the agenda and I accomplished that!  We did spend some time looking at the garden but decided work was going to have to wait.

Dru came over around 5:30 and we went to the Santa Ana Elks Lodge for dinner and a small amount of dancing; I was not going to push it!

We discussed laws this evening!

1. Law of the Bath  – When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone will ring and your phone is in another room.

2. Law of Close Encounters – The probability of meeting someone you know INCREASES dramatically when you are with someone you don’t want to be seen with.

3. Law of the Result – – When you try to prove to someone that a machine won’t work, IT WILL!!! AND Visa versa!

4. Law of Biomechanics – The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

Jerome sings great dance music!

We know Easter is coming up and it appears as through it might be a tad wet!

We are ready!

Today was Vietnam Veterans Day!  March 29 was chosen to be observed as National Vietnam War Veterans Day in perpetuity as March 29, 1973, was the day United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, was disestablished and also the day the last U.S. combat troops departed Vietnam.

We love the Elks as they are a patriotic bunch who love our country!  We all sang.

We danced and carried on until about 9:00 pm, at which time I faded out; it was no use using it.

I love that girl!

We thought about going to Aces but again, I wanted not to take a chance on getting worse so we went directly home.  We did stop by Jeff’s and brought him to Key Lime pie.

Dru departed as soon as we got home and we watched a little TV before crashing for the night.

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Feelin’ A Little Better!

Dr. Mary has been working miracles, and I am feeling a little better today. We were up early, and I received my daily dose of the magic pill she had made yesterday. Although I tasted a new flavor, perhaps it was the ground tomato worm horn.

Poor Scout didn’t have it so easy!

Breakfast was served!

We procrastinated paying taxes until the last minute, then headed to Girls’ Night Out at the Lodge.

Returning home, I sat for a while at the computer and finished off the Friends Website.  I love going back to the old photos on our website.  I ran into “The Barn Raining” event where Ed, Del, and I made a garage for Irene’s car.  It was a “garage raising,” but the barn raising sounded more countryfied!

There’s a story from August 2014 about Irene, who had a parking pad for her car, which was covered by a large tree. The tree would drop leaves on the car, and the birds would add to the mess. A group of people went over to help her: Ed developed the design, I was the financial officer, and Del did the work. It was a team effort to improve her situation.

Please enjoy the memories!

We headed to the garden mid-afternoon and worked until almost 5:30 pm when we expected Robin to join us for dinner and stay overnight. We needed to coordinate about Easter and house-sitting while we are gone on vacation.

We went to Girl’s Night Out and enjoyed a wonderful meal with friends. On our return, we stopped at Home Depot to get some planting mix and a few veggies, including new canteloupe to replace what Mr. Wabbit ate!

We put together the rabbit trap!  No more pesky rabbits, we hope.  We left it on the ground next to where the wabbit was dining on our salad makings.

Me catch em rabbit!

He will not know what hit him!  We will then take him on a ride around the block and turn him loose on the playground.

We are trying several different types of pest avoidance devices, and this one holds promise. Bunny goes in; the door slams shut!

Why don’t rabbits get hot in the summer? They have hare conditioning.

Where do rabbits go when they are feeling sick? To the hopspital.

The nylon mesh seems quite flexible, so we tried it. Perhaps the lettuce will now have a chance to thrive.

Try and get in here!

Spring has forced the plum tree to blossom, and we expect a full load of Santa Rosa plums this year.  The Santa Ana winds buffeted the poor tree so badly earlier in the year that it removed all the early buds.  We may have to top it when we return.

The plumb is starting to make headway.

Mary chose to garden while I did easier work, and I am still recovering.  She replaced the old cantaloupes (which were eaten to the ground) with new ones and added sow-bug bait around the plants.   She is pretty amazing.

Did You Know? Other names for sowbugs and pillbugs include roly-polies, potato bugs, and woodlice. However, sowbugs and pillbugs aren’t technically bugs at all. Both are part of the crustacean family, which also includes lobsters, crabs, crawfish, and shrimp.

Mary replants the cantaloupe

While she was working out back, I took out the trash cans and took a good picture of our flag pole waving Old Glory and an Easter flag.  The wind was really whistling and the flags were flapping.

We had quite a breeze.

We had adult supervision all afternoon!  Scout can supervise while sleeping.  He is indeed talented.

Our supervisor.

I noticed our new timers were not working, and when I went to investigate, they indicated the new batteries were dead. I double-checked, and the timer covers stated, “DO NOT USE RECHARGABLES”.  I was curious and I learned something new!

Did You Know? Some devices have more demanding power requirements than others. Many rechargeable batteries have lower terminal voltages than primary batteries, which may be critical. Alkaline batteries have greater peak current capacity than zinc-carbon ones, and for higher current devices like flashgun, this may be important. Some devices have more demanding power requirements than others. Many rechargeable batteries have lower terminal voltages than primary batteries, which may be critical. Alkaline batteries have greater peak current capacity than zinc-carbon ones, and for higher current devices like flashgun, this may be important.

The sweet peas are looking pretty good.

Sweetpeas smell so good.

Our propellers were moving with vigor this afternoon.  I sprayed the bearings with WD-40 for good measure.  We have had no issue with birds in the garden as the six propellers keep them at bay!

Did You Know? Garden wind whirligigs, also known as wind spinners or buzzers, are often used to decorate and repel garden critters.  They can be powered by wind, friction, hand, or motor and can be designed to vibrate into the ground to repel burrowing rodents. The low hum of their spin can drive away unwanted garden critters, such as squirrels, and their bright colors can attract beneficial birds and insects.

Caught still, but in five seconds, they will sound like a propeller airplane!

We spent four hours in the backyard and kept busy the entire time!  We did over 6,000 steps just in the backyard.

There is a lot of truth in this saying!!

New cages were added to keep the varmints out.  These fold up and can be easily stored as the plant gets big enough to fend for itself OR we catch the varmint doing the deed,

More ways to discourage pesks!

The cages are configurable using 3/8th inch PVC and a series of clamps/adaptors.

The net is wired to 5,000 of electricity!

At 5:30 PM, the alarm system went off with a message to prepare for repelling boarders, indicating that Robin had arrived. Despite having the keys, I hurried to open the door because her hands would likely be full.

We had dinner and consumed a bottle of wine and champagne. We tried to call Colleen, but alas, it must have been date night on the East Coast! We did talk to Greg. We sat and talked until 9:00 pm and then hit the sack!

 

 

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Tired OF Being Sick!

Today was not great, as I coughed and hacked most of the day.  Bronchitis is a pain in the built, no, correction, chest! 

Dr. Mary is taking care of me.  We watch much TV, and she keeps the meds flowing correctly.  When bored to death, I turn to the computer to fix “old broken links”.  Today, I went through the “Friends Pages” and fixed a lot of broken links and updated the code.

We called the doctor because the original antibiotics were not working.  He gave us his cell phone (probably because Dr. Mary is an MD).  We got a reply within minutes.  The doctors collaborated, and Zoom, Mary was off to the pharmacy.

The pharmacy was in Santa Ana and was called a “compounding pharmacy,” meaning the medications were fixed there on the spot.  The prescription needed Bat Drool, Bee’s Brain, Cobwebs, Frog’s Tears, and Lion’s Whiskers—not ingredients one would find at CVS.

We stayed home, and Mary fixed a magnificent dinner.  It looked just like a double In-n-Out hamburger, complete with French fries!

I am blessed to have an amazing partner in life whom the good Lord has given me. It’s comforting to know that she is always there for me.

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Today Is DDT! Doctor, Dinner, & Theater!

We had a wonderful morning as we had no plans until midday. We just talked and held hands, since it was the first day we both felt better in almost a week. We went to the garden and developed a plan to capture the rabbits, including deciding where to deposit them once they were caught.

We watched a few short videos on YouTube, including footage of US Air Force fighters and the world’s largest passenger liner.

Mary prepared a delicious breakfast to use up everything in the fridge before leaving on our three-week vacation!

We had a DDT day! The first “D” stood for doctor, so we went to Mary’s doctor who is now also mine. We both got acupuncture treatments; Mary for her arm and me for sciatica and this horrible cough that I have been dealing with.  The lady doctor practices Eastern and Western medicine.  Everyone was amazed when I did not flinch with the many shots and needle stickings received during the procedure.  We will see tomorrow!

The second “D” stood for dining or dinner. We had planned to dine at the Royal Khyber, but they were closed and we would have had to wait for 45 minutes. So, I suggested we try Darya, which was located a few doors down. Darya is a Persian (Iranian) restaurant, and I must say, it was first-class!  The people are so friendly and speak English better than us!

It is rather large and is beautiful inside!

Mary had the ASH RESHTEH, a Persian soup with fresh vegetables, noodles, pinto beans, and Kashk (whey) flavored with sautéed garlic and mint.

I opted for the GHEMEH BADEMJAN, which is fried eggplant cooked in special tomato sauce, yellow peas, and onion sauce, served with veal and a side of Basmati rice.

We both had wine!

I always get the best seat in the house with a magnificent view!

The food is not only good, but the presentations are mouth-watering!

She gave me her onions!

My meal was pretty and filling.  The rice was cooked to perfection, and the eggplant and beef were perfect!

Almost too pretty to eat!

We left Darya at 6:30 pm and made our way to Segerstrom Theater via the Westin Hotel bar, where we met up with Kiana. We enjoyed a glass of wine before the show and then walked to the theater. Our regular seats in Aisle E were perfect—close enough to see and hear everything but far enough away to avoid any “splatter” incidents. Feel free to ask me about it sometime!

The third letter, “T,” was for theater.  While the show was OK, it was not for us.  The dialogue was too fast and the music was full of drums and terribly loud.  We stayed for the first half and then departed for home at 8:30 pm.  We were not alone, several people walked out with us.

It was a great “production,” but not for us. besides, I could not get past his voice!

We brought Scout inside and Mary crashed.  I still had some pep so I put some final touches on the vacation website and reviewed my third trip through the canal in detail!  Tomorrow it’s off the the gym and stay home and begin packing.

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