What is falling from the sky

I walked out to get the mail and was hit by something wet falling from the sky.  RAIN!!!  I haven't tried to figure out how many months since we've had rain and I'm glad to see it even if it is pretty cold.

The interstates through the Sierras have already been closed at the higher elevations, and I'm glad no one I know is trying to travel across the mountains.   I wouldn't want to be on any roads over the holiday.  I'm so glad I was able to have the family reunion earlier in November when the weather was really nice.

I wonder what will happen in my garden with the cold rain - I'm sure the moisture will be welcome, and the plants are all cool weathr plants, but I don't know about cold weather.  I don't think it will get down anywhere near freezing yet. 

I've been looking forward to having a fire in my fireplace most every evening, and bought a big box of Duraflame logs for this purpose.  I don't want to use real wood logs as I know they send sparks up the chimney, and with Sacramento not having rain for the past 9 or 10 months, I wouldn't dare attempt it.  I have used Duraflame logs for years and this is the first time I have noticed a strong chemical smell emanating from them during the entire time they are burning.  If anyone knows of a brand that doesn't emit a chemical odor, I would like to know of it. 

I'm not yet back into the habit of blogging, but I'll get used to it I hope.  Finding a topic to blog about when I'm mostly stuck at home with Rocky doesn't make it any easier to write about what's happening with me.   I did get to shop at Costco over the weekend, and I was astounded at the rise in prices!  In many cases where two boxes, cans, bottles, etc. were always packed together they are now split and you get one item for the price you once paid for two.   With the coffee beans, I noticed the packages are smaller.  I'm sure it will get worse over time.  Hang in there, folks!

That's all for now.  I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving Day.

Back to Normal Part 2

Here I am again, and I hope I can find some photos to publish.  I think there must be thousands of them taken!

In addition to Straw Hat, we also spent time at my favorite craft brewery, Thin Line.  Joe (my youngest) cooked Cincinnati Chili with all the trimmings, and they let us set up a table for all the food.  I'm sorry to say I barely ate anything at Straw Hat and nothing at Thin Line.  I think I was calm on the outside, but inside I was a nervous wreck.  I don't know why, but this was a big undertaking for me and I couldn't just relax and enjoy it as much as I would have if someone else was running the show.  Actually, I had nothing to do with Thin Line this time  - my kids all arranged it.

I am so grateful to Bill & Wilma, my oldest brother (3 yrs younger than me) and sister-in-law.  The more I age the more I cherish the opportunity to spend some time with my siblings and their families.  Bill & Wilma were the perfect house guests, and didn't seem to mind Rocky.  Their oldest daughter, Julie, had a lab who they tell me never had a quiet moment until the day she died at 13!

I'm going to search for more photos - I think most of them came to me in emails.  I hope I can publish them maybe this weekend.

 

Back to (Somewhat) Normal

Things have been quiet for the past couple of days, and I've had time to reflect on the previous week.  I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to get all my siblings together. My youngest brother and his wife were vacationing in England and didn't return in time to join us at Straw Hat, but they did spend the day with us and that was good.  They brought their puppy with them, and Ara had her puppy as well, so Rocky enjoyed the reunion as much as I did!

I'm having difficulty with Blogger and can't figure out what they have changed.   I can't seem to be able to write anything after this photo, so I might just publish this and start Part 2 of today's blog.

This photo is in black & white, and taken at Straw Hat.  Sibs & spouses.

Things are moving along!

I just got a text from my brother - they just landed in Sacramento and are waiting for a gate to open.  I'm relieved their flights went well and on time.

Another brother & his family who are staying at Jeannie's house, arrived on Sunday afternoon.  They walked over yesterday and visited, so I got to spend some time with them.  Unfortunately, my house cleaners were here so we had to sit out on the deck, which is kind of cluttered with gardening tools and supplies.

Speaking of gardening, I'm pretty much ready for the season to end.  That said, I have a number of vegetables that are growing well and should be producing in about 2 weeks or so.  Keeping the grass pulled in the second bed is driving me nuts!  I can only lean over for a few minutes and then have to stop.  I'm afraid if I get down on the ground I won't be able to easily get back up, so I just lean over to pull the grass & weeds.

If I had thought about it this morning I would have given Rocky a Benadryl tablet to calm him down.  He's going to love two new people to greet!

So long for now.

Taking a break

If I have some time to myself during the next two weeks, I'll try to post.  But starting with Saturday, Jeannie's birthday, and through the next week and a half, at least, I will be very involved with family events.

It's going to be pretty special for me, as the oldest of eight, to be able to get all eight of us together.    I feel so fortunate, and I just want to devote every minute I can to being with family.  I'm sure there will be much reminiscing, as well as good-natured joking about our childhood memories.

I'll be back as I get the chance.   

I'm still alive and well!

Some things in my life go fairly well, and others give me a few problems.  I'm pretty sure that's the same for most of us.

I have a couple of photos of Rocky - I wish I knew how to touch up photos, as one of them shows the terrible condition of the hardwood floor.  The prior residents had two big dogs and the floor shows it.  I think I mentioned it on my walk-through, but thought I could live with it because I figured my dog would scratch the floor as well.  He has, and it just adds to the poor condition of it.  The discoloration shows in one of the photos, and I can't help it.  Click to enlarge.  Also, he is not the easiest dog to photograph, and he is way more beautiful than the photos show.

I'm not too thrilled with my gardening efforts this year.  I got a late start because of my move, and the fall planting got a late start because I had to wait for someone to use the rototiller in the additional beds.  So this year has so far produced a lot of tasty squash and tomatoes.  I have peas growing now, and some other things - I think carrots and possible some leafy greens - maybe kale and chard.  As I mentioned, I really didn't think anything would come up so I didn't keep records of what I planted where.  As they come up, I can sort of figure out what some of them are while others are still a mystery.  The grass is sure growing well in the garden, however.

I have to leave in a few minutes to meet my granddaughter, Autumn, when she gets out of school.  I guess the 1st quarter grades came out, and she got a 4.0 score, which is perfect!  All of her classes except for Math are honors classes, and when I see the kind of homework she has, I just don't know how she can keep up with it, or how any 7th grader could for that matter .  

And while I'm bragging, I got an email from Steve, about my grandson, Liam.  

Liam won the confidence award at school.  This is given to one kid per class for their confidence in their work, and classroom leadership.

There are so many distractions for kids today and I know it is a great achievement for both Autumn and Liam.  I'm so happy for them and proud of them.

Well I was gone for about 15-20 minutes.  I left two individually wrapped, boneless-skinless chicken breasts at the back of the countertop to thaw.  (You know where this is going!)   When I got back I found an empty wrapper - he must have eaten one of them, still frozen, and the other was on the floor but intact in its heavy plastic wrapper.  Right now you can imagine which of my lists he is on!