Party time!

Last Friday we celebrated grandson Liam's 4th birthday.  Following are some random pictures taken at Steve & Meg's house.  (Click photos to enlarge.)

I apologize for the number of sunset pictures that follow.  Every time I thought it was over and turned off the camera, the sky would change into something even more beautiful and colorful.  I just couldn't stop!

I didn't do much of anything yesterday except start to pack, and today I went to see a model of Joe & Sarah's new house.  The house is up now but locked because of hardware and such that are being installed.  It is gorgeous and spacious, and the size of the lot is really unbelievable.  There is space on both sides of the house to add an RV pad with extra left over.  The back is also huge with plenty of room to add a pool.  I was impressed with the space between houses in this development - much more than usual in California housing.  Now we're all keeping our fingers crossed that they will sell their current house quickly.

Birthday Party

I'm just taking it easy until I get ready to go to the party for grandson Liam's 4th birthday.  About the only thing I've done is to get my suitcase out and start my packing.  I have enough to wear this coming week even after packing up most of the clothes I'll take with me.  I really hope I don't have to use a larger suitcase - the one I have is the medium-sized one of a set, and I'm not sure who has the other pieces.  At least I have time to switch items around and try to gain more space.

In the blog written by Billy Bob this morning he wonders if the end of the world is coming as his internet has shut down, and the TV has nothing worth watching.  It made me think about what might happen if something occurred to shut down the technology we have come to rely on.  As I commented on BB's post, I think us older folks would miss it at first but most of us would adapt.  We grew up in a world where we didn't carry around phones/cameras, and wrote letters on paper rather than on a computer.  Young people would have the biggest problem because they've never known a world without hi-tech.  Of course nearly all our transportation, including our cars, is controlled by computers and I wonder if we could even turn the ignition and get the vehicle out of Park.

And then there is Digital.  Can anyone even explain how digital works?  I know the TV, radio, and all sorts of devices are digital, but what is the controlling factor?  To tell the truth I still prefer analog clocks, scales, speedometers, and many other items.  It's something to think about.

It reminds me that when I was at Costco yesterday I was astounded at how nearly everyone had their phones in outstretched hands, many of them seeming to scan the merchandise they were looking at--with their iPhones.  Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on with that?  It is a bit disconcerting because as you go up and down the aisles you realize that everyone is looking at their phones and pushing their carts at the same time.  I feel like I have to be even more alert to avoid a collision, and god help me if someone is driving a car while looking at their phone.  I have no doubt that many people do that, especially if they use it as a GPS.  At my age I realize how dangerous it is for me to take my eyes off the road, but now I must worry about people who aren't watching the road at all, or only now and then alternately taking a quick glance at the road and then a long glance at their phone.

I must be getting really old.  I remember when my grandparents used to make comparisons between life in the 1950's, 60's and 70's with the life they grew up in.  Guess it happens, to most everyone and the upcoming generations won't be any exception.

Hangin' in there!

I was happy to see my sun shade still hanging this morning.  Seeing how it was when the sun hit it full on yesterday, I think it is more of a privacy shade than  sun protection, but it's fine with me.  I wish I could hang a shade that covers that entire side of the porch, but then I would have to find somewhere else to hang the hummingbird feeder and it would be where I couldn't see and enjoy the birds.

When I look at it I shake my head and wonder how I could have the nerve to hang it in public!  Actually, it isn't all that bad if you don't look up close.
  
Speaking of birds, I have a question that maybe someone can answer.  I bought a 5 lb. box of grapes at Costco a week ago and was really disappointed to find they had seeds in them.  I guess I didn't check the label but Costco's grapes have always been seedless up to this point.  It is so aggravating and time consuming to cut out the seeds in the morning to mix with my fruit bowl, and I always put a bunch of washed grapes aside for snacking on throughout the day - can't do that very easily now unless I remove the seeds first.

My question is:  can I set some of the grapes by the back fence for the birds?  Will squirrels or other rodents be attracted?  I know there are squirrels around, but I don't see them all that often in the vicinity of my house, and I certainly don't want to draw them.  Would the birds even be interested in the grapes?    I suppose I could try setting out a small bunch today and see what happens.  They are really tasty and very sweet, but I hate having to deal with the seeds.  

I've even thought of making grape jelly and straining out the seeds and skins, but that sounds too much like work.  Besides, grape jelly isn't my favorite, black raspberry would be my choice and it is almost impossible to find in Sacramento.  I will bring a few jars back from NY in my suitcase.

Later:
I just returned from Costco where I found organic seedless grapes.   I got some other items I had on my list, and when I got home I discovered that "someone" had mistakenly put biscotti into my cart.  Before I thought about it I opened the container and sampled one, so I can't return it to the store.  I think it must be a heavenly reward for avoiding the Svenhardt's 30 pack of Danish!

I'm trying to figure out what I can take on the plane to snack on, since I know the airlines no longer provide food.  I'll be changing planes at O'Hare and the food is always expensive in the terminals, so I'd like to take my own with me.  But what to carry it in is the problem.  I believe I'm allowed one checked bag, and one carry on or purse.  I'll  stuff my purse into a small backpack along with my laptop and snacks.  I think that will work.  Jeannie always takes along a lot of snacks for the kids when they fly, but with 4 people traveling you can take carry-ons for each.  This is a lot more difficult to plan for than driving my car to NY!

DIY Frustration!

It is so aggravating to me that I can't seem to do the simplest thing like hang a shade.  My front porch gets the full afternoon sun when it is at its hottest point of the day.  There are hooks alongside the porch roof for hanging one of those inexpensive roll-up shades, so I bought one at Home Depot this morning.

The hooks (rounded "eyes) on the shade won't fit on the hooks from the roof because there isn't enough space to get them together.  I had some links of a chain (can't remember where I got it) and figured I might jury-rig the connection using the chain.  The chain links are too small to go over the hook on the porch.  So here I am, frustrated as can be, because I can't do a simple thing like hang a roll up shade.  I'll have to look into my tool box to see if there is something I can use to connect both the hook and eye.

The meatloaf turned out to be tasty if somewhat bland.  I had it for supper last night and just ate a meatloaf sandwich for lunch.  There are 2 or 3 servings left.  The bacon did make a great difference, and next time I will try Judy's recommendation to poke a few holes in the raw meatloaf and drop a bit of bacon grease in each one.  I would have done that but didn't have any bacon grease on hand.  For some reason I tend to spill things like that and recall dropping a half cup of warm bacon grease on the way to the fridge in my 5th wheel.  After spending a long time cleaning it up I heard what I thought was Lady grooming herself, to find that she was cleaning up bacon grease that I hadn't found.  Whatta good dog!   I'm on my own cleaning up food spills now.

After pondering the question of how to hang the shade, I got a wrench and opened up the roof hangers a bit and got the center hook from the shade on the hook.  The trouble is that the roof hooks are spaced so that they don't match the ones on my shade, so I think I done a good redneck fix - I got the small chains and linked them through the shade hooks on either end and tied the chains around the roof hooks.  The shade is moving about in the breeze, and it doesn't look exactly evenly hung, but it works for me.  If nothing else it will give my son Steve a good chuckle the next time he comes by.  He'll take a look at that and will just have to show me how to do a perfect job!

You might wonder why I didn't get a wider shade, but my hummingbird feeder is hanging a couple of hooks to the left of the shade, and I didn't want to interfere with it.   It's breezy today and I don't think the shade is going to hold up for long.

Will Gypsy cook dinner tonight?

I got a lot of walking in this morning - went to Costco as well as Bel Air grocery.  I always park in the very back of the lot as that is where I can usually find a shady spot, and most of the time there aren't a lot of other cars crowding me.  Mostly I do it for the exercise.

Since I had no bacon on hand for my meatloaf and it was recommended by a couple of commenters, I decided to wait until I could buy it today, and just went to the gym last night.  So now I have all the ingredients on hand that I need to make a good meatloaf - at least I hope it turns out to be good.  I'll be eating it until it's gone, whatever the end result.

If you happen to use gmail you probably experience mail in the spam folder as frequently as I do.  They are almost always sex related, with some foreign "Dearest friend" mail thrown in.  This morning I got a good laugh when I saw an email from "As Seen on TV", and the subject referred to enlarging certain body parts.  They must figure that no one can resist "as seen on TV".  Ah, they are clever devils, for sure, but the spam filter is a little more clever.  Do people really open and read that kind of mail?

After a few nice days it looks like we are going to be back to sweltering temps in the upper 90's.  I'm so sick of this kind of weather, although I do appreciate the cool night time temps (upper 50's).   I usually don't have to even turn on a fan until mid-afternoon, and then run the swamp cooler for a few hours.  I hope NY has some cool weather in September.  I also wonder when I should start getting things together to pack.  If I do it now I'll end up with everything scattered all over, and will have to redo it before I leave.  If I wait until just before I leave, I'll forget something.


 

Trying to buy a book!

It shouldn't be this difficult.  I went to the Barnes & Noble bookstore this morning but didn't find the books I wanted.  I then went over to the crossword puzzle section and all they had were easy puzzles, so I left.

I did a computer search on the author's website and only found one of the books.  Next I checked Amazon and I didn't recognize their opening screen at first - why in the world would they make it more cluttered and complex?  It's no secret that I don't like Amazon, so I tried Powell's books but didn't find what I wanted there.

I gave up and did a search for one of the books and found a reference to Amazon, which I clicked.  Both books were available on Amazon even though my initial search there didn't give me any results that matched what I wanted.  I don't know what gives, but by now I wanted to just order the books so I ended up ordering from Amazon after all.  Personally I think they should open with a cleaner screen instead of all the displays.  I asked to search books and was led to a screen that tried to sell me clothing.

All's well that ends well, though, and I will have the reading material I want for my trip.  Still looking for a challenger crossword puzzle book!  I really don't like online shopping and wish I could just walk into a shop and find what I want.  I would have to live in Chicago or New York City or other large city for that to happen.  (I'm probably being a little over-the-top here!)

I don't know if it's the weather lately (although it's a little less hot today) but I get so sleepy in the middle of the day.  Also, I have been waking up in the morning before 8 am, then close my eyes for "just a couple more minutes", and next thing I know it's 8:30 or so.  I'm getting enough sleep so I don't know why the lethargy I've been experiencing lately.   I need to get back to a better diet no doubt - I've been either skipping a meal or else eating stuff that has calories but no nutrition.  I'll be really surprised if that's what the problem is.  Actually, I don't want to go out and buy a lot of groceries until I get back from NY when I'll have to re-stock everything.  

I'm thinking about making a meat loaf for supper so I'd better go see what I can do to throw that together.  I have never made what I consider a really great meatloaf and don't know why I keep trying, but maybe it will be better this time.

Earthquake!

The first thing I saw when I turned on my computer this morning was an email from my brother in Milwaukee asking all of us siblings in CA if we had experienced the earthquake early this morning, and if we were ok.  That was the first I heard of it and quickly turned on the news.  At first the map showing the areas of damage were small and isolated, but within an hour it looked like the entire central CA was affected in some way.

Hardest hit was the Napa Valley and surrounding areas.  I couldn't believe the pictures I saw of mobile homes that were completely destroyed - they look like they just melted.  It's a sobering thought to those of us who live in mobile homes.  The fires were caused by gas main leaks.

I didn't feel a thing, at least not anything to wake me up.  In all my years I have only experienced the effects of an earthquake on one occasion, and it felt like my recliner had a vibrating seat.  Nothing more, and I hope to never experience anything stronger.

I know there are readers of my blog who live in California, and I hope you are all safe  and would love to get a comment from you in that regard.