A beautiful day!

It's been a gorgeous day from beginning until now, a little after 6 pm.  It never got really hot and I was able to find parking spaces under the trees at all the stops I made!

My chiropractor and hairdresser are in the same general direction and I didn't want to come all the way home in between appointments, so I fooled around at a different Costco, spent a lot of time at REI, and bought a sandwich to eat in the courtyard by the hairdresser's salon.   I think I wandered every aisle at REI except the sports aisles such as water sports, rock climbing, cycling, etc.  I love looking at hiking and camping equipment, and while I don't need another item I think about my granddaughter, Ara, and what she might need.  When we were backpacking in May our tiny little stove failed and the water pump took eons to fill a small bottle with filtered drinking water.

Since I'm a member of REI, I have a fair amount of dividend I never used this year and I'm waiting until Ara comes back to Sac for a visit to take her over there to see what she might want to spend it on.  It won't buy a big ticket item but the smaller items add up.   One problem is that most of the merchandise in stores in the west have products that are better suited for the western mountains, while the Appalachians are better supplied from the east coast.   But strolling around any kind of outdoors equipment store is my idea of heaven!

I am again yearning for a dog, a young male black lab.   I'd even consider a puppy.  Call me crazy, and I probably will never get one, but I think about it all the time.

It has been a quiet Sunday.  Although I have written the newspaper customer service several times and been assured they will resume my delivery, I still haven't gotten a Sunday paper.  It is still being delivered to Jeannie's house.  I should just cancel the thing altogether, and if next week doesn't change, that's what I'll do.  Somehow going online or emailing a company doesn't get the results that talking to a real person does.  And forget those silly answering services that pretend they can talk to you.  How many times have I heard the fake voice say "I'm sorry but I didn't understand.  Can you repeat that?"   You can bet that is when I hang up.

I entered a code into my land phone followed by the pound sign, and it hasn't rung since.  The phone sure isn't worth the aggravation I've had with it.

I got busy with something else and forgot to finish and publish the blog.  I think I'll just stop right here, right now.  Have a good week.

Ring-Ring!

Yes, my phone is still ringing but I just ignore it.  A suggestion to block 800 calls wouldn't work, as a lot of the calls have the local area code.  I should call ATT to see if I can stop the service.  They are so vague and talk so fast when trying to get your order that you can't figure out which parts are for a contracted period of time or no contract at all.

Today has been cloudy which has kept the temperature down a bit.  I mentioned that I am itching to go camping for a few days but my youngest son agreed with me that it wouldn't be a great idea with all the fires and smoke in the area.  He works at a hospital off I-80 (east, towards Reno), and said that the smoke even permeates the halls of the hospital.  Everyone's clothes smell like smoke by the end of a shift.  Unbelieveable!

There are two TV channels that I don't  receive with my new service - The Smithsonian Channel and the NASA channel.  I recorded "Aerial America" from the Smithsonian, which are one hour explorations from the air of each of the states and the District of Columbia.  I have two recorded programs left and then I'm finished with that series.  Just when the NASA channel got very interesting with the fly-by of Pluto, I no longer have access to it.  I really dislike the tiers of service and don't understand why you shouldn't be able to pick a certain number of channels from the total.  I'd sure leave out all the awful cable news channels! 

Friday, Aug. 7 
My son Steve went out of town yesterday and I stayed overnight at their house with Meg and Liam.  I slept in Liam's twin bed, and in the middle of the night their boxer/pit came into the room and climbed on my legs and feet.  It became seriously uncomfortable so I finally moved my legs out of his way and let him lie on the mattress.  He must have been seriously uncomfortable too because when I moved he started wagging his tail furiously into my side!  He is such a great dog with a sweet personality, but he is a big 'un.

Liam turns 5 this month and is a future paleontologist.  What he knows about dinosaurs of all kinds would leave most adults just scratching their heads, and the names of the different dinosaurs just roll off his tongue like he was reciting a nursery rhyme.  Then he can say where they have been found, i.e., Wyoming, the Gobi Desert, etc., and go point to the location on the globe.  I sure hope he stays with this interest because it can lead to a very good career.  I can tell you that I am "dinosaur'ed out" for a while though.

New home phone service

I had my home phone activated about a week ago and until this morning have not had an incoming call.  So far I've only given the number to my four children.   Today, it isn't even 9:30 am yet, and I've had 3 calls:  one recorded message from the IRS stating that they were filing a lawsuit against me for unpaid taxes; a sales call to sell me ADT home security services; the third call I hung up on before finding out what their pitch was.  If this is what I can expect from a home phone then I think I made a mistake ever getting it.

When I started using my cell phone exclusively I really missed the old style phone, and to be truthful I can certainly hear better on it.  But if it is going to be a magnet for sales calls then it's just a big scam.  Too bad I let nostalgia get in the way of common sense.

The cloud cover is gone this morning and we are set to have a hotter day today.

I registered my phone, which has been ringing every few minutes, on the Do Not Call list.  I sure hope it eventually cuts down on the unwanted calls.

The past 2 days I started trimming some bushes and plants in the back yard that have become way overgrown.  I now have a blister on my thumb where I gripped the clippers, so I won't be doing any more trimming for a while.

My son was here to check out the water heater this morning, and we got to talking about campers.  He said they are thinking about a tent camper which would work well for their family, space-wise, and he can raise and lower it easy enough.  I am still intent on buying a teardrop trailer, and Steve said he can do the hitch assembly for me when I'm ready.  I will wait to buy a trailer until winter sets in, unless a very good deal comes along in the meantime.  I am so anxious to do some camping but will probably end up going by myself since it's difficult to get the family together on a time and place.  The fires are the biggest drawback right now. 

Today is a little better

I woke up several times during the night worrying that I was going to have to buy a new water heater, as the water never warmed up yesterday.  I still think something is wrong because it's only a 30 gallon tank and shouldn't take that long.  But this morning I washed my hands and was thrilled that the water was just a little bit warm.  I turned up the dial, waited a while, and then ran my dishwasher.

I can't say my shower was comfortable, especially when I washed my hair in the tepid water, but at least I have some breathing space and will see how it goes.

At 3:30 pm the weather gadget says it will go up to 87 today, but since it is currently 75 I can only hope it won't get much warmer.  It is cloudy at times (probably smoke from the fires although it doesn't smell smoky), and there is an occasional cool breeze.

I think I'll go pull some weeds while the weather is pleasant, although I doubt I'll stay out there very long.

Hot water today, maybe?

I wrote yesterday about the problem with my water heater.  I couldn't figure out how to reset the pilot light, so I just made the best of it but I will have to re-run my dishwasher today.

I went to the Park office first thing to complain about the situation.  I found the notice from back in May about wanting to replace my meter, and it says on there they will re-light all pilot lights.   I spoke to the Manager who chided me for not calling the emergency number when I found I didn't have hot water.  For pete's sake, it was an damn inconvenience but not an emergency!   I also complained about the guy walking into my house and they brought him out.  He didn't flat out deny it but said that I was sitting right in my living room and he thought I needed to have the gas range pilot re-lit.  (He didn't even ask about the water heater).

I feel like a dolt even putting up with the crap I had to deal with.  The nerve of that woman turning the situation around so that it was my fault because I didn't call the emergency number.   They did send another maintenance guy to re-light the pilot, and he knocked on the front door to tell me it was lit.

This is the kind of crap you can expect when you have a mobile home park situation, an RV park, or gated community of some sort.  I never did like rules and regulations, and I still don't.  Although it leaves a lot to be desired, I love the space inside my house.  I wish I could afford to update a lot of things in it, and could probably do it if I stayed home instead of traveling every year, and didn't have the chiropractor to pay.   On the other hand, I would just like to live in an apartment and leave maintenance up to the management of the place.  There are down sides to apartment living, though, except it's a lot easier to move.

In the immortal words of Roseanne Roseannadanna (Sat. Night Live, Gilda Radner, 1st season):  "It's always something.  If it isn't one thing, then it's another."

Quickest shower of my life!

I arrived back in Sacramento a month ago to find a notice that my gas meter needed to be changed.  I had heard about some scam in which a different kind of meter is installed that is supposed to be more efficient, but has been unsatisfactory to those who have changed it out, so I disregarded the notice.  This is not a PG&E meter, by the way, but from some supposedly energy saving company.

Yesterday a man came to my door and said he was here to change my gas meter.  I asked him why it needed to be changed, and he said that the law requires replacement every 10 years, so I didn't ask any more questions.  After about 10 or 15 minutes, he appeared at my front door again, pushed aside the screen door, and took one step into the living room, saying "You have a gas stove, right?".  That fast I was standing in front of him so he couldn't come in any further, and told him that I had changed the gas to an electric range when I moved in.  He backed out the door after a bit of trivial conversation and I thought that was the last of it.  I went out and looked at the meter, and it seems ok.

This morning I turned the shower on and normally I get instant hot water.  In fact, the water is so hot that I had Steve turn it down to the middle point.  The hot water comes out almost instantly but it doesn't need any cold water to make it comfortable.  I take a quick shower anyway and have never run out of hot so far.

This morning, the day after the new meter was installed, I waited and waited for the water to get even warm.  It didn't so I stepped in and nearly froze, and took the quickest  cold shower I have ever endured.   Since it is Sunday there is no way to contact the office, but you can be sure I'll be there first thing tomorrow morning!  I am going to be so angry with myself if I have fallen for some kind of outrageous scam.

I have a re-exam at my Chiropractor's office tomorrow, and I hope to see scans of "then and now".   I'll also find out if I go to a twice a week schedule or keep up the 3x a week visits.  I usually mention some little nagging complaint each time I go, and pretty soon I'm not noticing it any more.  I haven't had heartburn or indigestion, and I notice my knees don't hurt when I stand up.   That's in addition to how much better my posture is.  This is turning out to be the best money I've ever spent on my health in all the years of my life.