No camping trip?

It may not happen this year.  I knew there were fires burning in southern Cal, but now there are some that are closer to home.  Right now they are closer to I-80, but the smoke and the fires could travel east to US 50, which is the route I would choose for travel to a camping space.  So much for all the rain we had during the spring months.

I keep the firefighters in my thoughts, as the terrain is so mountainous with no roads in and out of the area, they are mostly fighting it from the air at this point.  Eventually they will need "boots on the ground" though.  I'm afraid this is what the future holds, and will get worse if we don't get rain to replenish the reservoirs and ground water.  With rain and no trees to hold the ground in place, it can lead to mudslides that are devastating also.

Regarding my book on CD, it is called "Chestnut Street" by Maeve Binchy.  Like most of her books, they are collections of stories about individuals, and by the end of the book she pulls all these people and stories together.  The people in the stories will all end up interacting with each other in surprising and lovely ways.  I can't say anything about other audio books, but this one is extremely easy to listen to.

The Park maintenance manager just came to tell me he was replacing my electric meter.  (The gas meter was replaced last year, or maybe the year before.)  I guess it is scheduled maintenance.  

There has been constant shrill barking by a dog who is quite close, and in fact sounds like he is next door to me.  I didn't think Ed, my next-door neighbor would ever have a dog as he can barely take care of himself.  I asked the maintenance guy and he confirmed it's Ed's dog, and Ed is trying to find a home for him.  It might be a perfectly lovely little dog but I can tell from the shrill barks that I couldn't deal with it.  Besides, I like large dogs.

I would bet that one of Ed's young relatives gave him a dog to keep him company, give him something to care for, etc., which is always a bad idea.  No one should ever decide that someone else needs a dog and then arbitrarily find one for him.  One of my brothers did that to my Mom in her older years - a Yorkshire Terrier - who was cute as can be but never stopped barking.  It was worse when I visited my mom as the dog did not want us talking to each other.  He also barked constantly when she was on the phone.  My kids loved him but I could barely stand to be around him.  That probably cemented my feelings about small dogs.

Today and tomorrow are in the upper 90's range, and then we are scheduled for some low 90's temps.  If I believed in hell I would think I'm at the gates!  But as Sacramentans are fond of saying, "At least it's a dry heat."

Listening to the book on CD

I took the boom box/CD player back to Best Buy this morning.  Unfortunately I didn't get it back within their allotted time, so they could only give me my refund on a store card (that doesn't have an expiration date).  Not much else I could do, so I accepted it.  I wandered around the store looking for the GPS section and finally asked a clerk.  They have very few models on display but they do carry more on their website.  I don't know if I want to get another one or not - it certainly won't be a Garmin if I do.  I saw one online, a TomTom, that looked good to me, but so far I've been able to hold off on buying it.  

I rarely need a GPS in town as I don't drive in unfamiliar territory if I can avoid it, and I'm not sure how much driving I'll be doing outside the city.  Not any that involves getting on an interstate, for sure.

I put the first CD of the audio book into my laptop, and it works perfectly.  The only thing is that for some reason iTunes lists the selections in reverse order.  The computer automatically tries to listen from top to bottom of the list, which is ok if it's musical selections, but with sections of a book they must be listened to from bottom to top.  That means I have to watch the progress of each section, and jump to the selection above to listen to the next one.  It's irritating - I'm on CD-1 out of about 12 CD's, so it's going to get more bothersome.  It's really easy to listen to - I selected a Maeve Binchy book - I've always loved reading her books and they are written as narratives which lend themselves well to being read aloud.  Even when reading the books I always read (to myself) in an Irish lilt!

I have been thinking I need to go camping, and maybe will do it after Labor Day when the crowds thin out.  Last year the forest fires prevented camping in any part of the state, although I'm sure some people did camp out.  I don't want to have to smell the smoke or run from a fire, which can spread fast especially if the wind changes directions.

I'll see how I feel after I return from Alaska, but I may think about getting a black lab puppy (or young dog).  I'd love to take a dog camping with me again - it was never the same after Lady died.  I could always change my mind, but I really want a young male black lab.  I won't be satisfied until I get one. 


I look forward to my Alaska trip, and will have something exciting and new to write about.  I sure hope I get to see a grizzly, a whale, catch a few nice salmon, enjoy the cool weather and have to wear jeans and a jacket, among other things.  I don't know how many photos my memory card will hold as I always upload them right after taking them.  Not sure if I'll take my laptop or not - it gets heavy when carrying it through an airport!  It would be a challenge to do without the internet for two weeks.

The Long Wait is Over

The dermatologist removed my stitches this morning, and all is well even though she gave me somewhat of a shock.  The urgent care doctor said right away the growth was not cancerous.  The dermatologist assured me the same thing when I had it removed, although they send it away to be tested just to be on the safe side.

This morning when she walked into the treatment room she was all smiles and said something to the effect, "Well, it wasn't cancer.  I was certain it was, but the test came back negative."  Whoa, there.  I don't recall her even hinting that there was a chance it could be malignant.  Thinking about it on the way home I realized she probably had confused me with another patient.  I'm satisfied with that explanation and won't give it another thought.  I'm so glad this is over and I don't have to do any more bandaging!

This time I followed the printed directions sent to me before my first visit, and all went well!  It was so easy, and why google mapped it in such a difficult way is beyond me.

I stopped by the library to return a book and to pick up one I recently ordered.  The new one is a book on CD's.  I've never listened to anything like that before and hope I can follow it with no problems.  I am reminded of the very old days before TV when I listened to Sky King, The Lone Ranger, Cisco Kid, etc., on the radio.  When they all switched over to television I think the Lone Ranger was the only one who bore any resemblance to what I pictured from the radio series.  Sky King certainly was different.

I hope to go to the gym this evening, and really don't want to leave the swamp cooler running.  After coming home last week to a house that was 99 degrees inside, I think I may just let the electric meter roll and try to keep it somewhat cool inside.

I feel great and even 103 degrees or higher isn't going to change that!

Trying not to melt

It was another 100+ day so I made a quick trip to the grocery before it got too hot.  I find the Bel Air employees to be so friendly and I don't remember that from when I first started shopping there.  It occurs to me that maybe they were always friendly, and it's me who has changed.

There wasn't much I could do at home and stay cool, so I worked on my photograph project.  I finished another album that holds something like 300 photos, and it covers our lives from our first house in Cincinnati where our children were born, to the house in Sacramento up to the time my husband and I separated.  He remained in Sac with Mike (who was in his first year of college, and I moved east with the other three kids.  Mike finished two years of school here and then moved to Washington DC where he got his undergraduate degree from George Washington University.  There was a lot of travel back and forth between our homes, as we tried to celebrate holidays together.  They were trying times, with single parents attempting to raise teen-agers - not easy even when you are on the same page!  Looking at the photos brings a smile that goes all the way to my heart. 

So with another hot day tomorrow I will probably sit and sort photos from the 1990's.

At 9:30 pm my desktop westher widget tells me it is 99 degrees; by contrast, it is 63 in Alaska!  I think I'm going to love Alaska!

Thanks to those who wrote me that I should leave the bandage on my stitches rather than expose them to the air.  I have become pretty good at wrapping my arm, and I'm going to be delighted when this ordeal is over with.  I've followed the directions explicitly even though following directions doesn't come easily to me unless I really believe them.

I hope you all have a great week ahead, and try to keep cool!

Coming home to a hot house!

I left home a little after Noon today for Jeannie's house, where they were holding a birthday party for Arianna.  I left a fan circulating air through the kitchen, but turned off the swamp cooler.  I just came home at 6pm to 99 degrees INSIDE the house (it's only 100 outside), and of all things, the heater was running!  I'm really not sure how to turn the darn thing off, as it's usually something I ask Donald to do.  This is awful!  (I think I finally got it turned off.)

It was nice in Jeannie's air conditioned house, but even outdoors by the pool wasn't bad sitting in the shade with a mister gently spraying cooling moisture.  The heat was making me sleepy so I left early.  Also my arm hurts off and on.  Just 3 more wake-ups until I get these damn stitches out and I hope she doesn't tell me to keep a bandage on the wound.  I'm ready to give up the bandaging!

Things are going well with the photographs.  I've decided to keep two categories (each with lots of pictures) in one of the storage boxes.  That still leaves me needing to sort photos from when we lived in Sacramento from Oct 83 through Aug 89, and Northern VA for the rest of 1989 through my move to Ireland in 1990.  I'm making progress even if it is slow going.  And I'm sure I'll find other categories to just add to the photo boxes - much easier than putting them in albums.

This feels like a "go to bed early night", although it might or might not happen.  I don't even bother checking to see what is on TV these days. 

Company this afternoon

My son had to go to the hospital (where he is a Certified Respiratory Therapist) this afternoon for a staff meeting; he took Alyssa with him as she could sit for a couple of hours and amuse herself but Keira would just get into boredom which spells trouble.  So he dropped her off at my house.

She colored in some of the coloring books and we talked; later we went to Chipotle (best food ever), and then to Baskin Robbins.  I've been craving ice cream and it was as good as I thought it would be.  Afterward, I drove through the residential area where we lived when we moved to California, and I showed her where her daddy lived and played when he was her age.  We finally came back home and I caved in and found a suitable cartoon station on TV so she could watch it.

Her mom came by when she got off work and we visited for a while, and when they left the dog park people all sat around talking and laughing while their dogs rushed the fence. I know I complain frequently about this situation on my blog, but so far have hesitated to say much to the people in the office.  I'm not a complainer and I do believe in karma, or "what goes around comes around".  Most aspects of my life are so good right now, and I don't want to rock the boat.  Plus, I just want to treat others as I'd like to be treated, but sometimes it seems like I get the short end of the stick.

I'm really tired and hope I can stay awake at least until dark!  

Small favors

Like the old saying goes, thank god for small favors!  I did my errand running this morning and couldn't believe how pleasant 68 degrees can be!  I really had hoped to go to the gym yesterday, but after going out to get my mail I didn't feel well at all, so ended up staying home.  I always knew that extreme heat is worse for older people, and I guess "now I are one!"

It's a few degrees cooler today and I hope Jeannie can make it to the gym.  I need to get out and move some muscles!

My arm hurt most of the day yesterday and I wonder if I wound the bandage too tightly.  Today I used a lot less gauze and flex wrap - I looked at Rite Aid for extra large band-aids but couldn't find them.  I know they exist because I've had them before.  I need to do an attitude adjustment because I'm halfway through the aggravation of the stitches, and hope things will be better when they are removed.

We are celebrating Arianna's birthday this weekend and I picked up some project and art supplies yesterday morning.  I was sure I had birthday wrapping paper but can't find it.  I found some that is red with what looks like colorful confetti on it - I'm sure it's Christmas wrapping but it's going to do.  I tried to buy washable products and hope I don't get in trouble over them.  I hated it when my kids got paints, play-doh, etc.  The play-doh was always the worst and ended up in the carpet and in the dog's stomach!

I haven't heard the dogs today, unless they did all their barking while I was at Rite Aid.  It was terrible yesterday - lasting until after dark.  The group of adults sit and talk among themselves and don't seem to notice or care that their dogs are a nuisance to those who live here.

I still dream of getting a little black lab puppy.  They are so easy to train (will do anything for treats).     

I just took my hummingbird feeder down when I saw it dripping.  There was some sort of leak so I need to get a new one.  There haven't been many birds visiting this year, although I've seen one now and then.  Maybe the climate has something to do with it, although Sacramento always had hummingbirds year around.   It feels pretty hot out there, but it is "only" 91 now.