Our new member to the family

We have a new member to the family. No we have not gotten a dog, though we would like too. I am just not in the dog walking position right now. No, we have something different. We have a full size card board cutout of John Wayne.

I know you have to be asking, "Why?" We just say, "Why not!". It was being sold at the community garage sale we did the end of May and no one bought him. We were putting items, that were not purchased, into boxes and bags to give to Goodwill, when Dad came upon John Wayne. He just couldn't part with it. So we brought it home and it now sits in our foyer.



He will remain there forever I guess. I know he has been asked for for an upcoming bar-be-que in the fall. I guess we could sell "Have your Picture Taken With The Star" or we will just have him standing in our foyer keeping watch. He does startle you if you are not aware that he is there. Yes, we do live in California.

I have a new "toy"

We went out yesterday to take a look at a SEGWAY. I have been having trouble walking any distance and instead of using a wheelchair, we wanted to find something else. The SEGWAY has been used by a couple of people here who have MS and they say it is the greatest thing to have. In fact, they have been trying to get it to be recognized as another device to be used for the disabled. Well, Dad was having one of those "work" days (he played golf) and was home early so we went to see them and to take a ride.

Now this adventure was for me and to see if I could handle it. I was a little nervous but Jim (the owner of the store) put me at ease. He was very helpful and watched out for everything. I also wasn't doing any dare devil stuff either. I have to say I was very impressed. It is so easy to maneuver. I have to still get use to getting on and off but it is coming along. I will be using it for the MS Walk next week. I was hoping to actually walk the route but we had gone for a short walk this past weekend and my legs just gave out on me. When my legs start going, my right foot will start catching the pavement. I can't seem to pick the foot up. When I really focus on doing that, picking my foot up, then I am putting the foot down almost like a slap. This also causes me to walk slower and slower. It isn't caused so much by heat as fatigue. You might be thinking, "well walk more and you will get stronger". It doesn't work that way. This is a different fatigue than just being tired. I can rest my legs for about an hour and then I can walk again with very little problem. There might be still a little but not as much as there was when I had to stop. Soooooo we bought a new SEGWAY yesterday and have already brought it home.




We are keeping it in our second bedroom. This bedroom right now has become our "catch all" for things. We have many ideas but haven't followed through on anything yet for this room. Back to the SEGWAY - we have ramps for the SUV so we can put it into the back of the truck. If we wanted to put an attachment to the back of the truck we can and then put the SEGWAY on that way. Right now, it fits just fine in the back. It is Sage in color. It moves by your movement. It is different than the older ones. It has two speeds - turtle and regular. I am in turtle right now to learn it. Even in turtle it goes 6 mph. Regular goes 12.5 mph. The slower speed is fast enough.

The other exciting thing we had happened. Dad won a 19" LCD HDTV at one of his golf outings. We have it now in our bedroom and will be getting rid of our other TV. We wanted to do this anyway and get a LCD Flat Screen and this just happened to fall in our laps. It is small but we don't watch TV a lot in the bedroom so it is just fine.



So that is our exciting news. I wish everyone was around to see the SEGWAY but I will post pictures. Now I just have to figure everything out...

It's Spring

It's spring and the weather is wonderful around here. The birds are out singing and the wild flowers are in bloom. The sail boats are out on the water. It's just a wonderful day to be in Southern California.

Do you remember a while back when I had mentioned we had termites? We had thought we had taken care of them but they came back. We saw signs of them in the house this time and I called a couple of companies to give me an estimate on what could be done to get rid of them. Well, I got all kinds of answers. One wanted to drill in the stucco many tiny holes all over the outside walls and shoot in a foam that would kill the termites. The company would fill in the hole but we would be responsible to repaint.

The second company came and said No that is not the way to go. If you have insulation in your walls then the foam will be blocked and it won't work in killing the termites. We really don't have insulation but onto what they wanted to do. It was suggested that we had two options. The first we could tent the house but that would be hard as we have a duplex. We would have to get the other owner to also agree to tent their house and be out for three days and two nights. Tenting would also cause plant damage. Anything up against the house has to be pulled away from the wall before they could tent. We would either have to find a place that took pets where we could stay for the three days or board Chester. So now we are not only paying for the tenting but having to pay for a hotel and/or boarding of Chester. Even with this being done, we can't get a guarantee as termites could come right back and infest all over again as soon as everything was done..

The second option from this company was to drill and put in a different chemical and fix some of the termite damage by filling in the wood damage. They can't guarantee they are going to kill all the termites we may have but just the ones that the chemical touches. It is guaranteed for a year. We are going with this one as it is cheaper than the tenting and we don't have to leave.

Dad did not get the big job he had been working so hard on for several weeks. He has moved onto another project. It does take its toll on a person to be under so much stress and then not to have a positive outcome. It is the times we are living in now. Competition is harder as companies are looking for work to keep their employees working.

At the end of the month, I will be starting to train for Emergency Preparedness for the City of Laguna Niguel. I would be considered a First Responder if we should have a disaster. I am not sure what it will all involve but I will be certified in First Aid and CPR, use of Fire Extinguisher, and evacuation. No, I am not to yell "Everybody out" like from the Kindergarten Cop...
It should be interesting and maybe then I can convince Dad to prepare for an earthquake. We have had quite a few earthquakes going on around us and the "powers to be" are concerned that they all might be leading up a major quake. I have already been told to make sure I have enough water for us. One gallon per person per day for 7 days equals to 14 gallons of just water! Then I need to get food set aside along with my medications. Of course, we also need to make sure Chester is taken care of too with his needs. Dad doesn't think we will need these preparations. His point being that we haven't had a quake the whole time we have been here; we did have one a few months ago that I felt that had happened around Los Angles. This just makes life interesting.

The ring has been found

The wedding ring has been found. It was at the bottom of my purse. What makes this so weird is that it was a purse I wasn't even using the night the ring went missing. I came across the ring when I was looking for something else in my regular purse today. It was one of those moments that you wonder - how in the world? - but it was there.

I did feel relief that it was found. I just wonder how did it get into a purse I didn't even use. What a mystery!

I don't think I told you but I received diamond earrings for Valentine's day. It was a surprise to say the least. I worry every time I wear them that I don't loose them; that the backing doesn't come off. I constantly am checking to make sure they are on tight. My ears are sore after wearing them as I have pushed the backing and earring together constantly. At least I know they are there.

A cold has finally gotten one of us. It isn't me. Dad has been dealing with one for the last few days. He isn't doing too bad. He is tired, congested, appetite is off, and just wanting the cold to be done. Basically the same things everyone else has dealt with for some time. We have done pretty well to have gone this far without getting sick. We didn't even get sick when we visited at Christmas. We think it was from all the hand shaking that Dad does.

Missing wedding ring

Dad came home from work on Friday and asked if I wanted to go out to dinner. I said sure but I had to change first. Off I went to the bedroom and changed clothes and put on my jewelry. If you have ever noticed me, I wear a diamond ring on my ring finger and my wedding band on my little finger. I do this because the wedding band sometimes fits my finger until it gets too warm and my fingers swell.

So I was dressed and off we went to the restaurant. We had a nice meal and then returned home. We didn't go anywhere else. So between the house and restaurant, I lost the ring. I have searched all over the place and can't find it anywhere.

I do have the other one but we can't figure out how the wedding ring came off my finger. I am upset that it has happened. This is my second band. Dad lost his original one when we were planting bushes in front of our house in Darnestown. Somewhere in that ground is a man's white gold wedding band! After much discussion, we picked out new wedding bands. I still have my original one but it won't even come close to the gold band we had the second time.

I keep hearing, "Don't worry, it will turn up" but it still bothers me that I don't have a ring on my finger. I feel naked without one. The search continues. Maybe we should think about getting another wedding band so Murphy's law will kick in. Once you buy something, the other one will show up.

What a bummer of a day this has turned out to be!

It's Raining It's Snowing

It's raining where we are but it's snowing big time in the mountains. We can see the mountains and they are beautiful. So white and very covered. It has been raining for us for the last 2 days. This makes day 3. It is very unusual for California but we need the rain. We are very dry.

The problem with all the rain is that it causes mud slides in the burn areas. We are fine and don't have to deal with it but you see the pictures on the news of the people trying to get out of their neighborhoods because they are blocked because of the mud. Very sad but they don't want to live anywhere else.

The rain should be ending by tomorrow. At least it is making things a little green again.

We are thinking about a dog again. We actually found one that is very cute (most are), he is 3 months, potty trained, and is a cross between a poodle and ? This is the unknown and we can't get the owners of the dog to give us any information. I have asked if the dog is current on shots and no response. He looks like a cross of a golden retriever and a poodle, if indeed he is a cross of a poodle. We haven't actually seen it in person yet. We are questioning whether we should pursue it. The questions we have is why are they not giving us the answers to our questions. If they don't know about the cross then they can just say we aren't sure. The shots they should be aware of unless they are helping someone to get rid of the dog, in which case they can just state that too. Our other issue is, is this the right time for us to be getting a dog. We are busy and can be gone for several hours sometimes. We also travel. We know about the traveling and we are prepared to put the dog in a kennel to be watched but I guess the big decision is mine. Am I up for the work involved? This is the quandary that I have been thinking about for the last few days.

What to do, what to do?????

AGC Function

Dad had an AGC (Associated General Contractors) function this week that was local. It was in Newport Beach. Newport is about 20-30 minutes from where we live. He is on the Executive Committee of the State AGC. He is the Chairman of the Building Division. Now because he is on the Executive Committee, we now go to these functions a little more as he has a meeting before the main meeting the next day. This is what took place this past week. He went to the Executive Committee meeting on Thursday and they then met for dinner that night. Dad was able to come home to pick me up and then we drove to the restaurant to meet up with the rest of the group. We arrived before they did as the group was coming by shuttle bus from the hotel.

The restaurant was one we never had gone before. They had live music playing as we were waiting and it was nice to listen too. Because of the size of the group, we had a separate room. We also had one waitress that took care of us and she did an excellent job. Dad and I had lamb for the first time based on the waitress' recommendation. She told us that the chef was a 5 star chef and he was very consistent in his dishes. His lamb was from New Zealand and he had a way of making it very tender and did not have any gamy taste to it at all. The table we were sitting at pretty much all ordered lamb too. This was based on her recommendation and she was not wrong. It was so tender and so delicious. The meal was 4 courses. We started with a salad, then we were given a crab cake. I don't usually eat crab as it usually disagrees with me but I tried it and it was very good. No problems. We then had our choice of the lamb, fillet Mignon, or swordfish for the main dish. After this, we had dessert. A lot of food. We didn't have to pay for it as it was part of the AGC function.

The next day, Dad did not have to go to the hotel for his next meeting until 1:00. We decided to spend the night at the hotel so after I got back from my physical therapy, we packed up and left. Chester was going to be fine for one night as we would be back the next day. We checked into the room and it was very nice. The hotel was located across the street from Fashion Island. Fashion Island is a large area that has many high end shops of all types. As we had time for lunch before his meeting we went down to the restaurant of the hotel. We each had a cup of soup and a half of a Caesar salad. Cost $50 It is a good thing it was a business expense. We definitely would not be eating there!

Dinner that night was very simple compared to the night before. Dad and the rest of the Executive Committee was recognized twice. Dad was not expecting this part to happen but it was nice that it did. If he wants to continue to be President of the AGC for a year, he would need to be the Treasurer next year and then V.P. and then President. So it will be at least 3 years down the road.

We stayed overnight instead of going home as we had another function to go to on Saturday. So with Saturday morning, we needed to get breakfast. Down we went to the restaurant. I ordered oatmeal, cranberry juice, and hot tea. Dad ordered a ham and cheese sandwich with a poached egg on top, and orange juice. Drum roll please - cost $50. We could not believe it. It was a good thing that Clark was paying his business expenses.