While Out On My Morning Walk

Another Overcast Day

We've had another day of "May-Gray" here in SoCal. But I'm not complaining because in about a month we will start getting our 100+ degree days and we will be stuck with them until the end of October.
Went for a short walk this morning. I'd rather go hiking but I'm worried about the snakes being out.
I need to start getting organized for our over-night trip up to Visalia, CA on Tuesday/Wednesday, where we will try to find a motel room and then head over to Sequoia National Park. I've never been there and I wish we could stay a little longer, but Ben does not get paid vacations or sick leave, so we have to go on his 2 days off. But it will be nice to just get away from home and the hum-drum routine.
I'm hoping that maybe this summer we will be able to go up to Northern California while our friends are up there in their 5th wheel. They will be up there for 3 months, so maybe we can join them for a week. Just have to wait and see. Ben would have to take time off without pay.

Happy Friday Y'all!

Well it's Friday again and the weekend is here. I'm sure it's a blessing for all of you who still have to get up Monday thru Friday and go to work. I know my husband sure looks forward to the weekends as he still works part-time.
The sun never came out here in SoCal today. We had an extremely thick marine layer and it really cooled things down. My friend who lives out in the high-desert emailed and said that they had some showers and some thunder.
Ben and I went over to Arby's for lunch. They have the greatest new sandwiches....a roast chicken club with pepper bacon. It is soooo yummy. They also have the new roast burgers. The bacon cheddar one is really good. Having pizza for dinner. We always go over to our WalMart Supercenter and pick up the take-n-bake pizzas. They taste just as good as the pizzerias and they are a lot cheaper. I just whip up a small salad, stick the pizza in the oven and we are good to go.

It's Thursday, The Day That Comes Before Friday

Well I spent this morning flushing out our hot water heater. I try to do that at least once a year since we bought this one (2004) to try to make it last longer and work more efficiently. Takes about an hour to flush out all 40 gallons but I just went into the computer and checked my emails while it was draining.
Didn't get out for my morning walk again. Didn't want to be too far away with the water heater draining just in case. Who know what could happen when it's left alone?
It's warm again here in SoCal. Right now it's about 88 degrees. I'm sure the A/C will be kicking on in a little while. At least it doesn't come on at 9:00 am like it sometime does in the summertime.
I was running my weekly/monthly scans and cleanups on both my computers today and when I checked for Windows Updates found a Vista Service Pack 2 to install. Took about 45 minutes to an hour to download, install and then do whatever it does when the computer restarts. Hope they did not add anything in it that messes things up. I've heard that sometimes Service Packs do that.

Wednesday Ramblings

Did not get to go for a walk this morning. I had to do some housework and if I go for a walk, by the time I get back, I'm not in the mood to do housework and then it does not get done, so I find it best to just do the housework first thing in the morning and skip the walk.
Created a web page at Rootsweb.com for my family tree. I'm not very good with HTML so I had to stumble my way around, but I think I finally got it uploaded. They say it will take overnight before it shows up on their website.
It's 91 degrees outside right now, but to tell you the truth, it does not feel that hot.
Tomorrow, I'm going to have to get out and walk first thing in the morning.

Grocery Shopping Day

Well today was our "monthly" grocery shopping day. Once a month, we go and do the majority of grocery shopping and then during the month, if we need something like milk, eggs, etc. we just run out and pick that up.
Didn't do much of anything else. We did go over to Der Wienerschnitzel for lunch.

Memorial Day 2009

To Those Who Sacraficed Everylthing To Give Us Freedom

Remember

This morning the space shuttle Atlantis landed out at Edwards AFB which is about 100 miles north of us. When it lands in SoCal, we can always hear the sonic booms and usually they are really loud and shake the house and rattle the windows, but this morning, they were not very loud at all. I went out in our front yard with my Flip Video Cam to record the sound of the sonic booms. Below is the video. You will have to turn your computer sound up to 100 to really hear the sonic booms.

THANK YOU

Morning Walk

Just got back from my morning walk. It's really beautiful out this morning. When I got up at 6:00 am it was only 47 degrees but we will be up around 90 degrees by this afternoon. Came upon this little guy chewing on a pine cone along the way. Didn't have my digital camera with me so I snapped him with my cellphone.

Just Hangin' Out At Home Friday

I've just been hanging out at home today, the start of a long weekend for most people. But when you are retired, every day is the weekend. You no longer sit at work looking forward to getting off for an extra day. I remember those days. Starting Monday morning, all I did was tell myself "you can make it through this week because you get a long weekend". I dreamed of the day I would never have to do that again.
We never go anywhere on holiday weekends. Too many people everywhere and too many crazy drivers on the highway. I remember one time many years ago, we went to Vegas for the Memorial Day weekend. What a mistake! Going up was not bad but coming home took us 8 hours when it should have only taken about 4 hours.
Ben has to work tomorrow anyway. He works every other Saturday and this is it.

Happy Thursday Y'all

Went for a nice walk over at our Central Park this morning. It's the largest park we have here in the Santa Clarita Valley. There were a lot of other people over there walking too, plus they always have dog groups over there. It's warm and sunny here in SoCal again today, but at least it's cooled down a little from those 100+ days we were having last week. Still in the 90's though. Memorial Day Weekend is almost here. They "first weekend of summer" even though the real summer does hit until mid-June. I've been doing my weekly clean-up and scans on both computers and also transferring some files from my hard drive to flash drives. I just love those little things. They are so much better than those old floppy disks (remember those?) and then the CD's I used to store my files and documents on. I think the floppies were the worst though.

Nice Lunch

Today we met with our old friend Jack at Chili's Grill & Bar for a nice lunch. Ben went to school with Jack so he has known him for over 40 years. I met Jack when he was married to a friend of mine many years ago, but they have since divorced. I met Ben through Jack and his ex-wife.
They just opened a new Chili's about 5 miles from us. It is really a nice place and the food is very good and pretty reasonable in price.
The weather was a little cooler here today which I was happy about.

Another Quake

Just had another earthquake here in SoCal. I think it was an aftershock of the one on Sunday. It was located in almost the exact same location. This one was a 4.1 and once again, I did NOT feel it. I know I was walking around in the inside of the house at the exact time it hit, so that could be why I did not feel it.

Earthquake

I guess there was a 4.7 earthquake near Inglewood, CA last night around 8:40 PM. I usually feel them, but didn't know about this one until the news people broke in during "Desperate Housewives" and told about it. Guess the shockwaves went southeast from the epicenter. I'm several miles north of there. Sounds like there was a little damage down that way....broken store windows, things falling off shelves, falling ceiling tiles. It was on the same fault that caused the BIG quake of 1933 in Inglewood. That one did a lot of damage and killed some people as it was a 6.7 quake. Even though they claim there is no such thing as "Earthquake Weather", we in California always refer to this as "Shake and Bake"....the combination of the quake and the really hot weather we've been having.

Hot Again

It's Sunday and it's another HOT day here in SoCal. So far we have gotten up to 103 degrees.
Just got a call from my best friend Karren. Her husband Wally will be going in for prostate surgery soon. He found out about 2 months ago that he has prostate cancer and they had to wait for his heart doctor to OK the surgery. Had to make sure that it would not put too much stress on his heart. Years ago he took Phen Fin to lose weight and it caused a leak in his heart valve. He almost died back then. Recently, he had gastric by-pass surgery to get rid of all the weight he was carrying and it was very successful. His heart doctor said that if he was able to survive the by-pass surgery, he should have no problem with the prostate surgery.
Karren and Wally live in a fifth-wheel and travel around the US. They will be heading up to Eureka, CA for a three-month stay to get out of this summer heat after Wally has his surgery. If we can work it out, Ben and I might go up and stay with them for a few days. We'll have to wait and see.

More Heat

Today our temperature has gotten up to 105 degrees so far.
I HATE THIS!

I Think Summer Has Jumped The Gun

Just looked at my outdoor thermometer. It reads 101 degrees. I HATE HOT WEATHER! You would think since I was born and raised in Southern California that I would be used to it. I used to love it when I was a kid. During the summer, I'd run and play in the 100+ degree weather and never give it a second thought. Now that I'm older, the hot weather gets me down. I have to cover myself with sunblock since I have light skin and both parents had skin cancer when they were alive. My previous doctor told me to always use 30 to 50 SPF.
I'm not looking forward to our electric bill. It's only May and we've been running our A/C for the past 3 weeks already.

Thursday Indoors

Spent most of my day inside today. It was in the mid-90's outside.
I took my morning walk while it was still around 70 degrees. Was really nice out this morning. After I got back, I had breakfast and then went up to Kohls. They sent me a free $10 gift card in the mail. I got one from them back when they had their grand opening last year and was really surprised when I received another one since I don't even have a credit card with them. Anyway, I bought two more tops with the gift card. I only had to put in about $4 of my own money. Not bad.
Came home, had lunch and watched "The Young & The Restless", then I started working on my family tree again. I got enough information together to set up my home page at FamilySearch.org (the Mormon website) so that they will publish my ancestry information. Now I have to wait for them to notify me that they have accepted my file.

Lunch With The Girls

Well, as I mentioned yesterday, I had lunch with several of my retired girlfriends. I've known most of them between 30 and 35 years and one of them I've known for about 41 years. It's always so much fun when we get together. We try to meet for lunch at least 3 or 4 times a year to catch up. Had a really nice time.

Didn't Do Much Today

Well today we didn't really do much. I got up around 7:00 am and went for my morning walk. After breakfast, we drove over to the AAA (Auto Club) office and picked up some maps and info for Sequoia National Park for our little trip in June. Went to Weinersnitzel for lunch then came home and have just been vegging.
Tomorrow I'm driving up to Palmdale, CA to have lunch with some of my retired girlfriends. We all worked at Lockheed together for many years.

Anniversary Of Our First Date

35 years ago today, Ben and I had our first date. On the top is the first photo taken of us together in 1974 and the photo on the bottom is us now. We've been married for 29 years.

Mom's Day

Well I'm not a mom, but I wish all of you mom's out there a Happy Mother's Day.

I went to visit my mom at the cemetery today.

Busy Day

This is Ben's Saturday to work over at the auto parts warehouse.
I kept myself very busy all day.
First I went over to my friend Sandi's house. She was having a yard sale and said that she had found some books in the garage that she wanted to give to me. Nice when you can go to a yard sale and get something for free (LOL).
Then I drove over to Bridgeport and walked around the man-made lake. That's about a 1.7 mile walk (round trip) and takes me about 45 minutes.
Then I drove up to Lowe's Home Improvement and bought some grass seed for the brown spots we have in our lawn. Don't know why there are brown spots because the sprinklers go every day.
Then I went to Target, which is in the same shopping center as Lowe's and bought some green tea capsules.
Next went to Kohls, which is also in the same shopping center. Bought two tops there. I guess they were having a big sale today because there were a lot of people there. I got a sleeveless top for 50% off so it cost only $5 and I bought a cute T-shirt for $6.49.
Came home and made myself lunch....a salad and a fried tuna cake, then went out and worked around in the yard for awhile.
Now I'm finally resting and checking me emails, etc.

Planning A Little Trip

It's been a long time since my husband and I have gotten away for a little trip. When I was working, we would go on a little weekend trip about every-other month just to get away. We could afford to do that back then. We used to go on a week-long vacation every 6 to 12 months too but have not been able to do that since 2005. I retired in 2006 and we had to start budgeting our money.
I told Ben that I want to get away even if it's just for one night so we are looking into heading up to Sequoia National Park near Visalia, CA in June. Its about 220 miles from where we live. We've been to the Redwood National Park way up in the northern end of California. Ben has been to Sequoia Park near Visalia, but I have never been there.
Ben only works 3 days a week, so we thought we'd try to get away in the middle of the week for at least one night. We'd head up on Tuesday morning and head back home Wednesday afternoon. If we went on his 3-day weekend off, there would be more people and more traffic, so that's why we figured we'd go on his 2-days off (Tuesday and Wednesday). With the economy the way it is, he doesn't really want to ask for more time off because he's worried that they might see that they don't need him while he's gone and they'd let him go when he returned.
I spent most of this afternoon researching motels and maps for that area. Need to head over to the Auto Club to see if they have a map of Visalia, CA.

Hot Thursday

Well my A/C just kicked on. It's 96 degrees outside right now. Feel so sorry for those firefighters up in Santa Barbara.
I spent the morning shampooing the carpet in my living/dining area of the house. I'll finish up the 2 bedrooms on Monday. When I was "young", I could do the entire house in one day, but now it just wears me out if I try that. Gee, I wonder why? (LOL)

Heatwave And Fire

We are in the middle of a heatwave here in SoCal. We hit about 98 degrees here today. Way too HOT too early in the year. But we are desert, so that's the kind of weather we have. We are having high winds too.
There is a terrible brush fire up in Santa Barbara, CA right where we drove through yesterday when we drove up the coast to Solvang. Santa Barbara is about 70 miles north of us.
They say over 8000 people have been evacuated and at least 30 homes have burned to the ground. The homes up there are very big and very expensive.
Seems like California has been burning for the past 3 or 4 years. We had to evacuate our home due to a brush fire back in October 2007 and let me tell you, it is NOT a fun thing to do.

Trip To Solvang

Today we drove up the coast to Solvang, CA. The weather was beautiful, except it was a little windy. This area of Central California is very beautiful, nestled in the Santa Ynez Valley.
Here is a link to their website if you'd like to check the area out:

http://www.solvangusa.com/

Nature Walk In The Morning

I went on a little nature/photo op walk this morning over in Placerita Canyon. It was in the 70's by the time I got there around 9:00 AM. The birds were really chirping up a storm and it was just a beautiful walk. The guy on the left is Orion. He lives at the Nature Center in Placerita Canyon and he was out visiting with his trainer.

Where Can I Find?

Where can I find a site or sites that offer free backgrounds for blogspot? I like the one I have here, but it's for Fall and I'd like something a little different.

I Lucked Out!

Boy was I lucky or what?
I got the glasses that broke at the Sears Optical Department about 1 1/2 years ago. We drove over there and they just happened to have a pair of frames exactly like the pair of mine that broke. Instead of buying a new set of glasses (frames and lenses), all I had to do was buy the frame and they swapped out my existing lenses for me.
I was so relieved about this. We had gone over to Sam's Club and there I would have had to buy a frame and lenses and it would have cost about $500 for the new glasses. I thought Sam's Club would be competitive with Costco for glasses but they are a lot more expensive. I'm not a Costco member anymore, otherwise I could have gone there.

Broke My Eye Glasses

Somehow, I broke my eye glasses last night. I was watching TV and noticed that my glasses were "tilting" to one side. I went to take them off to see what was going on and the left temple piece was broken in half. NOT where they screw to the front of the glasses, but right smack dab in the middle of it. Don't know how the heck they broke. No I have to run around and try to find a place that makes eye glasses and is open on Sunday. My current prescription is good until July 29, 2009, so I should be able to use it to buy a new pair without going in for an eye exam.

A Veggie Garden

When I was first married, we lived in a rented house that had a good sized backyard. It was all lawn, but I asked the landlord if I could rototill the back half and grow a veggie garden and since she was into growing veggies herself, she agreed, as long as I promised to put grass back there if we ever moved away, which I eventually did.

I grew corn, green beans, onions, radishes, brussels sprouts, carrots and I don't remember what else....it was 29 years ago!

When my dad died, we moved in with my mom and I didn't garden anymore. Then we moved into a mobile home park and there was nowhere for me to start a garden.

14 years ago, we moved into a manufactured home on a foundation and I have a small yard. I tried to grow some veggies...cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, etc, but the bugs got to most of it, plus our soil is very sandy and made it difficult to grow anything.

For the past 5 years, I have been growing tomatoes in pots on my patio and that has been working out great (see photo).

This morning, while out on my daily walk, I decided to try to start a container garden. I've been researching the Internet to see what kinds of veggies can be grown in pots and containers and it appears that I can grow just about anything in containers that I can grow in the ground.

Does anyone out there have any suggestions for me? Like when to plant specific veggies. Should I use seedlings or plant seeds? I need all the help I can get.

Earthquake

I just felt a little earthquake. Thought it was my imagination until the cut in on the TV and told about it. It was a 4.4 magnitude and located in Westlake Village which is about 47 miles southwest of us.

Ancestry

Still working on my family history. Below is a photo I found on the Internet of my Great-Great Grandparents William Pinkney Harper and Leah Plemmons-Harper. They were both born in 1846. I'm guessing it was probably after 1900. They were my mother's, mother's, grandparents.