Good-bye November

I cannot believe that tomorrow is December 1st.
Woke up around 3:30 am this morning and was having trouble going back to sleep, but I finally did. When we did get up, I noticed that the walkway in my back yard was wet, so I assumed it had drizzled some during the night. Not a good rain, but I guess anything is better than nothing.
It continued to drizzle on and off throughout the day. I did “indoor” stuff like wash sheets and towels, changed the sheets on bed and watch TV.
Around 11:30 am, the sky opened up and it poured for about 5 minutes, then it just kept drizzling, but no other good downpour.
Was cool enough for me to actually light a fire in the fireplace.

Another Busy Day

When I woke up this morning, I felt like a truck had run me over. It was about 5:30 am and I had just let Hiker outside. I was sore from helping Jean with her Christmas Decorations yesterday. Went back to bed and did not get up again until 8 am, still sore, but feeling a little better.
Had some breakfast and did a load of laundry. Jean wanted me to come back and help her put her lights around all of the decorations, but I could not go over until after the guys who mow my yard came because I had to pay them today. Once they were done with the yard, Hiker and I went over to Jean’s. She had put out more of the yard decorations.
While I was there, Jean opened the front door to wide and one of the little dogs she is watching for a neighbor got out and took off down the street. I had tried to grab it as it went by me but it was too fast for me. It ran round the corner and down my street with Jean running behind it calling its name. I stopped at my house and got my car and took off after them. Lost track of them so I circled around again and saw the dog running toward me with Jean following. The dog ran past me and up the hill so I turned the car around and followed it. Luckily two guys were working in their yards as I drove around the corner after the dog. I yelled at them to grab the dog and they finally cornered it and got it to me in the car. I turned around to head back to Jean’s house as the dog pooped on my t-shirt from fear. Found Jean walking slowly down her street looking upset because she had no idea I had the dog. She looked so relieved when I held it up so she could see it. She was wondering how she was going to tell the dog’s owner that the dog had run away, but luckily she won’t have to. I went home and changed my shirt and then headed back over to Jean’s house.
We finished with the lights around 1 pm so I headed home with Hiker to have some lunch.
It was another warm day here…about 80° so each day it is cooling down a few degrees. We might get rain on Tuesday, but I won’t believe it until I see it.

I'm Pooped!

Got up at 6 am this morning even though we didn’t do a dog walk with Jean and her dogs. Jean wanted me to go with her over to the Dollar Tree and Big Lots at 8 am. We were surprised that both stores were almost empty of shoppers. It was very nice and quiet. Guess a lot of people did their “Black Friday” shopping on “Gray Thursday” after they had their turkey dinners.
After we got home, I went over to Jean’s house and helped her put up most of her Christmas yard art. This is the third year I’ve helped her put it up and I can tell that it gets harder each year as I grow another year older. I was there for about two and a half hours and I was so tired I had to stop and come home. Plus the fact that it was 85° didn’t help any. I cannot take the heat. Anyway, when I left she was still putting stuff out. I told her that she either has to stop putting it all out or just put out only her very favorite yard decorations. She must have 150 to 200 individual pieces.
I also was able to put us some decorations at my house. I didn’t go all out this year. I usually put colored lights around the garage door, around the porch and around the big front window, but this year, I only put a small lighted Christmas tree on the porch with some lighted garland around the front door. Also a few pieces of yard art, magnets on the garage door and that’s about it. Just gets to be too much each year. After Ben died, it took me 2 years to get back into the mood to even decorate.
Got my driver’s license renewal in the mail today and I lucked out again. I don’t’ have to go to the DMV Office. I was able to renew it online. So I’m set for another 5 years on that.
I am hungry since I skipped lunch when I was doing all of that decorating, plus I am probably going to go to bed early tonight since I am so pooped.

Hope Everyone Is Having A Good Turkey Day

Hope everyone has been enjoying their Thanksgiving Day.
Hiker and I stayed in bed until 8 am this morning, but I was not sleeping. I was watching “The Walton’s Thanksgiving Reunion”. I loved watching “The Walton’s” with my mom when I was a kid. I remember her saying that it always reminded her of her childhood growing up during the depression. I still love to watch “The Walton’s” now and then.
After breakfast I started watching “The Twilight Zone” marathon. Ben and I always used to watch it every Thanksgiving Day.
By 10 am it was already 80° on my patio. I went out to the garage and got out some of the Christmas decorations I plan to put on my front porch. Didn’t put them up yet because I never like putting them up until after Thanksgiving even though some of the neighbors already have their decorations up. I’m putting a 4 foot artificial tree on my porch and some lighted garland around the door. As I said, don’t like going up and down the ladder anymore. Haven’t put the tree up inside since Ben died so decided to put it on the front porch this year.
Watched the National Dog Show just to see the herding dogs. They had a Red Healer. It was not picked.
Went out around 1:45 pm and played ball with Hiker in the yard. It was 90° if you can believe that temperature on Thanksgiving Day.

Very Warm For November

Today was my “stay in bed until 8 am” morning. Didn’t sleep…watched TV. Got up and made breakfast and then I did some house work. Mopped and vacuumed. Then I ran my weekly scans on my computers.
After lunch and Y&R, I went over to Sam’s Club to pick up a few things that I was afraid I’d run out of before Monday. I do not plan on going anywhere near any stores between now and Monday.
Took Hiker for a very short walk around the neighborhood. It was 90° and too hot to walk more than we did. I noticed that several people have already started putting up their Christmas lights and decorations. I always wait until the weekend after Thanksgiving.
I’ve decided not to put up as many lights on the outside of the house as I did last year. I’m just going to put some around the front door and some other yard decorations. I’m getting too old to go up and down the ladder to put lights up.
I found out that Lockheed is not waiting for approval/conformation from Kaiser anymore. They are now waiting for the approval/conformation to come from Medicare (CMS). Kaiser already told me that they got the approval/confirmation from Medicare but now Lockheed has to get the approval/confirmation from them also. We all know how slow the government is, so who knows when they will get the confirmation.
Have gotten all of my “end of the year” big bills paid…home owner’s insurance, earthquake insurance, car insurance and my first installment on my property taxes. Now I’m waiting for the letter from the DMV for the renewal of my driver’s license.

I Hate The Lockheed Employee Service Center!

Went to my support group at the senior center this morning. There were only six of us plus our leader there today. Guess everyone else has gone away for Thanksgiving Week.
Seems like the sessions are much more enjoyable when we have only a handful of people attending. I took the pumpkin bread I baked yesterday and everyone enjoyed it.
After group, four of us ladies went over to Jimmy Dean’s for lunch and had a great time chatting, as we always do.
Was only 38° here this morning when Hiker and I rolled out of bed at 7 am but by the time I got home from group around 2 pm, it was 85° on my patio. Strange how it can be so chilly in the morning and warm up that much in the afternoon.
I’m still having problems with Lockheed signing me up for my Kaiser Medicare. I thought it was all taken care of, but I keep getting notices and phone calls from Lockheed telling me that they have not received confirmation that Kaiser has approved me for their plan even though I have spoken to Kaiser who tells me that they have me all signed up and ready to go as of January 1st. I call Lockheed back and tell them that I’ve been approved and they say that they show me as “pending” with Kaiser but until they have the confirmation that they will default me to a catastrophic senior plan and which means when they start taking the money out of my Lockheed pension check to pay for my Medicare supplement, it will cost me almost $400 a month instead of the $126 it should cost me for the Kaiser plan. I go back and forth between Kaiser and Lockheed trying to find out who is supposed to contact who about the approval but I cannot seem to get an answer. Kaiser keeps insisting that Lockheed is supposed to have a liaison who gets the confirmation. I called Lockheed last week and they told me that I didn’t need to keep calling Kaiser because everything is pending. I spoke with Lockheed again yesterday and they told me that I’ve done all I need to do and that they are just waiting for the confirmation, but then today I get a letter from them dated 11/19/2014 stating that it is urgent that I get all of my paperwork back to Kaiser for Kaiser to approve me. I am so frustrated and it’s mostly with Lockheed. I’m hoping since I spoke to them after they mailed the letter that maybe things will work out soon. I know it’s causing my blood pressure to go up.

Monday

Did our dog walk with Jean this morning. It was only 38° when we left. My hands were so cold. I didn’t even think to take my gloves with me.
Yesterday, the neighbor just up the street and across from Jean found a stray dog. The dog had a license on its collar. Since the people who found the dog had to go to work today, they put the dog in their back yard. I put the dog’s photo on the Lost & Found Pets of SCV Facebook page. Jean called the local county shelter and asked them if they could help us find the owner if we gave them the number on the dog’s license. They gave us the dog’s name (Molly a senior Basset Hound) and they called the owner, who is an elderly gentleman who lives in our gated community. He was in having his dialysis done today and his wife is in the hospital. He told the shelter that he had some plumbers working at the house and they left the gate open and the dog got out, but he said Jean and I could take the dog home and put it in his back yard, so we did. Felt good to take her back to her home.
After breakfast, I went up to Pet Smart to look for a Christmas gift for Hiker to give to Jean’s two dogs (Sassy and Charlie), but didn’t find anything there, so went over to Target to pick up some Freshet dog food for Hiker and I got some treats there for her to give to them. I like to get holiday shopping done before all of the crazies get out.
Made a loaf of pumpkin bread. If it turns out good after I slice it, I’ll take it with me to my support group tomorrow to share.
Still very windy here all day.

Another Windy Day

Slept in again this morning. I didn’t really even want to get up at 8 am but I did. Had a small breakfast and then took Hiker out for a walk. There were high clouds and it was windy.
Did some laundry and made the bed. Watched a few Christmas movies on Hallmark Channel.
Tried to get Hiker to play some in the backyard like she did yesterday. She didn’t seem to want to play “turbo dog” like she did on Saturday.
After lunch I spent an hour playing Wii Games. I’m surprised at how much of a workout you can actually get playing those games. I actually end up about as tired as I do from a nice walk and I’m sweating by the time I’m done. Played Wii Tennis, Wii Bowling, Wii Golf and Wii Baseball.

Not Much To Report

Not much to report today. Slept in a while, then up for breakfast. Threw some laundry into the washing machine and then relaxed to watch TV most of the day.
Played some games on my computer, played with Hiker some and that’s about it.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll talk myself into getting out for a hike or something.

Very Pretty Day

I don’t know if it rained here last night, but on the news this morning, I saw that they had some flash flooding in some areas and that they were having snow up in Big Bear and in Wrightwood. I didn’t hear any rain and my yard didn’t look wet this morning. I have a CBS weather app on my iPhone and I do recall last night that I heard a voice on my phone saying “your area is under a flash flood watch”.
Did our normal Friday dog walk with Jean and then Sally, Jean and I went over for the grand opening of the new Canyon Country See’s Candy shop. We got there about 8 minutes before the ribbon cutting and there was already about 50 people in line. In just a few minutes, there was another 25 or so people behind us. The handed out free See’s suckers and before we entered the store, they had us spin a wheel to get a prize. I got what they call an “Awesome Nut & Chew” candy bar. Jean got a bag of suckers and Sally got a little See’s hammer keychain. I heard one of the workers say that it’s a replica of what they use to “chop” the nuts they put in the candy. She said that they used the hammers when See’s first started and they still use them today. Everywhere you turned, a See’s worker was offering you a piece of candy. I bought a pound of my favorite milk chocolate orange creams.
Since Jean had a lunch to go to, we headed back home, but one of these days, the three of us need to get together and go shopping, go to lunch and make a day of it.
After lunch, I took Hiker over to Todd Longshore Park and we walked around for about a mile or so. Some kid was riding a skateboard there and that didn’t set too well with Hiker. She’s afraid of them, so after a while, we headed home.
Beautiful day here…in the mid to high 70’s.

Cloudy Thursday

Slept in a little again today. I was having a little trouble sleeping last night because I kept thinking about the fact that Lockheed’s Employee Service Center called me yesterday and told me that my annual enrollment/sign up for Medicare was not really approve or complete yet. They didn't really explain how the process goes. So this morning after I got up, I had to run a few errands and I was near our Kaiser Medical Center so I stopped by there to talk with the Member’s Services person on a video chat. After talking to them, I decided to call the Lockheed Center again and I lucked out this time…I got a young man who seemed to know what he was talking about and he explained to me step-by-step how the acceptance/confirmation process works. He told me to stop calling Kaiser because “the ball is in Lockheed’s court” at this time. He said because my new enrollment fell at the exact same time as everyone’s annual enrollment, that they process it differently than they do if you do a first time sign up with Medicate any other time of the year. Basically he told me not to worry about anything that they were working on getting the acceptance/confirmation they need. I hope he’s right. He really sounded like he knew the process.
When I was driving home, I heard sirens behind me and say all of these flashing lights, so I pulled over to let them pass. Three cop cars went flying by doing about 80 mph. Don’t know what that was all about.
After lunch, Hiker and I went for an “almost” 2 mile walk. It was bright and sunny here this morning, but then it got very gray and cloudy and looked like it could rain, but the local weather doesn’t say anything about rain.
My neighbor Sally and I are going to attend the grand opening of the new See’s Candy shop down the street from us tomorrow. Hoping to get free samples (LOL).

Partly Cloudy Or Partly Sunny

Hiker is the silliest dog. Last night she went to bed around 8 pm while I sat in the living room watching “NCIS”. I went to check on her around 8:45 pm. I find her lying smack in the middle of the bed, however, the pillows are all on the floor as is the comforter. I asked her what the mess was all about and she gave out a little growl.
Was around 45° when we got out of bed this morning. Had some breakfast and then I headed out to do my grocery shopping. The store was more crowded than normal. I’m guessing people were already starting to shop for their Thanksgiving meals.
Was even more cloudy when I got home. Even looked like it could rain. I paid a couple of bills and then settled down to watch “Y&R”.
I HATE THE LOCKHEED EMPLOYEE SERVICE CENTER! I got a call from them today telling me that my enrollment for my Kaiser Medicare Supplement through the Lockheed Group Plan was not complete because I had to be approved by Kaiser. I told them I was already approved by Kaiser and that I already had my new Kaiser Medicare medical card and that I had a confirmation from Lockheed for my enrollment online. They told me that Lockheed had to send me a 4-page form for the Lockheed Group Plan and send it to Kaiser to be approved before Lockheed would accept my enrollment choice. I told them that Kaiser had sent me the form and I had filled it out and sent it back to them several weeks ago and that they had already approved me. Lockheed then asked me for my Kaiser medical number and said they would have to follow-up with Kaiser. I then called Kaiser’s Medicare office and told them and they said they don’t understand what Lockheed’s problem is and that they would never have sent me my new medical ID Card if I had not been approved. Lockheed never should have outsourced the Employee Services to a third party. I’ll have to keep checking to make sure it gets straightened out.
I had to go by the post office this afternoon, so after that, Hiker and I drove up to Canyon Country Park and did a mile walk.

Cloudy Day, But A Good Day At Support Group

Went to my support group at the senior center this morning. Had a small group and for some reasons, it seems that we have much better sessions when there are less people attending.
After group, me, DeDee, Jane and Carol went to lunch at Red Robin. They were already playing Christmas music in the background. By the time Christmas gets here, I’m sick of hearing the songs because they start to play them way too early.
Had high, thin clouds all day so the sun was just barely peeking through. Only go up into the low 70’s but I love this kind of weather. I would rather have this year round instead of those nasty, hot summers. Still a little breezy, but seems to be calming down some.
When I first got Hiker, she would meet me at the door when I came home from being out all day. She would be all excited to see me. Now when I come home, she is in her soft crate and she waits to make sure it is me before she comes out to greet me. I keep telling her that I guess she’d let just anyone come into the house. Crazy dog.

Not As Windy As Yesterday

Up early for our Monday dog walk with my neighbor Jean. We both noticed that we get our walks done about 30 minutes sooner since we don’t have Timmy walking with us anymore. Poor little guy. He walked really slowly and he wanted to stop and smell every bush and every light post.
After breakfast, I went over to Sam’s Club. Seems like every time I go there I spend at least $100 and I don’t buy a lot of items, but I buy my supplements there and they cost more. I like to get them there because I get a lot more for the money I spend.
Came home and paid some bills and then watched Y&R.
After lunch, Hiker and I went over to Central Park for an afternoon walk. The weather was beautiful. It was a little breezy, but not real windy like it was yesterday. I took Hiker into “Central Bark”, the dog park they have there. There were about 2 or 3 other dogs in the fenced area. I took her leash off of her, but she doesn’t go more than about 5 feet away from me. A couple of the dogs came over and sniffed her and as soon as they did, she was ready to leave. She likes to greet other dogs, but she is still pretty shy around them just like she is around people she doesn’t know. Jean says it’s because she is an “only child”.
Hiker has this new thing she does now. Started about 2 weeks ago. Whenever we go somewhere in the car, when we get home, she doesn’t want to get out of the car. I back into the garage and I unhook her from the seatbelt, but she just sits there and looks at me. I even tell her “bye” and close the car door and go into the house for a few minutes and when I come back out to get her, I still have to coax her out of the car. I don’t know what that is all about.
Got up into the mid 70’s here today and the wind made the sky so blue.

Very Windy Day

Got up early this morning to wash my sheets. I normally do that on Sunday, but I got up early because my neighbor Jean and I had planned to go to a holiday craft fair over at Old Orchard Park in Newhall, CA but it was so windy here this morning that we decided not to go. The wind was howling all night long and the gusts of wind were huge. I know Hiker was glad I wasn’t going because she hates it when I leave her home alone.
Decided to do some housework and then settled down to watch some TV.
Since it was a little cool outside because of the wind, I made some spaghetti and chili for lunch and some garlic bread.
Hiker and I headed out for a walk around 1:30 pm. It was still very windy and about 70°. No other people out walking this afternoon. Guess they didn’t want to risk the chance of getting blown away.

Saturday

Slept in for about 30 minutes this morning. It was cloudy earlier but the sun came out later in the morning and it was hazy most of the day.
Did some laundry and then watched some TV.
Just before lunch, Hiker and I went for a walk. I made the mistake of telling her that she could lead the walk today and she ended up wandering all around the dry riverbed with me following. I don’t know what it is about that riverbed, but she loves to wander around out there.
On the way home, I talked to a woman with an 11 year old pit bull named Lokey. She was telling me that she usually walks Lokey in the early morning or in the early evening and that she has noticed a pair of coyotes in Discovery Park a few times during the last couple of weeks. She said they don’t bother Lokey but that she was talking to a guy who walks his two Siberian Huskies and that the coyotes stalk them. She said when she has seen them, she yells at them and they usually just turn around and walk away.
Tomorrow I am going to a holiday craft fair with Jean over in Newhall. Should be fun.

Not So Busy Friday

Didn’t do too much today. Got up at 6 am to meet up with Jean at 7 am for our Friday dog walk. After the walk, headed over to Jean’s house to have Hiker groomed. She got a bath but didn’t shave her this time. I let her hair grow in the cooler months.
Jean is taking care of a big, 12 year old Chocolate Lab named Bailey. Hiker is scared to death of Bailey because she is so big and she acts like a puppy and comes running at Hiker all the time. She just wants to play but Hiker doesn’t understand and hides. I was determined to make Hiker play with Bailey, but then Hiker started doing the “herding thing”, nipping at Bailey’s heels and snapping at her face, so then Bailey was hiding.
Came home and had lunch while watching Y&R and then put Hiker in the car and headed over to Sam’s Club to fill my car with gas.
It was in the high 70’s here today.

This is what I found when I went to bed last night.

Lunch With The Lockheed Girls

Last night before we went to bed, I got Hiker off my bed to make her go outside to potty. She was acting kind of strange. Maybe she wasn’t totally awake yet, but she still was acting strange when she jumped up on the bed to go back to sleep. She was back to normal this morning, but she had me worried for a little while.
Met with several of my retired Lockheed girlfriends at the Sizzler in Palmdale, CA for lunch today. As usual, we had so much fun.
My friend Judy gave me a new toy to give to Hiker and as usual, Hiker loved it. Started playing with it as soon as I took it out of the bag.
When I got home, my new Kaiser Medicare medical card was in my mailbox, so I’m all set up for Medicare starting January 1st. It will be nice to pay less for my co-pays.
Had high, thin clouds here all day. I saw that it was raining up in Northern California earlier today.

Hiker with the new toy that her "Aunt Judy" sent home.

Checked In On Jean

Today is Wednesday which means it is the day that I am lazy and sleep in. Hiker kept wanting me to get up, but I made her wait.

After we got up and had breakfast, I took Hiker over to Jean’s house to see how she and her dogs Charlie and Sassy were doing since the loss of their little Timmy. Jean said she could not go to sleep last night, so she spent the night on the sofa in the living room watching TV. She was keeping herself busy by grooming several dogs today.

Hiker and I left to head home, but Jean wanted us to come back in a little while as our friend Sally, who also lives in our community was bringing her dogs over to be groomed and I think Jean appreciated the distraction of us being there with her.

I did a little housework before we went back over to Jean’s. We stayed a little over an hour and then headed back home for some lunch.

Did not get out for a walk today, even though the weather was nice. Probably won’t get a walk in tomorrow either because I am going out to Palmdale to meet my Lockheed retired friends for lunch at Sizzler.

Good-bye Timmy

On this Veteran’s Day, I went to the Senior Center for my grief support group. There were only 8 of us there today. There was a big ceremony at our local Veteran’s park just down the street from the Senior Center. We could hear them playing “Taps” as we started our meeting this morning.
While I was sitting outside waiting to go into my meeting this morning, the fire department and an ambulance drove up to the lobby door of the center and took out one of the volunteers. She was complaining for pain in her side, so I don’t know if she was having an appendix attack, a gall bladder attack or a heart attack.
Went to Round Table Pizza for lunch with DeDee, Paul, Jane and Linda from group. I noticed that Jean had called me but did not leave a message. I always turn my ringer off when I’m in group, so I didn’t know she had called. I was going to call her as soon as I got home because I knew she was taking her little dog Timmy to the vet this morning. As I was driving home, my phone rang. I have Bluetooth in my car so I answered the call. It was Jean calling to tell me that she had to put little Timmy down. I feel so bad. He was such a sweet little guy. The vet found that Timmy had a very large tumor in his stomach and he was very anemic. Jean had been told when she got Timmy in 2008 that he was 4 years old at the time so she though he was around 10 or 11 now, but the vet said he was more like 14 years old and that they could do surgery to remove the tumor, but he might not survive it and if he did, he’d have to have blood transfusions and be in the hospital for a long time. The vet felt it was better to put him to sleep. Jean said she agreed, but had called me to confirm that she was doing the right thing.
Hiker and I are really going to miss Timmy. Hiker would try to get him to play, even though he never would. I would have to tell Hiker that Timmy was old and that she had to be careful with him. I’m wondering if she will notice him missing when we go for our dog walk on Friday.
The sun never did come out here today. It has been in the mid 60’s and looks like it could rain. I sure hope it does.

Hiker and her friend Timmy

Cooler Weather Today

Started our Monday dog walk with Jean and her dogs around 7 am. We noticed that Jean’s little dog Timmy was acting strange. He is about 11 years old now and he is slower than the other dogs, but today he acted like he just didn’t want to be out walking. We cut our walk short and went back to my house to let the dogs play for a while. Timmy was acting very tired and he seemed to be stumbling some.
Jean went home and called the vet to make an appointment for him and she emailed me and said his appointment is tomorrow morning. I know she is really worried about him. He was also drinking a lot of water and I know that when dogs have kidney failure, they start to drink a lot of water. She is thinking maybe he is diabetic. Hope he will be OK.
After Hiker and I had breakfast, I headed over to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things then stopped by the Dollar Tree and looked around a little.
It was cooler here today. Had a slight marine layer this morning which caused it to be hazy most of the day.
I received my confirmation letter today from Kaiser for my Medicare supplement account with them through Lockheed. They said in the letter that now Medicare has to review the account and approve it and I guess after that, Kaiser will send me my new medical card with them. I didn’t know that Medicare had to approve every new account.
Hiker and I drove over to our Central Park after lunch and did a mile and a half walk. They were filming something there out on one of the soccer fields. Looked like they were filming the players doing the same play over and over.

A Little Cooler Today

Slept in again this morning. I wish I could get myself back into a regular walking routine, but I just don’t see to have the incentive.
Hiker and I did get out for a walk around 9:30 am. It was already 80°. If this warm weather keeps up, I will have to uncover the air conditioner and get my shorts back out again. It got pretty warm in the house yesterday but it does cool down pretty quick once the sun goes down.
Went out to play ball with Hiker after lunch. She likes to play for about 15 or 20 minutes and then she goes to the door to go in letting me know she’s done playing. I noticed that the sky was really pretty today with thin, brush-stroked clouds. Got my camera and took a few shots.
When I was uploading the photos to my computer, I noticed a black cat walking around in my back yard. The lady on the corner owns this cat and the cat loves to aggravate Hiker. It sits in my front yard and stares at Hiker through the window while Hiker has a barking fit. I just know that the cat does it on purpose. Hiker didn’t see it in her back yard but when it jumped the fence and walked past my front porch, Hiker went berserk. I always have to go out and chase the cat away because Hiker won’t stop barking until it is totally out of sight. I like the cat hanging around because it controls the rat population we have around here, but I wish it wouldn’t tease Hiker.
Once again it was in the low 90’s here but it didn’t seem as hot as it did yesterday because we had a breeze today. Yesterday the air was dead still.

Too Hot For This Time Of Year

Hiker woke me up around 6:30 so she is letting me sleep in some again. Guess she is getting used to the time change back to standard time. Laid in bed and watched TV until around 8 am then got up and had some breakfast.
Saturday us my “laundry day”, so I did that. Saturday is also me “couch potato day”, so I did that too.
So as I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I went to my eye doctor for another injection. He was very pleased with the results this time. He had planned to give me another injection in December, but instead told me that they will just take some photos of the insides of my eyes the next time I come and then he will decide where we will go from there. He said that if the steroid injection I got didn’t work, he had some other ideas up his sleeve, but then he said “guess we won’t have to go up my sleeve”. I still have the distortion from the Macular Pucker in my right eye, but at least the blood vessels have stopped swelling and seeping fluid into my eye.
Was 90° here today.

Another Eye Injection

Hiker and I had our Friday morning dog walk with Jean and her dogs.
Jean picked me up at noon to drive me to Kaiser in Panorama City for my eye injection. Have not had one since July before my doctor had to do his jury duty. I have another one the first week of December.
Doctor said my eye is doing really good and he is really happy with the results of the injections, even though I don’t see any change in my vision. That is due to the other problem I have in that eye which is a Macular Pucker, which can only be fixed with surgery.
They are having the fundraiser dinner down at our rec room tonight, so Jean and I are heading down there just before 6 pm.

Too Hot For Fall

Hiker woke me up around 5:45 am to go potty. When I let her out, I felt like I had been drugged. I was so sleepy and I just could not get my body to wake up. So we went back to bed and I fell right back to sleep until Hiker woke me up again just before 8 am.
Dragged myself out of bed and had some breakfast. I realized that I was almost out of milk and orange juice. I always buy milk, eggs and OJ when I go to Sam’s Club. I had just been there last Monday, but for some reason, I didn’t buy those three items and I could have kicked myself. So back I went to Sam’s Club to get milk, eggs and OJ.
After lunch, Hiker and I went over to New Leash On Life dog rescue shelter. This is where I adopted Hiker and I try to support them as much as possible. I had some old blankets to donate to them to keep the dogs warm this winter. Whenever I notify them that I’m coming over, they always tell me to make sure I bring Hiker so they can see how she is doing. They had her for about three months before I adopted her. She is still “famous” there. They still have an 8”x10” photo of her in their lobby and they still use her on their website to encourage adoptions.
On the way back home, we stopped at the Placerita Nature Center to roam around some, but it was 90° here today so it was too hot to be there too long. We tried to stay in the shade of the coastal oak trees.
Tomorrow afternoon (Friday), I have to go to my retinal specialist for another series of eye injections. My last series got disrupted when my doctor got called in for jury duty and could not get out of it, even though he is a surgeon. He was able to get me off of my jury duty in July because of my eye injections, but when he tried to get off, the judge became angry with him and told him to go and reschedule his patients and come back and serve. It took almost three months to get back on track with my injections.
Friday evening, Jean and I are going to our community rec room for a fundraiser dinner for a young man who was injured in a dirt bike accident.

Warm, Windy, Wednesday

Up at 7 am this morning because I needed to go do my grocery shopping. After breakfast, I headed over to Stater Brothers. I like to shop early when there are not a lot of people.
Did some housework today and then took Hiker down to the park for a little while. It was warm and windy. Temps in the mid-80s and we are under a fire watch alert because of the wind and high temps. I wish it would cool back down to the weather we had last week.

Out All Day

Hiker actually slept longer this morning, but she still tried to wake me up around 5:30 am. Maybe she is finally getting used to the time.
Went to my grief support group today. A lot of people didn’t show up today. We had two college interns visiting our group today.
Went to lunch with Linda Clark and Carol Blackstone. Had a nice time.
Weather was beautiful. I would have walked this afternoon if I had not been at group all day.

Beautiful Weather On A Monday

Hope it doesn’t take Hiker too long to get used to the time change. She woke me up at 5 am again this morning. She was pulling the covers off of me with her front paws and burrowing her nose into my neck and licking me.
We went on our Monday dog walk with Jean and her dogs. It was 38° when we started out. Wore a light jacket, but by the time we were heading back, I was starting to sweat some. Was 75° by noon and a little breezy. They say we might get some strong Santa Ana Winds.
I went over to Wal-Mart and picked up a bunch of stuff for making fudge, lemon bars and pumpkin bread. I like to get it early because if you wait too long, they run out before the holidays get here.
After lunch, Hiker and I went over to Central Park for a nice afternoon walk in the beautiful weather. It was about 70° and a little windy. Hiker loves walking around Central Park because she does not have to worry about bicycles or skateboards there and I put her on her extension leash so she can wander around more freely. Not too many people in the park today.

Beautiful Sunday

Hiker is so used to getting up at a specific time to go outside to potty in the morning. We changed back to Standard Time early this morning, so Hiker thinks she is supposed to go outside at 5 am instead of 6 am. The time change has her all mixed up. She kept jumping on me, pawing at the covers, whining, licking me and pushing at the mattress with her nose, but I ignored her. Told her she has to get used to the time change, so she didn’t get to go outside until 6 am. Don’t remember how long it took her to make the transformation last time.
Because of the time change, I was wide awake by 6:30 am so I turned on the TV in the bedroom and watched “Sunday Morning” then we got up and I made some eggs for breakfast.
Changed the sheets on my bed and washed the ones that were on it, plus washed the comforter and put a different comforter on the bed. I have a couple of older comforters that I’m going to take over to New Leash On Life, the rescue shelter where I got Hiker from. They can always use blankets when the cooler weather comes, so I sent them a message on Facebook to see if I can bring them over this Thursday. They always want me to bring Hiker over to visit.
It was so beautiful outside today. After we have a rain, the next day is so fresh and clean. I wanted to get out for a walk or a hike, but my stomach felt upset. I think it was due to the fried eggs I had for breakfast. I can eat poached eggs, but fried eggs seem to mess me up.
Watched one of my favorite Hallmark Christmas movies. It’s called “The Christmas Card”. I think I like is so much because it was filmed in Nevada City, CA where Ben’s sister Donna used to live. Ben and I visited there once many years ago and I loved the little town. Always wanted to go back again but never got to. Ben’s sister now lives in Las Vegas.

Cloudy and Cool

Got home from the community Halloween party around 8:30 last night. Hiker must have been scared by the sounds of the “haunted house” up the street and the kids roaming the streets. When I walked in the door, she was so excited to see me that she tried to jump into my arms and once I got inside, she was shaking like she was frightened. I had to hurry and let her outside before she peed in the house.
Didn’t get to sleep until around midnight then I woke up around 2 am from the sound of the pouring rain. It was coming down really hard. We really needed that rain and we need a lot more of it.
Fired up the heater for the first time since last winter. Most people don’t like that smell you get when the heater has not been used for a long time, but I do like it. Smells warm and toasty to me.
Jean came by at 9 am and picked me up. She wanted to go over to the Dollar Tree and Big Lots. We were only out for about an hour. We were still both pooped from decorating and the party last night.
I decided I was going to be a couch potato today and just sit and watch TV, but I did do a load of laundry.