Last Day Of February

This cold is like a yo-yo. One day I’m up, the next day I’m down. Slept good last night, but when I awoke this morning, my sinuses were clogged, my head was hurting and my throat was dry.
Had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and started to feel a little better. Checked email and Facebook, then turned on the TV and found that Hallmark was showing “The Good Witch” movies all day. “The Good Witch” series starts tonight. So I settled down on the sofa for the day.
Had some chicken noodle soup for lunch. I am so “souped out” that I don’t want any more for a while.
Was thinking that if I ever get over this “creeping crud”, I’m going to be more out of shape for hiking than I already was. Not good, because Spring is one of the pest seasons for hiking.
We are supposed to have rain this weekend, but the sun was shining brightly when the mowers got here to cut the grass. There was a breeze in the air and it was a little chilly.

Got Out For A Little While

I felt about 30% better today, so that’s an improvement I guess. Took another sleeping pill last night before I went to bed, so once again, I slept through most of the night.
Did not feel like doing a dog walk this morning, so I called Jean and told her to just bring the dogs over for a play date, which she did.
My neighbor Sally came and picked me up around 11 am to drive me up to La Canada so I could pick up my finished tax papers. I hate so much depending on other people, but I’m still too week to drive a long distance. Sally kept saying she didn’t want anything for taking me but I finally talked her into at least letting me by her lunch on the way home. At least I’m hungry again. I’m lucky to have good friends close by.
I had grown very cloudy and gray here. We are supposed to get rain over the weekend, so that will be perfect weather for me to stay inside and get more rest.

Was Feeling Better - Then I Wasn't

I actually slept through most of the night last night. Took a sleeping pill before I went to bed and I only remember getting up once during the night. When I woke up around 5:30 am, I was actually hungry again. Let Hiker outside and then back in and then we went back to bed until a little after 7 am.
Got up and made some scrambled eggs and toast. Still felt very weak, and so crashed on the sofa for the morning.
It’s strange, how when you are sick, one day you wake up feeling like crap and then start to feel better, or you wake up feeling much better, then later feel like crap again. Well by 10:30 am, I was back to feeling pretty crappy. I’ve got online friends telling me they have or have had the same thing I’m going through and some of them are into their second or third week of it. So I’m guessing that it is going to take me awhile to get well.
I forced a small lunch down around 1:15 pm. I was so hungry when I woke up this morning, but lost my appetite as the day went on.
Started getting very cloudy and windy here this afternoon.

So Sick Of Being Sick!

At least I got some sleep last night. Fell asleep on the sofa around 5:30 yesterday evening. Work up about an hour later and decided to go take a hot shower, then went right to bed. Slept for a few about 3 or 4 hours and then woke up again. Went back to sleep and then woke up again around 3:30 am. Back to sleep and then Hiker wanted to go outside around 5:00 am. She came back in and we went back to bed again and slept until she woke me up to feed her. Thought about staying in bed all day, but my sinuses were killing me when I’d lay down, so I decided to get out of bed and crash on the sofa in the living room. My sinuses didn’t seem to hurt as much sitting up.
When I first came down with this cold, I didn’t feel good, but at least I was hungry and wanted to eat. Now I’m not that hungry. I forced myself to eat a bowl of cereal. I know I need to eat to get my strength back, but I just don’t feel like fixing anything.
When I was younger and I’d get sick, I’d just keep going, even to work if I didn’t feel too bad. There are things I need to do, go pick up my tax papers, pay some bills, but I just don’t feel like doing anything. My tax man lives 25 miles away, so there is no way I can drive up there the way I am feeling. My good friend Sally said that she would drive me up to my tax man’s house on Friday if I’m not feeling up to it. I should probably try to go out and start the car since I have not started it in about 6 days. Hope I don’t run out of anything, because I don’t even feel like driving over to the store.
I was feeling somewhat better, then it seemed that I suddenly felt worse. I’m thinking it’s because I am not eating as well as I should. I’m starting to lose my appetite. Nothing sounds good. I’ve been forcing myself to eat some, but I know it’s not enough, plus I do not feel like fixing anything that take more than 5 minutes to prepare.
I sure cannot wait until I am back to “normal”. Not that’ve I’ve ever been normal (LOL).

Finally Went To The Dodtor

Didn’t sleep at all last night. My head ached, my nose was stuffed up. I was coughing. I know that Jean gets up at 5:30 am so I called her around 5:40 am and asked her if I was able to get an appointment with my doctor today, would she drive me and she said yes. So I went online and got an appointment this afternoon.
Tried to sleep some this morning, but still felt like crap. I was so tired of drinking fluids that I was having to force them down, plus now I wasn’t that hungry, but I still forced myself to eat.
After my doctor checked me out, he said I have a “common cold”. I thought that’s what it was, but since I’m older now, I worry that it might turn into pneumonia, plus I wasn’t getting any better. He said my lungs were clear. He told me I’m actually only into the 4th whole day of the cold and that usually the first 5 days are the worse, then you start to feel better, even though it still take about 10 days to completely get over a cold.
So he told me to just keep getting rest, drink fluids and take Tylenol for my headache. He said I could get some OTC cold meds if I wanted to. But he said they don’t always help that much. I’m allergic to Codeine, so he said there was need for him to give me prescription cough syrup.
He said a lot of people have been coming in with colds thinking they have the flu.

Please Go Away Cold!

Was feeling better last night when I went to bed around 9 pm, but woke up at 2 am this morning coughing again and with a very stuffy nose. I still believe this is a cold because I do not have a fever and I have not had one the entire time I’ve been sick.
I called the appointment scheduler at my retinal specialist’s office and reschedule tomorrow’s appointment for next week. Now I have to find out if Jean will be available a week from Friday to take me to the new appointment.
Never did get out of my pajamas. Thought it would be a good idea to stay in bed as much as possible today. I did get up to let Hiker outside a few times. She mostly stayed in my bedroom with me. I made sure I got up and made some lunch.
Watched Y&R in my bedroom. Felt better around noon than I did this morning when I first work up, but then it always seems like when we are sick, we fill worse early in the morning and late at night. My nose was no longer clogged. Actually it was runny. Still had a slight cough so I drank two big glasses of tea and lemon. I don’t like honey.
Huge advantage of being retired…when you are sick, you can just stay in bed all day.
This cold is so annoying. I feel bad in the morning, then better around noontime, then I start to feel bad again as the afternoon goes on.

Hiker taking care of me when I'm sick:

Day Number 3 Of My Cold

Third day of this persistent cold that my body is trying to heal from. Was in bed most of time yesterday and went back to bed right after I had dinner. Slept somewhat better than the night before, but still do not feel all that great today. Don’t really have the bad headache now and my sore throat is gone. Been using my Neti-Pot to decongest my sinuses and that is working well. Still have a slight cough and it is very dry, so I don’t have any chest congestion.
But this morning I have another problem. My lower back seems to have gone out on me. Don’t know if it’s from all of the coughing or what, but I didn’t need for that to happen. Have been using my electronic pulse massager on it and that has helped some. Also took some of the prescription muscle relaxants that I had gotten from the doctor the last time my back went out.
Believe me….these are NOT the Golden Years.
Drizzled here this morning so it was a good day to stay inside, have a fire in the fireplace, watch “The Ghost Whisperer” marathon on CLOO TV, and try to beat this damn virus. I was going to watch movies on Netflix, but my TV would not connect to the Internet for some reason.
I called Jean to tell her that I might be calling my retinal specialist tomorrow to cancel my Tuesday appointment if I don’t feel any better in the morning. Jean drives me to my eye appointments so I wanted her to have a heads up. It is difficult to set up appointments with my retinal specialist because he is so busy, but I’m sure they would not want me at the medical center spreading this bug I’m fighting.
It started raining here around 10:30 am. Not a hard rain, just a drizzle. Did that off and on all day.
I decided to soak in a hot tub for a while. Thought it might help me feel better, which it did somewhat. I was finally able to get my TV in the living room to connect to my Internet. I’ve been watching Steven King’s “The Stand” on Netflix. I am up to episode 3 of 4. I found that if I move my network router into the hallway, the TV connects better. It normally sits on my desk in the front bedroom and I think the walls between the bedroo0m and the living room block the signal.

Still Not Feeling Well

Because I didn’t feel well yesterday, I went to bed a 7:30 last night. Woke up several times during the night due to the fact that I was coughing or that my nose was congested and I could not breathe. Stayed in bed until around 9 am and when I did get up, I did not change out of my jammies and I did not make up the bed so I could get back into it anytime I wanted to. My ribs are very sore from coughing. My throat was not as dry today and was not as sore. My headache was not as bad either. I used my Neti-Pot so now my nose is not congested. I don’t think I have the flu because I am not having any abdominal problems, plus I’m hungry and usually with the flu I’m not. Most of the problem is with my upper respiratory system. I have not been this sick since the first week Ben was in the hospital.
The main reason I finally got out of bed for a little while was to do my laundry. I was running out of underwear (LOL). I never did get to do my housework yesterday, but it’s more important for me to get myself well than to have a clean house. Plus this coming Tuesday, I have an eye appointment with my retinal specialist, plus I will need to refill some prescriptions and also will have to pick up my finished tax returns.
Hiker had trouble understanding why this was not a “routine Saturday”. She could tell that I was acting differently. After breakfast, I went back to bed for a while and she came in and got on the bed with me and just stared at me. Later when I got up to make some lunch, she tried to get me to play with her.
This morning when I first got out of bed it was very dark and cloudy outside, but the sun finally came out later in the day.
I still don’t feel all that great, but I do feel somewhat better than I did last night when I went to bed. If my ribs didn’t hurt so much from the coughing, I’d feel much better.

Sick Day

Well I hope I didn’t pick up a bug while I was at Kaiser yesterday for bloodwork. Started coughing last night before I went to bed and woke up in the middle of the night with a dry, scratchy throat. When I got up at 6 am this morning, I felt like crap, but we still went for a dog walk with Jean. I had planned to do some housework today, but it can just wait because I do not feel up to doing it. Decided to just veg on the sofa all day.
I wasn’t very hungry for lunch but I forced myself to eat. I know that if I want to get well, I need to eat meals and drink a lot of fluids.
Walked up to the mailbox, then wished I hadn’t.

Nice Thursday

Got up early because I had fasted last night for blood work this morning at Kaiser. I have my annual check-up with my doctor on March 4th, so I emailed him and had him order the blood work now so he’d have my results when I go to see him.
While at Kaiser, there was this one woman, probably about my age, who was waiting for some lab work. She came in right behind me, so she was due to go in after me. There were two other people ahead of me. Well this woman was one of those who paces. They have a clip board on the counter that the lab technician checks for who is next (they call your number). Every time the tech called someone in, the woman went to the clip board and looked at it. I was number 66, so when 65 was called, I knew I was next. The woman got up and went over to the clip board again and kept standing there. When the tech came out and called 66, she saw the woman standing there and asked if she was number 66 and the woman said yes. I had already gotten up and was heading into the lab because I was 66. Well the tech saw me and asked the woman for her number ticket and when the tech saw that hers was 67, she told the woman she’d be next after me. First off…I hate people who pace like that at doctor’s offices. Then I’m thinking how stupid she was to claim she was number 66, thinking that she’d get in faster. Some people have a lot of balls.
After I left Kaiser, I headed over to Sam’s Club gas station to fill my car, then I went across the street to Wal-Mart. I decided since I had to fast all night and couldn’t have breakfast that I’d pick up a take & bake pizza for my lunch while I was there shopping.
Watched Y&R and had lunch then Hiker and I went over to Placerita Canyon for a short hike. This is one of my favorite times of the year to hike because everything is so green.
Was in the mid-80’s today.

Slow Day

Didn’t do much this morning. After breakfast I scanned my laptops and then paid a bill. Noticed that my oscillating fans were dirty, so got my portable vacuum out and cleaned them.
Checked email and Facebook and watched the morning news.
Watched most of Y&R but had to leave before it was over to go to my tax man, so I’ll have to watch whatever I missed tonight on the POP channel.
Very warm here again for February. Was 84° on my patio at 2:30 pm. It was hazy again today.

Tuesday Lunch With Group Girls

I was going to get up early this morning to go over to the car wash for their “early bird special” but I didn’t fall asleep last night until after midnight and I could not find a comfortable position in bed, so I had trouble sleeping most of the night. Some nights I can get all comfy, but other nights, I toss and turn trying to get comfortable, but just can’t seem to do it.
Stayed in bed until around 7:30 am then got up and had some breakfast. Thought again about going to get the car washed but just was not in the mood to sit at the car wash for 30 minutes waiting for them to wash and dry the car, so I decided to wash it myself in the drive way. That took me about an hour.
Came in and watched a little TV until it was time to leave to meet the group girls for lunch at Rattler’s B-B-Q. There were only five of us for lunch today as Linda had pulled a muscle in her back. Had a great time as usual. These ladies are so much fun to be with. I can’t meet them next week as I have an eye appointment with my retinal specialist at Kaiser.
On the way home, I got stuck in the traffic by the Jr. High. On Tuesdays, they only go to school for half the day and I got there just in time for them all to come running out.
Tomorrow afternoon, I have to drive up to La Canada to see my tax man and to file my taxes.
It was in the mid 70’s here today and a little hazy. I guess there was some fog this morning and even though the sun came out, the dampness hung around all day.

Lunch With Ben's Best Buddy

Up at 6 am because I wanted to have breakfast and then get over to Stater Brothers to do my grocery shopping. My friend Ed is coming to go to lunch today, so I need to get my errands done before he got here.
It’s nice to shop early in the morning because there is hardly anyone in the store. Only problem is they usually only have one checkout lane open.
I have a new pet peeve…I hate when I’m at a stop light and the person in front of me is texting and when the light turns green, they just sit there because they are too busy looking at their phone to know that the light has changed. You can tell that they have been texting because when you honk at them, their head pops up really quick. Guess they don’t know that “no texting when you are behind the wheel of your car” includes when you are stopped at a light. It was bad enough when people were using their cell phones to make calls when they were driving, but texting is worse.
So Ed arrived around 10:30 am and we talked for a while and then headed up to the Sizzler for lunch. I was surprised that there were quite a few people there today, but then it was a holiday and some people didn’t have to work. The prices have gotten so high at Sizzler that a lot of people don’t eat there anymore.
We came back home and played with Hiker out in my yard for a while, then Ed headed for home.
Was about 84° here today. About 15° lower than it was yesterday, but still too hot for February.

Hot Day - Short Hike

Stayed in bed until around 7:45 am this morning then got up and made waffles for breakfast. After breakfast, I washed my sheets and towels and checked email and Facebook.
Watched TV for a while. Then there was another outage with Time Warner, so the TV went off. I decided to take Hiker over to Towsley Canyon for a hike. I know that I keep saying it, but I sure am NOT in good shape anymore. I used to be able to hike 3 to 4 miles with no problem at all, but now I’m lucky if I can do 2 miles. My feet hurt, my leg muscles hurt. I must say though that it was about 80° by the time we got to Towsley so the heat didn’t help either. There were a lot of people there hiking today.
Got back home and the thermometer on my patio read 93° so it was hotter today than it was yesterday. What’s strange is, that when I let Hiker outside at 6 am, it is only about 40° so I have to run the heater for a while to get the chill off the house before we get out of bed.
Since I had shampooed the carpet all of last week, I remembered that I had not cleaned the guest bathroom. Since my friend Ed (Ben’s best buddy) is coming tomorrow to take me to lunch, I thought I’d better clean it.

Feels Like July

I wanted to sleep in until 8 am this morning but Hiker had other plans I guess because she got me out of bed a little after 7 am. We had breakfast and then I checked my email and Facebook.
I did a load of laundry but not much else today. I had planned on taking Hiker for a walk this afternoon but after I had lunch, I looked at the thermometer on my patio and it was 90°. Way too hot to take Hiker out for a walk. The pavement would burn her paws and I don’t like walking in that kind of heat myself.
This is February…it is supposed to be much cooler than this, even her in Southern California. Our normal temps around this time of year are in the 60’s.
So Hiker and I spent most of our day inside the house where it was much cooler. Hope it starts to cool down soon and I hope this is not a preview of our up and coming summer.

A Hike And A Good Lunch

Got up at 6 am this morning as we had our regular dog walk with Jean. I had been in the middle of a dream when my alarm went off. I was dreaming that I went to work part time at some fast food place and I was expected to know what to do without anyone training me. Glad I woke up!
We had seven dogs this morning, including Hiker and Jean’s three dogs. She is dog sitting three other dogs. We headed off on our normal route, but for some reason, Ebony never wants to leave the community. She just sits down and won’t move, but she’s fine as long as we walk around in our neighborhood.
We took the dogs back to my house to play. Was hoping Hiker would play with Schnorkie again, but she was a little shy with all of the extra dogs here.
Around 9:30 am, Jean and I headed over to where the old Corriganville Movie Ranch was in Simi Valley for a 1.5 mile hike. It was about 80° and it felt like summer. Too hot for February. After leaving Corriganville, we drove into the town of Simi Valley to a place called The Hat. They are famous for their pastrami sandwiches, but neither of us like pastrami, so I had a burger and Jean had a steak sandwich. We also ordered their special chili cheese fries. They come in a huge basket so we ended up bringing about half of them home.

My neighbor Jean enjoying the chili cheese fries:

Beautiful Day

Finally finished all of the carpet shampooing. I don’t know how I used to do the entire house in one day. Now it takes me three days and I am so pooped.
By 10 am this morning, it was already 77° on my patio. I had both slider doors open (living room and bedroom) and also had the front door open.
After having lunch and watching Y&R, Hiker and I drove down to the liquor store so I could by my lottery ticket for Saturday and then we went for a short walk down to the park and just sat under the gazebo enjoying the wonderful weather we are having. I’m enjoying the weather, but we still need a lot more rain and I’m afraid we won’t get it now.
I would have liked to walk more today, but I was too tired from doing the shampooing. I’ll get in a walk tomorrow. Jean and I are going over to Simi Valley to the place where Corriganville used to be to walk around the grounds and then we are going over to The Hat for lunch.

Another Day Of Shampooing My Carpet

Slept in some this morning even though I needed to get up and shampoo the carpet in the living room. Started working on it right after breakfast and when I was done, Hiker and I watched Y&R in my bedroom while we waited for the carpet to dry. I left the front door and patio door open because it was in the mid-80s and very windy outside, so I figured that would help it to dry. So now all I have left to do is my bedroom. I’ll do that tomorrow.
I received several encouraging notes from friends and family yesterday about me making the decision to only go to the grief support group once a month or so. Several of them said they were glad to hear that I was moving on because they thought I was still attending every week because I was still in a deep grief and that they were worried about me. Actually, I pretty much moved on a long time ago, but was still attending the sessions every week for the social aspect. When I found out the other ladies were feeling the same way, I made my decision and want everyone to know that I am doing fine. I do feel that people do need grief groups for a while to be with others who totally understand their situation, but there does come a time that weekly sessions are no longer needed.
I had several widows on Facebook tell me that they too stopped going to groups or going to personal therapy about 3 to 3 ½ years after their spouses passed.
It was like summer here today and we are supposed to have the same weather for the next few days. Sure hope it doesn’t dry everything out. The hills are so green right now.

Great Lunch With The Girls Today

I slept in a little longer than I had planned on this morning. To begin with, Hiker was late waking me up to go outside, then I feel back to sleep after she came back inside.
Had some breakfast then watched TV until it was time for me to meet my friends from group for lunch. We had a great time. There were six of us…me, DeDee, Jane, Carol, Linda and Ruth. None of us had seen Ruth for a few months. She had stopped coming to the support group and we were all getting a little worried about her, but Linda got in touch with her and had her meet us today. Ruth has been having some memory problems due to a non-cancerous growth on her brain. She had surgery done on it awhile back and since then she has to write everything down to help her remember.
All of us just decided at the same time that we don’t need to attend the grief support group every week anymore. We were all basically going so we could go to lunch together after the session and we decided that instead of going to group, we’d just meet each other once a week for lunch.
I think Hiker was happy because instead of me being gone for 5 hours, I was only gone for about 2 hours.
It was beautiful outside today. We had some drizzle type rain over the last few days and it cleared up the air. The sun was out and the sky was dark blue.

Carpet Cleaning

Got up a little after 7 am, had breakfast, and then vacuumed the front bedroom and dining area so I could start shampooing my carpet. Took me about an hour and 15 minutes to do while Hiker hid outside. While waiting for it to dry, she could not understand why I had those areas blocked off so she could not walk on them. What’s amazing is that I just had my carpets professionally cleaned 6 months ago and it is already filthy again. The water the shampooer sucked out of the carpet was black! I was told I should have it professionally cleaned at least once a year, but I’m not going to pay $300 a year to have it done when it’s filthy again in 6 months. I just hope I won’t be sore when I wake up tomorrow morning.
After lunch, the carpet was dry, so I vacuumed and raked it and then put the furniture back, and then I put Hiker in the car and went to buy my lottery tickets. I was beautiful outside. Too bad Hiker and I were not able to get out and walk or hike in it, but I want to get the carpet cleaning done and this week is perfect for it because it will be in the mid-70s to low 80s all week.
I won’t be cleaning any carpet tomorrow because I’m going to meet the group ladies for lunch. None of us are going to the group session, but we are meeting over at BJ’s Restaurant and Brewery.

Hanging Out At Home

Woke up around 3 am this morning with a bloated feeling in my stomach. Wasn’t really a stomach ache, but it didn’t feel good. Took some Pepto and went back to bed. Hiker woke me up again at 6 am to let her outside, then we went back to bed and I turned on the TV to watch the local news and then CBS Sunday Morning.
Finally got out of bed around 8 am, but still didn’t feel quite right. It’s strange because I don’t really feel sick, just don’t feel like I should. I was able to eat some pancakes for breakfast.
Washed my sheets and towels and then made the bed.
It was very cloudy when we got up this morning, but by noon, the sun was out. Made baked garlic salmon and rice pilaf for lunch.
I had planned on taking Hiker out for a walk this afternoon, but still didn’t feel that well, so we didn’t go out. So I just vegged out on the sofa all day.

I was so tired last night. I sat down around 7:00 pm to watch a travel documentary about San Francisco on Amazon and I kept dozing off. I finally gave up and went to bed just before 8 pm and was asleep by 8:30 pm. Hiker woke me up around 5 am because she had not gone out for potty since 7:30 am last night. We went back to bed for a while.
Got up and put some laundry in the washer. Wanted to get it done before I had to go over and pick up Jean. We went to the second annual Golden Years Expo. We didn’t know about it last year, but wanted to go this year. They had information about insurance plans, health care facilities, elder law help, long term facilities, etc. They also gave out a bunch of free stuff like pedometers, pens, lip balm, hand sanitizer, etc. Came home with a bunch of reusable tote bags too which is good because as of July 1st our stores will no longer be using plastic shopping bags.
While at the expo, I ran into my friend Lisa who works for my attorney. She was at the hospital with me many times when Ben was ill. She is a vocational nurse, so my attorney would have her go with me whenever I had trouble getting the doctors to listen to me. Also ran into my friends Linda and Jane from the support group.
After the expo, Jean and I headed over to Lily’s Café for lunch. Lily’s is always packed with people because their food is good and not very expensive.
When we came out of Lily’s, it had started to rain, so we headed home. Hiker and I just stayed in and watched TV the rest of the day.

Due to the 80+ temps we had last week, my daffodils are blooming already.

Finally Friday

Another night of not getting much sleep. It all started when just before 9:30 pm, Time Warner had a major outage. They lost their Internet, TV and phone service. I have Internet and TV with them. I was just getting ready to go to bed when it went out. Ever since Ben died, I cannot go to sleep without having the TV on in my bedroom. The outage lasted almost 3 hours, so I didn’t get to sleep until after 12:30 am. Then while sleeping, I must have been snoring or something because I woke up choking on my own spittle. I started coughing and this went on for almost an hour. So I didn’t get back to sleep again until about 3 am. Got up at 6 am to get ready to go for a dog walk with Jean.
Was very pleased with Hiker this morning. Ever since Jean got Schnorkie, Hiker has been a little apprehensive of him because he is just a puppy and he acts like one. She would try to avoid him and sometimes she would hide under my patio chair. I’ve been talking to her about him, telling her that she needs to make friends with him and start playing with him. Well today she actually instigated playing with him in my yard. They played for about 45 minutes until Jean went home. If you did not see the video of them playing on Facebook, I’ve added a link to the video on YouTube.
I noticed the other evening that there was a tiny leak on the toilet I had fixed last Monday. It was coming from the filler hose. I emptied the toilet tank and noticed that the washer in the filler hose didn’t look like it was seated correctly, so I made an adjustment and now it does not leak. I always changed the filler tube myself when it went bad, so I knew how to fix this problem. I had hired the handyman to fix the flush valve because it involved removing the tank from the toilet, and I had never done that before. Didn’t want to chance messing anything up.
I did some housework and then checked my email and Facebook. Then watched some TV. While watching Y&R, I told Hiker that when it was over she and I could drive up to Vasquez Rocks and hike a little. She is so smart. I always tell her to listen for the closing music on Y&R to know when it’s time to leave. When she hears the music, she comes running to me on the sofa and starts taking my wrist in her mouth and pulling me so I’ll get up and go. I swear she is part human.
The weather was nice today. Sunny and in the low 80’s with high clouds

Here is the link for the video:.

Hiker & Schnorkie At Play

Nice Day For Lunch With Friends

For some reason, I could not get comfortable in bed last night. Took me quite a while to finally fall asleep.
Got up around 7:15 am and had breakfast and then took Hiker out for a 2 mile walk. The weather was beautiful. The sun was out and it was in the mid 60’s when we were walking.
I got together with several of the retired Lockheed girls for lunch at Round Table Pizza. For those of you who know them, it was Kay Limpus, Marce Smith, Robyn Boyd, Sandi Owens, Gail Plessner and DeDee Parenteau. We thought we were going to have a nice quiet lunch, but about 15 minutes after we sat down about 30 or 40 kids from the Pinecrest Private School came and they were so noisy that we could not even hear ourselves think. At least they all sat in the “party room” but while they were standing in line, we couldn’t hear what any of us were saying.
Actually there were a lot of people in the restaurant today. I’ve been there about 3 or 4 other times and usually there are only 1 or 2 other people there. In fact, the last time Keith and I went there, we were the only people in there for over an hour.
We all discussed the fact that Lockheed is taking away our Retired Group Insurance Plan. So many people are totally confused on what they are supposed to do. Sandi and I were trying to explain it to them as we have already spoken with OneExchange.
Got up to 88° here today.

Warm Wednesday

Not much going on today. Hiker and I got up around 7:30 am and had some breakfast and then I headed over to Wal-Mart to do a little shopping. This was not a “fun” shopping trip. It was for stuff I needed.
Came home and sprayed a bunch of weeds. Weed killer was one of the things I needed when I went to Wal-Mart. We’ve had just enough rain to make the weeds spread on the slope on the north side of my house.
Ran my weekly scans on my computers and watched Y&R.
After lunch, I put Hiker in the car and we headed out for a ride and while we were out, I stopped at the Goodwill donation station to drop off a bag of clothes.
Tomorrow I’ll be meeting several of the retired Lockheed girls for lunch. We are going out for pizza.
Was another warm day here in SoCal. Got up to 86° on my patio.

Typical Tuesday

It sure was nice not having to go to the front of the house to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Hiker woke me up around 4 am. I told her she needed to lay down and go back to sleep for a while. She woke me up again at 6 am, so I fed her and let her go outside, then I turned on the TV in the bedroom to watch the news. Got up before 7 am.
Went to my support group and the senior center today. I have come to a decision that I don’t need to attend the group every week now. I might go once a month, but I’ve decided to move on and start doing other activities.
Had a really nice lunch with the group girls today. We went to Red Robin. Had a really nice waiter.
Weather was beautiful here today. Sunny and 86°. Would you believe that my daffodils in the front flower bed are already starting to bloom?

A Busy Monday

Up early for our Monday dog walk. Hiker and Schnorkie actually played together some during the doggy play date. Hiker is still a little hesitant about Schnorkie though. He is still a puppy and very “bouncy” and Hiker is not used to that.
After the dog walk, Hiker and I had some breakfast and then I headed over to Sam’s Club. I hate it when you are used to them having a certain brand and then suddenly they no longer have them. I like to buy Tropicana refrigerated orange juice in the gallon size and my Sam’s Club is no longer selling Tropicana, so I’ll have to try to get some at Wal-Mart on Wednesday when I go over there. Wal-Mart had it the last time I needed some.
Got to speak to one of my retired Lockheed friends (Claire Meador) on the phone today. She wanted to discuss the change in our Lockheed Group Insurance. I have not seen her for several years. It was nice to talk to her.
Got a call from the foreman of our community construction crew and he said someone would be here around 3 pm to work on my broken toilet. Hope they don’t run into any problems. I am so tired of having to walk to the front of the house in the middle of the night when I have to go potty.
Aha…he just arrived.

Simple Sunday

Hiker woke me up around 5 am this morning and went to the patio door to go outside. This was strange because she normally doesn’t wake me up until around 6 am to go potty. I guess she really had to go. So when she came back in, we went back to bed until she woke me up again at 6 am because she was hungry. After I fed her, we went back to bed again. I had planned to watch “CBS Sunday Morning” from 6:30 am to 8:00 am like I usually do, but after I turned on the TV, I fell back to sleep and didn’t wake up until 8:30 am. I think I got too much sleep because I really felt groggy.
Got up and had breakfast and changed the sheets on my bed and washed the sheets and towels. Then I paid a bill before I went outside to fill my three hummingbird feeders while Hiker wandered around the back yard sniffing everything.
Watched some TV until it was lunch time. After lunch, I took Hiker over to Central Park for an afternoon walk. There was a lot of people in the park, but then it is Sunday.
Today was not as pretty as it was yesterday. Was still sunny and got unto the mid-80’s, but there were high thin clouds. I like big, fluffy clouds.