Still Too Hot To Go Outside

Woke up at 6 am but didn’t get out of bed until 7 am. I wanted to run some errands this morning, but some of the stores I wanted to go to didn’t open until 9 am.
Put a boneless chicken breast in the crock pot for my dinner tonight and later I’ll add some egg noodles to it.
I left the house around 8:30 am and it was already in the low 70’s here. We had high, thin clouds so it was feeling a little humid, but that’s a good thing in case of a brush fire.
Cannot believe it is already the last day of April. Seems like we just had the Holidays and started a New Year.
Hiker and I stayed inside most of the day because it was too hot outside. Got up to 95° on my patio again. I sure hope we get some more cooler days before summer gets here.

Here is a link to a short video of Hiker barking at me to come outside and play, but it was too damned hot.

Hiker "Talking" To Me

Summer Already?

Woke up around 1:30 am with a terrible stomach ache this morning. Was not the kind that makes you throw-up. I’m guessing that it was from something I ate at the Souplantation yesterday because I remember the last time I went there, I had the same problem. Won’t be eating there anymore.
I had planned to get up early, have breakfast and then get over to Sam’s Club early to do my shopping, but since I was up for about 30 minutes with the stomach ache and then could not go back to sleep for a while, I decided to stay in bed for a while this morning.
I did go over to Sam’s Club, but just later than I had planned. At least Sam’s Club is never crowded like Costco. That’s why I dropped my Costco membership. I could never find a place to park and the store was always jammed with people. Never have trouble finding a place to park at Sam’s and I like their store better because it seems cleaner to me. They have pretty much the same kind of merchandise that Costco does.
When I got home around 10 am, it was already 85° on my patio thermometer. Speaking of my indoor/outdoor thermometer. For some reason it kept beeping, which scares Hiker half to death. I don’t know why beeps, dings, etc. scare her. She hates the ringtones and alert sounds on my cell phone. She tries to hide in small places when she hears them, or she tries to get behind me on the sofa.
Had to run my A/C this afternoon. Was in the high 90’s here.

Out For Lunch On A Hot Day

Hiker did something strange last night. She was asleep at my feet on the sofa. Suddenly, she woke up, raised her head and started looking around frantically. First she looked behind her on the right, then on the left. Her eyes were huge. Then she jumped off the sofa and started looking around the room like she was searching for something. She looked at the ceiling and then at me, like she was trying to figure out where she was. I said her name and went to her and started petting her and she calmed down some, but she still acted strange until we went to bed. I’m thinking she must have been having a dream and when she woke up, she was trying to get her bearings like we sometimes do when we wake up from a dream. She seemed fine this morning.
Met the group girls for lunch at the Souplantation over in Valencia. They brought a new member of the group named Robin. She is very nice. Her husband died about a year ago. Hope she continues to join us.
Very hot here today. Was 95° on my patio thermometer when I got home from lunch a little after 2 pm. We go from chilly, cloudy, and drizzly to summer in just 2 days. Amazing.

Windy Day

Up early for our dog walk with Jean. Very windy here all day. They are Santa Ana Winds and are warm, so at 6 am this morning, it was already 63° on my patio.
Had breakfast and then went to get lottery tickets. Did some work outside around the yard.
Got ready to settle down to watch Y&R but it was pre-empted by CBS-LA news because a brush fire broke out over in Granada Hills, so they were covering that. Granada Hills is to the south of us, over in the San Fernando Valley, about 10 to 15 miles away from Canyon Country where I live. There were several homes being threatened. Here in SoCal, so many neighborhoods have been built up into the canyons. They keep building houses in the canyons here in the Santa Clarita Valley, so when the hills catch fire, houses are always threatened.
About an hour and a half after the first fire, a second fire started about 5 miles away from the first fire. They don’t think it was a flying ember as the wind was blowing in the opposite direction.
So I will have to remember to watch Y&R on the POP Channel at 7 pm tonight.
Mopped my floors this afternoon. Had the doors open so it all dried really fast from the wind.

Perfect Sunday

Stayed in bed until almost 8:30 am this morning, but I was not asleep. I was watching “CBS Sunday Morning”. Got up and made some pancakes for breakfast and then Hiker and I drove over to Central Park for a morning walk.
There were a lot of people there this morning. I wasn’t sure if I was going to find a place to park. There were people flying kites, walking their dogs, jogging, playing soccer, playing softball and playing Frisbee golf.
Did some laundry after we got home and changed the sheets on the bed, then watched TV.
After lunch, we went out on the patio. It was such a pretty day. Sunny, breezy, 75°. Just a perfect Sunday afternoon.

Our morning walk in the park

My patio decorations

Home And Garden Show

Another gray and cloudy day here in SoCal. My brother Ron in northern California has been getting a little bit of rain, and my brother Keith said they had some drizzle yesterday, but so far, I have not seen a drop, mist or drizzle here in Santa Clarita.
My neighbor Jean and I went over to the Hyatt in Valencia this morning for the annual Home and Garden Show/Emergency Expo. I mostly like talking with the Red Cross people, the firefighters, the law enforcement and the animal control/rescue people. Also got some good information from the SCV water agencies about maintaining our lawns and shrubs during this drought.
I could not believe how many swimming pool and spa people were there trying to sell their products. Anyone with any brain would not be purchasing a pool or a spa during a 5 year drought.
Went outside to refill a couple of my hummer feeders and noticed it was pretty “nippy” out there. Hiker went out a couple of times after the mowers came, but she didn’t stay very long, so I think she noticed it too.

Another Stay Inside, Cloudy Day

Up early for the Friday dog walk and play date with Jean and her 3 pups. Very gray and cloudy again, but still no rain here. They claim it’s been raining in the mountains. It even snowed in Big Bear, CA yesterday, but it didn’t stick. It was chilly while we were out on my patio. After the walk when Hiker and I came back into the house, I had to turn on my heater for a little while to get the chill off the inside of the house.
This morning, Hiker noticed a black cat walking around in my back yard and she was having a fit, but I would not let her outside. Then later Hiker and I were sitting on the sofa when a squirrel went across the top of my back fence and Hiker saw it. She went charging out into the yard. The squirrel took off and jumped into my shade tree and climbed to the top as fast as it could. Hiker sat under the tree looking up at the squirrel while the squirrel stared down at Hiker making chattering noises at her. Sounded like they were having an argument.
After lunch I did some house cleaning, which is one of my favorite things to do…NOT!
This afternoon, Hiker and I were once again sitting on the sofa when 2 finches landed on my fence. Hiker went to the sliding door to look at them and then a raven landed on the fence right next to them and when Hiker saw that, she once again charged out into the yard to chase it away. She doesn’t want any other creatures in her yard. There were quite a few of them today.
Stayed cloudy and gray all day, but not a drop of rain. My brother Keith texted me that it had drizzled down in Orange County. Hoping the sun comes out tomorrow because my neighbor Jean and I are going to the Emergency Expo/Home And Garden Show over at the Hyatt.

Another Mostly Cloudy Day

When I woke up just before 6 am to let Hiker outside, I was in the middle of one of my strange dreams, but I remember quite a bit of this one.
I was at home, but naturally it didn’t look like my home. I knew I had to get ready to go to work. Why I dream about going to work so much, I will never know. So I’m in my garage. I had just bought an antique car, like a Model T or something. I was looking at it before I went into the house to get dressed for work. I was having trouble finding the clothes I wanted to wear. Searching, all of the time watching the clock. Finally I’m “mostly” ready. I could not find my shoes. Got into my car and headed for work and as always when I have “work dreams”, it was nighttime. I kept thinking maybe I’d just call in sick and go back home. After all I knew I was “graduating” soon. Yep, in the dream I was graduating, NOT retiring. So I get to the parking lot, park the car and head into the building, but I cannot remember where my office is located. I finally say to heck with it and decide to go back home, but when I get to the parking lot, I cannot remember where I parked my car. That’s when I woke up.
Told you it was strange. When I woke up, I felt exhausted. Probably from all of the hurrying in my stupid dream.
Ya know…the bed feels sooooo good when I sleep in. I feel like lying there all day. But I have to get up and when I do, I feel like the stuff Hiker leaves in the back yard (LOL!). It makes me feel so lazy that I just don’t want to do anything. I was on a roll there for a few days…getting up early and going walking or hiking, but then the cloudy weather came and it stopped. I really do think that the weather has a lot to do with it. When the morning is clear and sunny, I feel like getting up and getting out.
After breakfast, Hiker and I went to buy the lottery tickets than came back home where I had to do some housework (YUCK!).
I had to do “surgery” on one of Hiker’s toys. She had ripped a hole in him from shaking him so hard and his squeaker was starting to come out. Didn’t want her to swallow it, so I took it out and then sewed up the hole. When I’m sewing, she sits at my feet waiting for me to get done and then she takes the toy and goes off with it and takes a nap.
Well, they had promised us rain today, but so far have not seen a drop. It was mostly cloudy with the sun peeking in and out like it did yesterday. I did some inside walking exercises with a Leslie Sansone DVD. Did a mile in 20 minutes.

Sun - No Sun - Sun - No Sun

Hiker woke me up whimpering at 6:01 am. I guess she heard the chimes on the grandfather clock and I didn’t, so she decided to wake me up to let her outside. I don’t know how she learned to tell time (LOL).
Went back to bed when she came in, but didn’t go back to sleep. I turned on the local news and Hiker and I cuddled.
Got up at 7 am and had breakfast, then I headed out to do my grocery shopping. The sun was peeking out when we first got up, but then it started to get cloudy as the morning turned into afternoon.
But then the sun came out again after lunch, so Hiker and I went for a walk down through Discovery Park and then along the Santa Clara Riverbed path and back.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Cool And Cloudy Today

I did not want to get out of bed this morning. Hiker got me up at her usually 6 am to go outside. I was so groggy for some reason. We went right back to bed and I immediately fell asleep again.
When 8 am rolled around, I still did not want to get up, but I did.
Just sat around watching TV until it was time for me to leave to head over to Marie Calendar’s to meet the “group girls” for lunch. Lunch was fun. Maria Calendar’s has a good menu with lots of choices and their food is good, but they are expensive. But only go there now and then.
It was actually cold and cloudy outside all day today. They had said we might have some sprinkles today, but never saw any. We are supposed to actually have a rain storm come through Thursday and Friday, so maybe I need to get out tomorrow to do my grocery shopping.
Hope people are not still getting bogus emails from my email address. Hopefully since I changed my password, nothing else will happen. I even went into several of my credit card accounts and changed my password just to be safe.

Was I Hacked?

Had our dog walk with Jean this morning. After she left and I had breakfast, I just felt like making today a “do nothing” day. Since we got up early yesterday and this morning, plus last night I stayed up watching the Academy of Country Music Awards, I felt tired. Could also be from the hike we did yesterday.
I usually do not watch award shows, but decided to watch the country one last night. I used to watch the country ones all of the time, but I barely listen to the radio anymore, so I have no idea who most of the new artists are. But since this was the 50th year and they were having several of my old favorites like Reba, Garth, Alan Jackson, George Strait and Brooks & Dunn, I decided to watch. Some of the people who claim to be country singers these days don’t sing country music as far as I’m concerned.
So as I said, I was LAZY all day. For some reason I was just really tired.
Guess my email address got hacked today. I started getting several emails from friends and family telling me they had gotten a very strange looking email from me. I did not send the email, so I went into my email account and changed my password. Hope that does the trick.
If you got an email from me with nothing in the body but a link, don’t open it.

Nice Morning Hike Today

I know I had said I was NOT going to get up early over this weekend, but I did. Hiker and I got up at 6 am and by 7 am, we were heading up to Vasquez Rocks County Park. By 7:25 we were there, but to my surprise, the entrance gate was still closed. They don’t open until 8 am. I thought they were open from sunrise to sunset like some of the other open areas are.
To kill some time, Hiker and I took a nice early morning drive over to the little town of Acton, then headed back to Vasquez. There were a lot of docents there today cleaning the area up. For a while, there weren’t many other hikers or climbers, but more were coming in as the morning went on.
I was looking to see if there were any more wild flowers to photograph, but the majority of them have wilted and died. The last time Hiker and I were at Vasquez, about a month ago, everything was so green and there were wild flowers all over, but now everything has dried out and turned brown.
We didn’t have a specific trail that we were going to hike, so we just more or less meandered all over the park. We hiked almost 2 miles and I took several photos. I have so many photographs of the Vasquez Rocks area. People probably get tired of looking at them, but the colors are always changing and the shadows are always changing.
When my feet and knees started to hurt, I knew it was time to head for home.
When we got back home, Hiker went out into the back yard to take a nap while I washed my sheets. I also decided I needed a haircut, so I took care of that before I finally sat down to check my email.
For the rest of the day, I watched TV while Hiker napped in one spot of the house and then, would move to another, and then to another.
Some Finches have found her outside water bowl and for some reason, they sit on the rim of it and poop into her water. She saw one out there a while ago and couldn’t wait to get out there to chase it away. Good girl Hiker!

Feeling More And More Like Summer Here

Went to bed around 9 pm last night but didn’t fall asleep until about 10:30. Woke up several times during the night but was able to go back to sleep pretty quickly. Had my “usual” strange dreams.
Hiker didn’t wake me up until 6:32 am to go outside. I was so drowsy that we went right back to bed when she came back in. Dozed off and on until just before 8 am and finally got out of bed.
Did my usual Saturday morning stuff…a load of laundry, sorting all of my pills in my big pill organizer for next week, waited for the mowers to come do the yard.
After lunch, Hiker and I went for a walk. It didn’t feel too hot when we started out even though it was about 82°. There was a nice breeze blowing, but then on the way back, it started to feel hotter. At least we got out for some exercise and sunshine.
I uncovered my A/C unit and turned it on to make sure it’s working before summer gets here. I always like to check it out in case I have to call someone to repair it. The air blowing out of the vents seemed to be nice and cold, so seems OK.

Relaxing Friday

This morning we got up at 6 am, but it was to do our Friday dog walk with Jean. For some reason while we were out, Hiker was acting very nervous. You could tell she was on high alert just by her body language. I could not get her to calm down for anything.
We came back to my house to let the dogs play and she was a little better, but still kept trying to climb into my lap, which we all know is not normal for her as she is NOT a lap dog.
After Jean left, I had breakfast and then I filled 2 of my hummer feeders. Those little buggers empty them out so fast. When I only had 1 hummer, I only filled the 1 feeder I had about every 7 to 10 days. Now I fill the 3 feeders I have about every 3 to 4 days. The hummer that I did the video on the other day kept hanging around me while I was putting the feeders back up. He’s a brave little guy.
Also, since it is my water day, I went out and checked several of my sprinkler heads. Some of them were not spraying much, while others were spraying the side walk in the back yard, so I was changing the heads and adjusting them to water the grass and not the concrete.
I was so tired today. I’ve been getting up early for the past 3 or 4 days, but I’m still not falling asleep at night until around 11 pm, sometimes later. Need to get my body back into a routine for sleep.
Had considered driving up to Vasquez Rocks this afternoon to walk Hiker around and take some photographs, but was just too tired to drive.
I’ve decided that Hiker and I are going to sleep in both Saturday and Sunday. The weekends are always more crowded in the parks and on the trails, so I’d rather do our walking/hiking on week days. We will get back to the early morning walks again next week. My doctor said as long as I walk 3 to 5 days a week, I’m fine.

Hiker relaxing on the patio

Another Early Day

Hiker and I were up early again this morning. Even though I kept waking up during the night, we were up at 6 am. For some reason, I had trouble falling asleep and once I did, I kept waking up. I woke up around 1 am and didn’t go back to sleep until almost 3 am. I just turned on the TV and eventually it lulled me back to sleep.
We left the house around 7 am and drove over to Central Park to walk around on some of the trails and through the main part of the park. There were actually quite a few people there with dogs, plus other walkers and joggers, and the maintenance crew was there working on the lawns.
We did just under 2 miles again then headed back home.
The rest of the day, we just hung out in the house. I watched Y&R, made some lunch and then I did some housework.
Was a beautiful day outside. Hiker spent a lot of time in the back yard, especially while I was using the vacuum.
Heard that there have already been 2 brush fires, but not near me. They have us on a “red flag warning” due to the lack of rain and now we are having Santa Ana Winds.

Felt Energetic Today

Well believe it or not, Hiker and I were out of bed at 6 am and out for a morning walk at 6:45 am. The sun was just starting to come up over the mountains. It was not chilly this morning as the Santa Ana Winds were blowing and they are always warm.
I tried a new app on my iPhone called “Every Body Walk” which is sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. I used it along with the app I normally use which is the “MapMyFitness” app. They did not register the same exact numbers, but they were close. I don’t know why, but I feel that the “MapMyFitness” app is more accurate.
Speaking of apps, I used to have a Kaiser Permanente app on my phone that showed me my Kaiser account just like I use on their website, but yesterday I noticed that the app was not working. I went into the app store to look for it to download it again and was told that the app is no longer available at the app store in the United States. That is totally weird.
After we got home from our walk, I ran the weekly scans on my computers while having breakfast, then watched TV while Hiker chased birds in the back yard.
While watching Y&R and eating lunch, I noticed that one of my resident hummers was perched on a branch by my fence. I noticed the hummer sitting there for about 10 minutes, so I grabbed my camera and my tripod hoping it would not fly away. Well it was still there so I started filming it as it preened itself. After it flew away, it returned for another 5 minutes and then flew away again. It returned several times during the afternoon. I think it was enjoying the sunshine. I got a pretty good video of it.
I don’t know if it was my imagination, but I felt like I had more energy today. So much so that I didn’t even mind cleaning the guest bathroom. Could it be because I got up early and walked for almost 2 miles this morning?

A Hummingbird Video

I noticed one of my resident hummers perched on a branch this morning while Hiker was out playing in the yard. I noticed the hummer sitting there for about 10 minutes, so I grabbed my camera and my tripod hoping it would not fly away. Well it was still there so I started filming it as it preened itself. After it flew away, it returned for another 5 minutes and then flew away again.

Check out the link below to see the video:

Happy Hummer

Lunch With The Ladies Tuesday

Did not get out of bed until 8 am this morning and I really did not want to get up then. I am telling my brain that I need to get back to getting up earlier in the morning and I REALLY need to get back to morning walks or hikes every single day like I used to do when I first retired 9 years ago. Actually I was still walking every day 5 years ago before Ben died. When he went into the hospital, that stopped and after he died, I just didn’t feel like walking, or doing anything else for that matter. When I got Hiker, I got back into walking and hiking again, but not as often as I really should. Now that I’ve been diagnosed with Osteopenia I need to get out more.
I know that if I start getting out walking more, I’ll lose some weight and I’ll have more energy. I just need to force myself to do it.
I met the group ladies for lunch at a new place today. None of us had ever been there. It was called Buffalo Wild Wings. It was “OK’ but we won’t go back again. The food was not all that great and it was pricey for what you got. It is a sports bar.
Three of the ladies wanted to meet Hiker, so I drove them over to my house. I could not believe how good Hiker was. Usually when stranger come to meet her, she barks, nips and their heels and growls a lot. I had warned her before I went to lunch that I might bring people home and that I wanted her to be a good girl. Well, she was. No barking, no nipping, no growling and she let them pet her without any problem. Guess she does listen to me (LOL).

Things Are Turning Brown

Did our Monday dog walk with Jean and her dogs this morning. She is boarding Rev for a few days. He is a Cockapoo. Hiker is a little intimidated by him, but not as much as she used to be.
After the walk, we let the dogs play some and then after Jean went home, I made some breakfast for me and Hiker.
I had to go over to Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club to get a few items plus I needed gas in the car. Got back home just in time to watch Y&R and then have some lunch.
After lunch, I took one of my digital cable boxes over to the Time Warner store to swap it out for a newer one. Mine was giving me problems. I would be watching a show and the screen would go black with a message “please wait” and then after about a minute it would tell me the channel I was watching was not available at this time. It was also very slow when I would change channels. I was getting a lot of pixelating, etc. I think I’ve had that box for about 3 years. I don’t think they last much longer than that.
Came back home and hooked up the newer box and then called to have the box activated. That usually takes 30 to 60 minutes, so I took Hiker over to Todd Longshore Park for a little while. We walked a little bit, but not much. All of the hills that were so green are now turning brown due to the lack of rain and the fact that we are approaching summer.

Talk About A Lazy Sunday!

When I got up around 6 am to let Hiker outside this morning, I felt like I could not wake up. Waited for Hiker to come back inside and then went back to bed and fell right back to sleep.
Last night was another one of those nights where I had crazy dreams all night long. Don’t really remember what they were all about, except that I remember I was at a car wash in one of them and in another one, I was driving around for hours running errands.
When I have these kinds of dreams, I always wake up exhausted the next morning. It’s as if I was really running around all night.
Didn’t have any plans for today, so I pulled the sheets off of my bed and gathered up all of my towels and threw them into the washing machine. Hiker went outside and laid in the sunshine.
I really should have gone out for a walk with Hiker today, but I just was not in the mood.
I was going through some old photographs to find some for my “4GottenFotos” blog and for my “Throwback Thursday” photos on Facebook. I sure am glad everything went digital. It is so much easier to store and look for photos on my computer than to go through the box full of old printed photos. I never realized how many printed photos I had.
My brother Ron called me from up north this afternoon. He just felt like chatting. He is still trying to decide if he is going to drive down here for a visit this summer.

Today Went By Quick

My neighbor Jean and I went over to Central Park this morning. Our city was holding its annual Earth Day/Arbor Day Festival there. It was supposed to start at 10 am, so we left home around 9:30 am. When we got there, we could not believe how full the parking lots were already. There was a long line of people waiting to get free trees and other plants and that was where I found my friend from Linda from the grief group I used to go to. She is one of the ladies I still meet up with for lunch every week. She eventually got out of the line because her son-in-law told her that he looked at what they were giving away this year, and they didn’t look that good.
Jean and I walked around to check out all of the free stuff in all of the booths that were set up. We always get such cool stuff like free lip balm, free hand sanitizer, pens, pencils, toothbrushes, reusable tote bags, water saving shower heads, mini-flashlights. Some years they have a lot of free stuff and some years they don’t. We mainly go for the freebies (LOL).
Got back home just in time to let my mowers into my back yard. They were next door when I pulled up, and they had already done my front yard, but they came back once I opened up the garage for them to go through.
Noticed that the filler valve in my guest bathroom toilet was making a “whistling” noise. Also it was not shutting off every time and it was putting too much water in the tank. Trying to adjust it didn’t work, so luckily I had a spare one, so I changed it out. I’ve changed the filler valves so many times that I can do it in about 5 minutes.
Was just lazy the rest of the day. I’ll have to try to get out for a walk with Hiker tomorrow.

It's Friday

Got up early for our dog walk with Jean. Even though the temperature outside was in the mid-40’s, I didn’t have to turn on the heater to warm up the house this morning.
We did our dog walk and dog play date. After Jean went home, I put my old ottoman bed out in my driveway with a “free” sign on it. Around 12:30 or so, a couple of guys came by in a truck and picked it up. That is one thing about our neighborhood, if you want to get rid of something, you can usually just put it out by the curb and someone will pick it up in a few hours.
Since Jean and I are going to our city’s Earth Day/Arbor Day festival tomorrow, I decided to do my laundry today. Also vacuumed the carpet while Hiker hid outside in the yard. I wonder if she will ever get used to the vacuum.
Had to fill a couple of my hummer feeders. Those little buggers just empty them out so fast, especially now that I have 3 hummers in my yard instead of just 1. I think the 1 that was always here found a mate and they had a baby, so hopefully they will keep nesting in my tree and keep having more babies.
Got a letter from my current mortgage service telling me that a different company will be handling my mortgage starting April 15th. Nice of them to let us know only 5 days before the changeover. This will be about the 4th or 5th time that my mortgages has been bought out since Ben and I bought the house 20 years ago. The last change, which happened about 2 years ago, was terrible because the company that bought it was not a regular mortgage company. They were just a loan payment collection company and for the first 3 months after the change, they had my account all messed up. Jean has her mortgage with the same company and they had her account messed up too, so we are both hoping that this time, the new company will keep everything straight.

Nice Day With An Old Friend

Stayed in bed until 8 am again this morning. Also had to turn the heater on again to get the chill of the house. It was 42° at 6 am and 44° at 8 am. I was awake watching TV with the covers pulled way up and Hiker cuddled under her blanket.
Just watched some TV this morning. My friend Ed (Ben’s best buddy) got here a little after 10:30 am. It always takes Hiker a little while to adjust to him. He’s a nice guy, but a very “strange” guy and for some reason, Hiker just doesn’t take to him until he is here for a while. Once she gets used to him, she will play ball with him, but she still keeps an eye on him.
Ed and I went over to Round Table Pizza for their pizza and salad buffet. Thought we were going to have a repeat of the last time I was there with my retired Lockheed girlfriends. If you recall, on that day about 30 private school kids came crashing in making all kinds of noise and we could not hear ourselves think. Plus the adults who were supervising them did nothing to quiet them down. Well right after Ed and I sat down, about 15 school aged kids came in, but these kids were younger and they didn’t make hardly any noise at all, so it wasn’t bad.
Ed left to head back home to Pomona, CA around 1:45 pm. Hiker seems fine with him just about the time Ed gets ready to leave. This happens every time Ed comes to visit. Ed says it’s just Hiker’s way of protecting me.
Was a little hazy this morning, but the afternoon turned out to be nice and sunny.

Pretty Day After The Rain

This cooler weather we’ve been having for the past 2 days has really made me sleepy. I have slept through almost the entire night for the past 2 nights without waking up. Hiker still wakes me up early to go outside.
I usually send my brothers an email each morning while Hiker is outside doing her business to let them know I am OK, but this morning, I was still so asleep that I totally forgot to send the email. At 8 am, when Hiker got me out of bed, I got a text from my brother Keith asking if I was OK since he had not seen the regular morning email from me.
The past 2 mornings have been chilly here too. 40° outside and 60° inside, so I’ve had to turn my heater on to warm the house up.
So Hiker is slowly starting to get up on the new futon. I don’t think she likes the fact that she cannot see out of the window when she is on it like she could when she used to sleep on the ottoman bed.
For some reason, the futon is very easy to adjust into the bed position, but I’m having trouble getting it to go back into the sofa position. I just can’t get the hang of it. It seems the weight from the mattress makes it hard. When the mattress is not on the frame, it goes back into the sofa position very easily, but when I put the mattress back on the frame, I cannot get it to work. The mattress is pretty heavy as it is a thick one with pocketed coils. Good thing I don’t have to adjust it very often, only when Keith is here, and then maybe he can help me get it to work.
After lunch, Hiker and I drove over to Bridgeport Lake for a walk. There were a lot of people out there with their dogs and a lot of ducks and geese. One of the Canadian Geese hissed at Hiker. They can be pretty mean.
My walking is slowing down since I’m getting older. When I first retired 9 years ago, I walked every day, sometimes twice a day and I always did 2 to 4 miles, walking 4 miles per hour. Now I walk about 3 to 5 times a week and I walk 3 miles per hour. But at least I’m walking more again and even though I’m slower and don’t walk as far, it’s better than not walking at all.

Cloudy Day

I was very lazy this morning. Hiker woke me up around 5:45 am to go outside. While I was waiting for her to come back in, I was sitting on the sofa and I kept falling asleep. When she came back in, we went back to bed and I fell right back to sleep. Around 7:45 am, Hiker decided it was time for me to wake up and she started poking me with her cold nose and making noises. When I tried to ignore by pulling the covers up over my head, she started pawing at me. Decided she wasn’t going to leave me alone so I decided to get up.
I actually had to turn the heater on this morning. I noticed it was chilly in the house when I had gotten up to let Hiker outside, but I didn’t turn the heater on then. When I got up to get dressed, it was only 60° in the house, so I turned it on for a while.
The sun was shining when we first got up, but then it got really dark and cloudy. But by 11 am, the sun was out again. The TV weather people kept saying we would get rain by late afternoon. My older brother Ron had emailed that it had been raining at his house in northern California all morning.
I’m afraid it will be raining when the delivery guys come with my futon. They are supposed to be here between 4 pm and 8 pm and the rain is supposed to start around 3 pm and they say it will rain for about 3 or 4 hours.
Hiker and I stayed inside all day. Only time I went out was to go up to the mailbox and I noticed it was drizzling. That was around 1:45 pm.

Pretty Normal Monday

Up at 6 am this morning. It was cloudy and chilly outside when we left for our dog walk at 7:30 am. We are supposed to have rain tomorrow, but it actually looked like it would start raining at any minute when we were walking, but the sun came out around 9:30 am.
After breakfast, I went over to Stater Brothers to do my grocery shopping. As soon as I walked in the door, there was the left-over Easter candy starring me in the face, so I had to buy 2 bags of it.
When I got home, I saw that my brother Ron had called, so I tried to call him back but kept getting a message that the circuits were busy and for me to call back later. I tried a few times, but didn’t get through. I tried his cell phone and it went straight to voicemail.
When I finally did reach him, he said that the power had been out all morning. He had no phone, no computer, no TV. He could not do any housework or anything. I was surprised that his cell phone had no service because cell service usually stays on when the other power is out.
I thought maybe they were having a storm up there but he said no. They did have some rain yesterday, but not much, and they are supposed to get more rain tomorrow when we are supposed to get some.
Had some lunch and watched “Y&R”. Did a little housework.
Been waiting for the phone call from the furniture store to tell me the 4-hour delivery window for my futon tomorrow. Hiker is lost without the ottoman bed being under the window in the small bedroom. She keeps going in there and lying in the floor right in front of the window. I keep telling her that tomorrow she will have something new to sleep on in that room during the day. Finally got the call from them around 2:30 pm. They said they delivery will be between 4 pm and 8 pm tomorrow. I hope it is more towards 4 pm. I don’t like strangers coming when it’s dark, even with Hiker here. Can’t believe they work that late.

Easter Sunday

Got up around 7:45 am. Made some waffles for breakfast and then Hiker, Keith and I walked down to the liquor store so I could buy my lottery tickets. We walked almost 2 miles total.
Came back home and just hung out around the house for a while. I washed my sheets and towels.
At lunch time, Keith and I went over to Der Wienerschnitzel. We were the only people there for the entire 30 minutes we were eating.
Keith left to head for home around 1 pm. He was not looking forward to the drive back down to Orange County.
After he left, I put the sheets back on my bed and filled one of my hummer feeders. Also made out my grocery list so I can go over to Stater Brothers tomorrow.
Today was Ben's and my 35th wedding anniversary. I don't believe that our marriage ended with his death. When I said my vows (until death do us part), I meant for eternity.
Was cooler here today. Only made it up into the low 70’s and it was hazy. They are saying we might get some rain on Tuesday. We need every drop of rain we can get.

Me and Ben about 7 or 8 years ago.

Happy Easter

Another Run-Around Day

Well at least the little yapping dog did not wake me up early this morning, however around  1:40 am, I woke up and it took me about an hour to go back to sleep.
Heard Keith rambling around the house around 7:30 am, so Hiker and I got up.
We waited for the mowers to come and do my yard. Had to be here to let them into the back yard plus I had to pay them this time.
I decided I wanted to buy a futon for my small bedroom and get rid of the ottoman fold out bed that I bought about 3 ½ years ago. Keith has always said the ottoman bed was not very comfortable, plus I thought a futon would look better because when not using it for a bed, it is a couch.
We went over to Simply Discount Furniture and bought one for $249, plus tax and deliver/set-up fee. Came out to less than $400 which I think is a good price because it has a nice thick mattress with pocket coils and I think it will look so much better than the ottoman bed did. They will deliver it on Tuesday.
Then we went over to Firehouse Subs, a fairly new sub-sandwich place here in Santa Clarita. I’ve been seeing their ads on TV and thought the sandwiches looked good. The place was bigger than I thought it would be, with both inside and outside seating. The food was good, although I thought it was a little expensive. A sandwich combo (sandwich/chips/drink) is $9.99. There were a lot of people there.
We came back by home to check on Hiker and then Keith and I went over to the Goodwill store to look around. Came back home, got Hiker and headed over to Hart Park to walk around a little. We mostly went because as you know, Hiker loves to ride in the car, and I had told her she could go with us in the car today. We were there for about 45 minutes. Hiker got to see a deer. Not a wild one. It’s one they have in a fenced area. It scared her because it was staring her down and I think she thought it was a big dog. She was so scared she peed.
Came back home and we are now settle in for the rest of the day.

My brother Keith at Firehouse Subs:

This is what the futon I bought looks like. Will be delivered Tuesday.

Fun Day With My Brother Keith

Was awakened by the new neighbor’s yappy little dog at 5 am this morning. These neighbors were renting a house just down the block from the house behind me. When that house sold, they moved into the one behind me. I’m guessing they let the dog outside to go potty while they were getting ready for work. It barked continuously for 35 minutes before they let it back into the house. Could be that the dog is just getting used to its new home, plus it can see Jean’s dogs if it goes up the hill and it can probably smell Hiker and my other neighbors dog Cayenne. Hopefully the 5 am barking will not become a regular thing.
Keith slept in while Hiker and I went for a dog walk with Jean then we let the dogs play in my back yard for a while.
For lunch, Keith and I went over to Phat “N” Juicy Burger. I got the regular Phat Burger and Keith got the Chili and Cheese Phat Burger. They were yummy. The French fries there are really good too.
After lunch, we went over to the 97¢ Store so I could pick up some more of the Airwick canisters for my automatic room sprayers. They have a pack of 4 for $9.99. Even Sam’s Club charges $13.00 for a pack of 4, plus Sam’s Club does not have the scents I like lately.
We also swung by the Dollar Tree and Big Lots, but did not buy anything there. Came home and put Hiker into the car and headed over to Central Park for a walk. We did about a mile and a half and did not run into any rattlesnakes this time.
Probably won’t go out again unless we decide to go out to dinner instead of eating at home.

My brother Keith at the dog park.

Not Much To Say

Out of bed around 8 am and after breakfast, did the housework that I needed to get done before my brother Keith gets here to spend the weekend with me and Hiker.
Hiker and I went out this morning to get my lottery ticket and I started the housework as soon as we returned. Took me about an hour and half to finish what I needed to do.
Keith texted me around 1:20 pm that he was leaving his office and heading straight to Santa Clarita.
Was another beautiful day here in SoCal.

Got A New "Toy"

I wanted to stay in bed until around 8 am this morning because I knew when I got up I had some housework to do, but Hiker had different ideas. She wanted to play. So we played for about 15 minutes while still in bed. She likes to wrestle. We finally got up a little after 7 am.
Had some breakfast, then Hiker and I walked down to our community office so I could pay my land lease for the month. Hiker knows that Marcie has dog treats at her desk, so she actually pulled me all the way from our house to the office.
When we got back home, I mopped all of my hard surfaced floors and did some long overdue dusting. Dusting is one thing I always put off because I hate doing it, so I had about a foot of dust on the furniture (April Fools!). Actually there wasn’t that much, but it was pretty bad.
Bought myself a new toy on Amazon and it was delivered today. As if I don’t already have enough computers. Bought a Winbook TW700 tablet. So now I have three laptops, an iPad, and Windows Tablet and my iPhone. I mostly play games on my iPad, but I wanted a tablet with Microsoft Windows on it so I can use it with my network computers.
I bought a Kindle Paper White eReader about a year and a half ago and I was reading about a book every two months for about a year. Now I don’t use it at all. I probably should try to sell it or just give it so someone who will use it.