Happy Friday To All

This morning when my alarm went off, I was in a deep sleep and dreaming. All I remember about the dream was at first I was with a bunch of people and we were wandering around in a store kind of like a Big Lots, then I was at someone’s house and Ben was there with me. I have not had a dream about him in a long time. Anyway, he was with me and we were getting ready to leave when Ben’s mom (who is also passed) came into the room where we were and asked us if we were going to stay for dinner and she proceeded to tell us what she was making to eat when my alarm went off.
I was so groggy when I woke up. I kept falling asleep on the sofa all day yesterday. I think I’m just so tired from all of the heat and humidity. I was barely able to stay awake last night to watch “Under The Dome”. I think I may have dozed off a couple of times while it was on, but I’m not sure since they kept jumping around with the storyline.
Went on our dog walk with Jean and her dogs. It was very humid while we were out. We let the dogs play for a little while in my yard. I love watching Hiker play with the other dogs. She used to be so shy with them when I first got her. Now she is chasing them all round the yard and “wrestling” with them in the grass. It fills my heart to watch them play.
Saw another one of my weather station reports on KCAL9 again just after noon. Seems like they show my reports on Channel 9 between 12 noon and 1 pm more than any other time slot.
Just finished doing a 1 mile indoor walk with my Leslie Sansone DVD. Even though we did a dog walk this morning, I don’t get any aerobic exercise with that one, so I decided to do more this afternoon.
Too hot for a walk outside. It is 102° right now at 3 pm. Yesterday we got up to 110.8°.

Here is a picture I shot of the "Blue Moon" around 5:45 this morning.

Crazy Day

I was so tired last night that I didn’t stay up to watch “Extant” so I’ll have to watch it over the weekend.
I don’t know if I got too much sleep or if it’s the heat and humidity, but I was light-headed this morning. I know I don’t drink enough water, so I’ve been chugging it today.
I had planned on taking Hiker out for a morning walk as it was very overcast, so it didn’t feel blazing hot, but because of the lightheadedness, I decided no walk.
I decided to run my weekly scans on my laptops. I still had not received notice on my older 2 laptops that my Windows 10 was ready for download and installation, so I went in and checked the update history and noticed that they had tried to download it several times on both computer but that it had failed. I clicked on one of the failure notices and it gave me a link which I clicked on and found a place online to download Windows 10. So I started the download process on both laptops.
After my scans ran on my main laptop, there were several items on the new Windows 10 that froze up and would not work. I had to restore back to way early this morning and that fixed it, but now I’m afraid to do my weekly scans on any of my laptops. Hope I don’t get any viruses, malware, Trojans, etc.
Then I noticed that my weather station must have gone down while I was installed Windows 10 to my weather laptop. So now my station is not showing up on my iPhone and when I try to add it, it doesn’t work.
Started hearing thunder here around 1pm. Sun was out but there were huge black clouds coming from the east and I heard that they were having flash flood over in Acton, CA about 20 miles from here.
At 2:30 pm, my emergency alert on my iPhone went off and scared the crap out of me and Hiker. Said we were in the middle of a flashflood warning. Right after that, the National Weather Service put an alert on the TV. I’m waiting….
What a day I’ve had!

Clouds To The East

Up at 7 am again this morning. Made some poached eggs for breakfast and then Hiker and I headed up to Sam’s Club so I could fill the car with gasoline. Came back by home for a few minutes and then headed over to Todd Longshore Park to take a walk. It was already 75° when we left. Walked a mile around the park and decided to head for home because it was getting very warm and I was sweating a lot.
When I got home, I noticed that my main laptop had the download for the new Windows 10 so I installed it. Took about an hour or so to get it installed and ready to use. My other 2 laptops don’t have the download for it yet. I’m thinking maybe my main laptop got the download first because it had Windows 8.1 while the other 2 laptops have Windows 7 and I’m thinking Microsoft may be downloading to the Windows 8.0 and 8.1 computers first.
So far I see just a few changes but it does look different and will take a little while to get used to using a few of the new options on it.
Since it was too hot outside today and Hiker and I only got a 1 mile walk in the park this morning, I decided to do a 1 mile indoor walk with my Leslie Sansone DVD. So now I have my 2 mile walk in for today.

Another Great Lunch With The Group Gals

Got up around 7 am, had some breakfast and then took Hiker out for a nice morning walk. It was nice and cool out this morning, but by 11:30 am, it was almost 90° already.
My older brother emailed from Paradise, CA up north that it was extremely hot up there this morning. He said it was almost 80° at 6:30 am.
At noon, I headed up to the Golden Valley Plaza to meet the group girls for lunch at Chili’s.
I love being with these ladies. Never a dull moment. Today, Jane was telling us the story of how she met her husband and about their short courtship before marriage. Listening to her, in the back of my mind I was seeing an old 1940’s movie with the sailor about to go off to war and the young girl he had fallen in love with. I told her she should write a screenplay about it.
Finally headed for home around 2:30 and was home before 3 pm. It was 98° on my patio when I got home.
I need to remember to leave on my laptops tonight because tomorrow they are supposed to download the new Windows 10 program so I can install it.

Not A Very Busy Monday

Had our regular Monday dog walk with Jean and her three dogs. It was nice a cool this morning, but we are supposed to be up in the triple digits by the weekend (YUCK).
After the walk and after I had some breakfast, I went over to Sam’s Club and then back home. Did nothing until I watched Y&R and had lunch.
After lunch, it was still only in the mid-80s so I thought I’d take Hiker over to a park I discovered. It sits right in the middle of a residential area. It’s a pretty big park and looks really nice, but when we got there, I find that they do not have a parking lot for the park and there is no parking allowed on the streets around the park. I guess you can only go there if you live in the residential area and walk from your house. Don’t know what our city planners are thinking. So we left that area and went over to Central Park for a little while.
The little gnats in Central Park were driving me nuts so we came back home. By the time we got home, it was in the mid-90s outside.

Simple Sunday

Forced myself to get out of bed early this morning so Hiker and I could get a nice walk in before it got too hot outside.
We headed out around 7:30 and walked down through Discovery Park and then along the dry riverbed bike/walking path. I decided to do 2 miles this morning because it was cool outside and I didn’t get any exercise yesterday.
I must admit that when I do get right out of bed and head out for a walk early in the morning, I feel much better throughout the day. Much better than I do when I am lazy and stay in bed until 8 am.
Got more exercise by doing my weekly vacuuming.
It was in the mid-90s here today and very breezy. The breeze made it feel cooler.

Sleepy Saturday

Decided to sleep in some this morning. I basically just doze a little when I do go back to bed after letting Hiker outside. I hate myself thought when I do that because I always feel lazy the rest of the day when I do that.
Got up around 8 am and then made some pancakes for breakfast. Put the laundry into the washer and settled down in front of the TV.
It was already 80° by 10 am so I knew it was going to be a hot day. Hiker kept trying to find a cool spot in the house to nap.
I had a nice long phone call with my friend Karren Meggitt who now lives up in Idaho. Had not spoken to her for several months. Karren and I worked together for many years at Lockheed.
Was too hot to go outside and do anything today so Hiker and I stayed inside the nice cool house all day. She napped while I watched TV.

Happy Friday!

I kept dozing off on the couch last night while I was waiting for “Under The Dome” to come on, but I was able to wake up and watch all of it.
Got up early for our Friday dog walk with Jean. It felt cooler this morning even though it is still quite humid. They say were are going to start losing the humidity and go back to our 100°+ summer weather. But I would rather have the dry heat than that nasty muggy heat we’ve been having.
Our walk this morning was over 2 miles, but this is a “dog walk” which means we don’t really get any aerobic exercise. But at least it helps me to get in my 10,000 steps I’m trying to get every day.
They used my weather report again today on KCAL9 News at noon. I turned the news on just in time to see my smiling face. They seem to use my reports on that news report and time.

Ordinary Thursday

Up around 7:30 this morning. A bowl of cereal and then off Hiker and I went for a morning walk. I drove us up to Canyon Country Park and we did about a mile and a half walk up to the second level of the park and then back down. The walking path in the park actually climbs 80 ft.
Looked like they and a summer camp for little kids there as all of these parents were walking with their kids over to the park’s rec room and all of the kids had on blue shirts that said “Camp Clarita” on them.
In the afternoon I had my lunch while watching “Y&R”. Then I had to do some housework. While doing it. To prove that you never get over being a widow I was playing some music on my iPhone and the song “Unchained Melody” came on. I don’t know why, but the lyrics to this song sound so sad to me and I started thinking about Ben and I sat down and had a good cry. Every now and then, you have to let the tears out. But…I’m all better now!

Not A Bad Summer Day For SoCal

Hiker and I got up early this morning. Since we were not able to do a dog walk last Monday due to the weather, I got hold of Jean to see if she wanted to take the dogs out this morning. We took them on their normal walk and then came back to my house for them to play in my back yard.
After Jean went home, I went over to Wal-Mart to get some Fresh Pet dog food for Hiker and ended up buying some extra stuff for myself too.
Came back home and ran the weekly scans on my laptops. Next week we are supposed to get the new Windows 10 upgrade from Microsoft, so I’ll have to pick another day to do my weekly scans. All 3 of my laptops will receive the upgrade, so I’ll have to make sure I have them all turned on that day.
Watched “Y&R” and had some lunch. The weather wasn’t too bad today. There is still a little humidity in the air, but it seemed cooler. It was mostly cloudy, but the sun came out now and then and there was a nice breeze. We have really been having a strange summer this year.
Hiker was out on the patio sitting in the chair and kept barking at me to come outside and play, so we played with her football for a little while.

Fun Lunch At Olive Garden

According to my Fitbit I only got two and a half hours of sleep last night. I know I fell asleep around 10:30 or so. Around 2 am Hiker started getting very restless and would not settle down. She would jump off the bed and then back up onto the bed, then she would turn circles on the bed trying to get comfortable. She just would not go to sleep. I finally asked her if she needed to go potty. She had gone out before we went to bed, but that’s the only thing I could think of that was wrong with her. When I said “potty”, she jumped off the bed and went to the patio door. I let her out and she went poop and then came right back in. She got up onto the bed and went to sleep and was fine the rest of the morning. So I guess she had to go!
Once she woke me up, I had trouble going back to sleep, so I turned the TV back on and I watched an entire episode of “Murder She Wrote” and about half an episode of “Hart To Hart” before I started to doze off again. Then Hiker woke me up again just before 6 am to go outside to pee.
I didn’t want to sleep in even though I was pooped because I needed to go grocery shopping this morning before I met the group girls over a the Olive Garden for lunch.
Was humid again this morning, but not quite as much as it has been for the past few days. I’m hoping that we will start getting some dry heat if it’s going to stay warm. I do not know how the people who live on the eastern side of the United States can stand the humidity all of the time.
Had a great time at lunch with my girlfriends from the group.

Too Hot And Muggy To Go Outside

Don’t know what got into me but I slept in until almost 8:30 this morning. Normally I would have gotten up before 6 am to do a dog walk with Jean and her dogs, but when I got up, it looked very threatening outside.  Big, dark clouds. So I called Jean and she said she really didn’t want to go out because everything was so wet from the storm last night and didn’t want the dogs to get all wet and muddy. I agreed, so I went back to bed.
Thought our rain was over after what we got on Saturday (.58”) but then a little after 6 pm last evening, it started to rain again and it POURED! No lightning and thunder this time but my weather station says we got 1.25” of rain in just a couple of hours.
What’s left over from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Dolores is taking a long time to pass through us. They are saying we may get more rain from it later.
Heard on the local news this morning that this is now the wettest July SoCal has had in history. The normal rainfall in downtown Los Angeles for July is .03” and they have already gotten about 1” from this storm. I was checking out the NOAA website and there is another storm developing in the Gulf of California and if it becomes a tropical storm or hurricane, it will be named Felicia.
But….even though we’ve gotten this much rain, it doesn’t even put a dent in our 4 year drought. We still have a long way to go. Several of my friends put buckets and barrels out yesterday to catch the rain so they can use it on their plants when we get dry again. They said they hated to see it just run down the streets. I don’t have any big buckets so I couldn’t save any of it.

Another Muggy Day

Was really lazy this morning. Did not get out of bed until after 8 am. I was going to watch “CBS Sunday Morning” but I kept falling asleep.
Had some breakfast and washed my bed sheets, then I did my vacuuming. It is so humid after our thunderstorms yesterday that I was drenched in sweat when I was done.
About those thunderstorms…my personal weather station logged .58” of rain which is something we never get here in July. I heard on the morning news that several towns got record breaking amounts of rain. They say we still have a chance of a few scattered storms today.
Had to remember to shut off my sprinkler system for tomorrow. Because of the drought, we are not supposed to water at least 48 hours after we’ve had rain. Tomorrow is my designated watering day, but it won’t be 48 hours until Tuesday morning, so I’ll have to turn the sprinklers back on for Thursday which is my next designated watering day.
Would have liked to walk some today, but I got up too late and it was already too hot and muggy. Was hoping it would cloud over and get cool like it did yesterday. It went from 90° down to 72° yesterday in about an hour.
Going to do some indoor walking with my Leslie Sansone DVD. At least I’ll get some exercise.

Thunder And A Little Rain

Slept in this morning. I think the anxiety I get when I’m getting an eye injections wears me out. I was really tired when I let Hiker outside at 6 am. We went back to bed until 8 am.
Got up, had some breakfast, sorted my meds and supplements for next week, put a load of laundry into the machine.
Around 9 am, started to hear thunder. Looked outside and saw the sky filing up with clouds. Hiker would bark every time she’d her a clap of thunder. I was surprised that she wasn’t trying to hide in the corner of my bedroom.
I knew we had a chance of rain due to the remnants of Hurricane Dolores. We were getting the outer bands of the storm.
Just before 11 am, it started to rain and some more thunder rumbled. It rained for about 15 or 20 minutes, but we need more than that.
I was afraid my mowers would not show up, but they did and they mowed and edged while it was raining.
Just before noon, the sun peeked out a little again, but then went back behind the clouds.
A little after 1 pm, Hiker and I went for a walk. It was still very cloudy and very humid and the sky rumbled the entire time we were out. We did about a mile and a half.

Doctor Appointment-Shopping-Lunch

Got up early this morning because I had to get ready to go to my appointment with my retinal specialist. My appointment was at 9 am so Jean picked me up around 8 am.
My vision in the right eye had diminished a little more. They gave me the injection with the little pellet that slowly dissolves over a few weeks. It hurts a little when they inject it because they have to use a thicker needle plus once the numbness wears of, the eye aches a little. I’ll have to go back in about 2 months for a follow-up. I hope this injections works like the last time I had it, but I know that it only lasts for 4 to 8 months and then I’ll have to have another one. It helped my vision quite a bit the last time.
It’s strange because the last time I got this kind of injection, as soon as they implanted the pellet, there was like a black veil over my eye that I was looking through. Didn’t get that this time. Also this time they told me not to “wash my face or hair” until tomorrow. They never told me that before.
We came back over to Santa Clarita and did some shopping. I didn’t really have anything I needed to buy but Jean had some stores she wanted to go to, so we did that for a little over an hour, then we went to JJ’s Grill (used to be Mulligan’s) for lunch. There was only two other people eating besides us. Jean and I “fell in love” with our waiter. His name was Joe and he was 50ish. Not all that handsome, but there was just something about him…he had a lot of charisma.
Came home to my Hiker Girl. She was excited to see me because she wanted her mid-day snack and she wanted to go up to the mailbox with me. Then she settled down on the couch and went to sleep.

Nice Morning Walk - Credit Fraud

Hiker and I slept in this morning. She kept trying to make me get up earlier, but I made her leave me alone until around 7:45.
Got up, had breakfast and then headed out to buy lottery tickets and decided to drive over to Bridgeport Lake to do a morning walk. Our mornings have been nice so I knew we needed to walk before the heat in the middle of the day. We did a mile and a half. Hiker was trying to catch a snowy egret who was sitting at the edge of the manmade lake.
One thing I must say about this summer…so far we’ve had cool mornings and it cools down really nice in the evening. Actually it’s been a pretty mild summer for us.
I received an email from Chase asking me to verify if I had made a purchase yesterday that they denied due to the fact that they thought it was suspicious. I’m glad they do that because I did not make the purchase. Instead of responding to the email, because I wasn’t sure if it was for real, I called them. The have closed that credit card account and will send me a new card with a new number. I have no idea what caused them to think it was suspicious, but I’m glad they did. I Googled the company they said they denied payment. It was Banwire and it seems to be accompany in Mexico kind of like PayPal. I’m guessing because it is located in Mexico that is what made Chase suspicious.
After I spoke with Chase on the phone and settled down to think about this, I felt so violated. It’s hard to describe how I felt really. I started wondering how someone got my credit card number. I have it with me all of the time. I only use it to purchase things on Amazon and I also use it for gasoline. It is NEVER out of my possession. It makes me very nervous now about using a credit card online. I have always had excellent credit and I don’t want anything to happen to that.
Did a little house work this afternoon and then settled down to watch some TV.
Tomorrow I have an appointment with my retinal specialist at Kaiser at 9 am. Time for me to get another injection in my right eye.

A Normal Wednesday

I didn’t fall asleep until almost 2 am this morning. Don’t know what was going on, but I just could not go to sleep.
Hiker also acted like she wanted to bite me last night. I got up to go to the bathroom and when I came back, she was on my pillow. I was trying to get her to move and she started growling at me, which she often does, but this time she started curling her lips and snarling at me with her teeth showing. I went to push her to the side and she let out a really “mean” bark. I actually jumped back because I thought she was going to bite me. But she didn’t and she finally moved. Then she started licking me as if she was apologizing. I’m guessing she was half asleep and didn’t want to move and maybe didn’t realize it was me trying to move her.
I had planned on sleeping in, but Hiker didn’t let me, so we were up a little after 7 am. Had some breakfast and then I went over to Sam’s Club? Spent a lot of money again, but this time I bought some things that I don’t normally buy because they were on sale and I figured I’d stock up.
Came home, put the things I bought away and then took Hiker out for a walk. We did about a mile and a half down along the dry river bed.
Came back home, filled my hummer feed in the front yard, then settled down to watch TV.
Turned on KCAL9 News after the Y&R and once again, they used my personal weather station information for the weather in Canyon Country. I was in the other room, so I missed seeing my smiling face  on the TV, but I heard them mention my name.
Went online to Amazon today because of their “Prime Day” hoping that the “bed-in-a-bag” I’ve been looking at would be on sale, but it wasn’t. I went ahead and ordered it anyway though. I heard that a lot of people were disappointed because I guess not that much was really on sale.

Nice Day

Got up around 7:15 this morning. Thought about staying in bed a little longer, but decided against it, since Hiker was jumping all over me.
Had some breakfast and then collected the trash in the house to put out in the bins for pickup.
Then Hiker and I got in the car and went down to the liquor store to get the lottery tickets that I could not get yesterday because they had lost power. They told me that it was out until after 1 pm yesterday afternoon. They are only a mile away from my house so they must be on a different grid as I had power.
When we got back home, I decided to take Hiker out for a short walk down to Discovery Park. We only did a mile, but that’s because by the time we got out, it was already almost 80° so it was too hot to walk any farther. Along the way we saw my neighbors with their dog Cayenne. Cay and Hiker always bark at each other through the fence.
I had lunch at BJ’s Restaurant over in Valencia with some of the group ladies. There were 5 of us today. My friend Robyn wants to take me as her guest to the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens over in San Marino, CA which is near Pasadena, CA. She is a member of the library. I have never been there before. So we will be planning on a trip over there in a few weeks. Should be fun.

Morning Walk And Then Relax

Up early for our Monday dog walk with Jean. We did a little over 2 miles, but it’s not really as much exercise and it seems because when you are walking 4 dogs, they stop constantly to sniff things. But it still helps to get the 10,000 steps we need each day.
So yesterday when that fire broke out a few miles from me, the first thing that went through my mind was the Acton fire of 2007 when Ben was alive and he and I had to evacuate. The smoke smelled so bad, but you really could not see it, so I’m thinking it was blowing away from us. They got it out pretty quickly which was a very good thing.
After our dog walk and after having some breakfast this morning, Hiker and I went down to the liquor store where I always by my lottery tickets. When I pulled up the owner (Albert) waved me off and told me that the strip mall had no power. So I’ll have to go back later or tomorrow to get my tickets. I could have driven somewhere else to get them, but the liquor store is the closest and most convenient.
Started getting warm outside around 1 pm, but was able to keep the A/C off until around 2 pm.
Had thought about going out with Hiker for another walk, but after lunch, the pavement had gotten too hot for her little paws.

A Morning Walk And Then Relaxed

Stayed in bed until around 7:15 this morning. When we got up, Hiker and I went for a mile and a half walk down through Discovery Park and on the paseo along the dry riverbed.
Came home and had a bowl of Grapenuts, then put the sheets and towels into the washer. Balanced my checkbook and then vacuumed the house.
Spent the rest of the day watching TV and relaxing. At least we did get in a morning walk.

Lazy Saturday

Decided to be lazy this morning. Hiker woke me up a little after 6 am to go outside, then I went back to bed and slept in until a little after 8 am. I don’t know where Hiker was all of those 2 hours. I know once when I woke up, she was not in the bedroom, but when I woke up later, she was on the bed with me.
Made some pancakes for breakfast then put a load of laundry into the washer. Sorted my medications, vitamins and supplements for next week then checked my email.
It was time for me to do some dusting around the house, which I have always hated. I used to push it onto Ben when he was alive. I’d vacuum and he’d dust. I always put it off for as long as possible. But I got it done for now.
Decided since I got quite a bit of exercise other days this week that I would just relax today, so Hiker and I just stayed inside.

Beautiful Summer Day

Got up at 5:45 am to get ready for our Friday dog walk with Jean and her dogs. We did a little over 2 miles this morning.
Jean headed home while I fixed some breakfast and then Hiker and I went over to Jean’s house so she could groom Hiker. I had Jean shave Hiker for the summer to keep her cool. We were there for about an hour and a half and then came home to watch Y&R.
It is very rare that we have temperatures under 90° here in the middle of July. This morning it was beautiful and in the 70s and then after lunch it was right around 80° with a nice cool breeze. Took Hiker over to Central Park for a nice afternoon walk.
Since I bought a Fitbit Charge tracker a couple of weeks ago, it seems that I have been getting in more exercise again because it gives me some incentive to try to get at least 10,000 steps in every day. I’ve gotten over 10,000 steps 4 out of 6 days so far this week.
She got to meet a couple of dogs in the park. One of them was the Corgi she met a couple of weeks ago named Annie. I remembered Annie because my sister-in-law used to have a Corgi named Annie.
Came home and paid some bills and then settled down to watch some TV.

My Hiker Girl Is So Good

Up at our usual time this morning. It was overcast and they keep saying there it a slight chance of rain.
Had some breakfast and then drove Hiker over to Tags to get all of her shots. She needed 4 vaccines, but they did them all with 3 injections. Really needed to get her Rabies shot because it is almost time for her license to come due and the 3 years on the Rabies one was almost up. I think she knew this time what she was there for because she was a little skittish, but she was a good girl. The vet gave her some cookies for being so good. I need to massage the area where they gave her the Rattlesnake vaccine so it won’t cause a lump.
Watched Y&R and had some lunch, the Hiker and I went for a walk. It was still totally overcast, so it was nice and cool outside. Never did past the mid-70s today.

Fun Day At Antique Car Museum

Normally Hiker and I would sleep in a little bit on Wednesday, but Jean mentioned the other day that she would like to take the dogs on a walk this morning, so we were up at 5:45 and out for our walk by 7 am. Was totally overcast and cool. I had on shorts and a t-shirt and I was actually a little cold.
We always have ‘May Gray’ and ‘June Gloom’ but usually do not have overcast days in July, so it was a nice change.
Jean took her dogs home while I made Hiker and I some poached eggs. At 9:30, Jean came back and she and I drove down to Sylmar, CA to the Nethercutt Antique Automobile Museum. Ben and I had gone there several years ago, but Jean had never been there.
She seemed to really enjoy looking at all of the old automobiles and reading the history on them. I was ‘in love’ with all of the hood ornaments.
My favorite care there has always been the 1948 Tucker Sedan. Ever since I saw the movie “Tucker”, I have always wanted one of them. There were 51 made and there are still 48 of them in existence. The one at the museum is #40.
I was surprised to see how many people were visiting the museum because back when Ben and I went, we were the only visitors there the entire time we were there.
We headed home and decided to go by the Fire House Subs in Valencia for a sandwich. That place is always crowded. If you compare their sandwiches to Subway’s sandwiches, Fire House is a 10 whereas Subway is a big fat 0! The servicers at Fire House are great too. So friendly and so efficient. We complimented the manager on his employees.
Came home to find Hiker waiting for me. It felt so good to get off my feet as they were hurting pretty much since we had spent almost 2 hours walking around the museum.
The sun was finally peeking through the clouds when we got home.

If It's Tuesday...It's Lunch With The Girls Day

Up just before 7 am this morning. Had a little breakfast and then headed over to Stater Brothers to do my grocery shopping. Got there pretty early so there were not very many people in the store.
The weather was beautiful this morning. If I had not gone grocery shopping, it would have been a nice morning for a walk with Hiker.
I met up with Jane and Robyn from the grief group for lunch at Round Table Pizza. Ruth was supposed to join us, but she never showed up. We were there for 2 hours just talking about all kinds of stuff. Always fun even though only a couple of us show up now and then.
Even though it was around 90° today, there was a nice breeze, so it didn’t feel as hot has it did back when we were having all of that humidity.
Tomorrow, my neighbor Jean wants to do a dog walk in the morning and then she and I are going down to Sylmar to the Nethercutt Antique Auto Museum.

The Murals In Old Town Newhall, CA

Did our regular Monday dog walk with Jean and her dogs this morning and let the dogs play in my yard for a while.
Had some breakfast and then I went over to Sam’s Club to do some shopping. How come I always end up spending over $100 every time I go to Sam’s?
Watches some TV and then had some lunch. Right after lunch, I turned on KCAL9 News and I finally got to see them mention me as one of their Weather Watchers. Actually it was the second time, but the first time, they just said my name. This time, they said my name and showed my picture. I try to send them a report from my private weather station 30 minutes before they air.
Decided to get out and walk some more, so Hiker and I drove over to Old Town Newhall. We parked the car in Hart Park and then walked through Veterans Memorial Park over to Main Street. We started at one end of Main Street near Hart Park and walked down to Lyons Avenue where the main library is located. We crossed Main Street and walked back down the other side then back to Hart Park and came home.
When we got home, it was in the low 90s and hazy.

Glad The Holiday Is Over

Got up to let Hiker outside around 6 am and went right back to bed. Didn’t get much sleep last night due to the parties and fireworks. Hiker was terrified.
The oldest kid across the street (and when I say ‘kid’, I mean in his 20’s) threw a July 4th party, plus it was his birthday. Usually when he has a party, they get a little loud, but not too rowdy. Last night they got way out of control. They started shooting off fireworks in the middle of the street around 11:30 pm and there were kids (young adults) all over the place. I looked out a couple of times and they were in my yard, on my driveway, the neighbor’s yard, all up and down the street. Cars that were coming up the street had to stop and turn around because they could not get through. They were shooting off the big fireworks which worried me because everything is so dry. They were shouting and singing. At least they sang “The Star Spangled Banner” and chanted “USA”.
I went out to look around this morning and the remains of fireworks are all over the street. I picked up pieces of them from my yard, including blown up firecrackers and bottle rockets and when I looked up at my roof, I could see bottle rocket sticks all over my roof. Good thing we don’t have shake shingles here. The wind must have been blowing towards my house because I didn’t see pieces of firework on any other roofs. I got it all.
The youngest kid across the street is in his early 20’s and he is great. He got out there and cleaned up all of the mess in the street.
So as I said, Hiker and I went right back to bed this morning after she went out to potty and slept until almost 8:30 am. I felt like I had a hangover.
Did not do a morning walk because we slept in late, plus my heel is still hurting me quite a bit from yesterday’s walk. I think I over did.
Have a busy week coming up. Tomorrow we do our usual Monday dog walk with Jean and then I have to go to Sam’s Club. Tuesday I have to go grocery shopping in the morning and then meet some of the group girls for lunch. Wednesday Jean and I are going over to the Nethercutt Antique Auto Museum in Sylmar. Thursday I have to take Hiker over to Tags to get her annual vaccinations and Friday we have our dog walk with Jean and the Jean is going to groom Hiker.

Happy Birthday America and Happy Birthday Hiker

Stayed in bed until around 7:15 or so. By 7:30 am, Hiker and I were out for a morning walk. The weather this morning was beautiful, so decided we needed to get out. We did just over 2 miles.
Hiker and I both need to lose some weight. We are both getting fat.
Today was Hiker’s “honorary” birthday. When I first met her in August of 2011, they told me she was around 12 to 14 months old. After I adopted her, I started figuring that she was probably born around July of 2010, so I made July 4th her birthday. I figured that way, everyone could celebrate our country’s birthday and Hiker’s birthday at the same time.
When we got back from our walk, I made some waffles for breakfast, then put the laundry into the washer and also sorted my meds, vitamins and supplements for next week.
Watched some TV. The Smithsonian Channel is showing the first 13 colonies on “Aerial America”.
The weather was so nice outside that Hiker and I spent about an hour on the patio. It was in the high 80s and there was a really nice breeze. I could smell people BBQing. Jean told me that the cul-de-sac behind us always does a block party on July 4th, so I’m guessing that is wear the wonder smells were coming from.
Came back in when it started getting a little warm and did some Wii Sports for about 45 minutes, then turned “Aerial America” back on.
My Plantar Fasciitis was not bothering me this morning when Hiker and I did our 2 mile walk, but this afternoon it is killing me. Have been icing it and stretching it. I ordered some custom made shoe inserts from Footsmart.com but it’s going to take a while until they get them made and sent back to me. They send me some foam to make impressions of my feet and I mailed those back to them about 2 days ago, so I probably won’t see the inserts for another 2 weeks or so. If they don’t help my pain, I will have to break down and get a referral from my PCP to see a podiatrist, although I’ve had so many people tell me that they went to podiatrists for their Plantar Fasciitis and the doctor did nothing to help them.

Hot Afternoon At The Park

Up early for our regular Friday dog walk. Was cooler this morning and even though the humidity was over 50%, it didn’t seem as hot when we were walking.
After Jean and her dogs went home, Hiker and I had breakfast and then I gave myself a haircut with my Flowbee.
My mowers came to do the yard today since tomorrow is a holiday. I was expecting them as I remember they’ve come on Friday before if Saturday is a holiday.
Watched Y&R and had some lunch and then Hiker and I went over to Central Park. It was in the mid-90’s so we didn’t walk around much, plus me feet were hurting me too much to walk around. I just wanted to take Hiker for a ride in the car because she’s been cooped up inside so much with all of the hot days. We sat under the trees and just enjoyed the fresh air. Not very many people at the park today.
We actually walked almost a mile while at the park.

Can't Wait Until Fall Gets Here

Up around our normal time this morning. Had some breakfast and then I vacuumed my entire house with my new Shark vacuum.
I really like the Shark. This was the first time I’d done the entire house with it and it really seems to have a lot of suction. I think even more than the Dyson I had before. Dyson claims they have more suction than anyone else, but I don’t think so. The Shark sucked up so much dirt and dog hair. It was amazing.
Had to go buy my lottery ticket for Saturday, then I went to the Canyon Country post office to drop off a package that I needed to mail.
Was not quite as hot temperature-wise today as it has been, but the humidity made it feel just as hot.

Muggy And Sticky

Out of bed around 7 am, made some breakfast and then Hiker and I drove up to Sam’s Club’s gas station so I could fill my gas tank up.
Noticed on the way out of the community that Edison was changing out a power pole right near our entry guard shack. Thank goodness they did not turn the power off this time. Don’t know how they can change it out without turning it off, but they did.
Stopped by the community office to pay my monthly lease, then we came back home.
Ran my weekly scans on all of my computers. While I was doing that, my brother Ron called me so we talked for about 20 minutes.
Was watching Y&R and thinking about fixing some lunch when Jean sent me an email about some dog cooling pads at Bed, Bath & Beyond. We decided to drive up there and check them out, but ended up not buying them because didn’t think the dogs would like the material.
Stopped by Arby’s on the way back home to have some lunch.
Was dark, cloudy, hot and muggy all day.
Got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and when I came back to bed, this is what I found.