Getting ready to hit the road

We'll be packing up and leaving for Utah first thing Thursday morning. Lot's to do to get ready to go. We stopped last night and got a car restraint to try out on the cats. It's kind of cute with a sheepskin pad on the harness for their comfort. I slipped it on Chip and he lost it. He ripped around the house until I could catch him. By that time, Putt had a clue and was steering clear of me and Chip. Riley thinks it's nuts and they should be free to roam but I want them secure. So we'll try it on Putt today and see how she does with it.

I was watching the food channel this morning. I need to come up with a dish to take to the family reunion and I need it to be good since basically I only eat what I bring. I don't trust other people to have clean kitchens or wash their hands... especially those with kids in diapers, who only use the wipes to clean their hands after changing their kids and forego hot water and soap. Both are disgusting and seriously unhealthy. The food also sets out for a while so I don't want anything with eggs or mayo. Still working on "it" but saw a great looking corn salad with lots of real blue cheese in it. Yum!!! There's always a lot of the "on the way out of town stop at the convenience store gross cakes or pies that never even get opened (wonder why) so maybe I'll opt for a dessert. We'll see. We also are supposed to bring a "white elephant". I am unsure why anyone wants more of somebody else's junk but we'll probably take a DVD for our contribution. We have a few that have been given to us that we have never had any interest in watching but maybe somebody else will want to. They are all still unopened so the winner will have hit the jackpot!

I have to pull some DVD's and books together to take for us as well. I have bought a couple new books and forced myself not to read and a several new DVD's. We don't have TV there so we have to bring our own entertainment.

That's about it for now. It's 10:00am and only 102 degrees. That's great. Maybe our record breaking temps are over. Pool temp is down to 91 degrees.

Baseball and Father's Day - June 15th

Well, I tried to take a real picture at the game. First I realized I forgot my camera at home. Then my friend Ravile said she had hers but we discovered the battery was dead. So as a last resort, I snapped a picture with my cell phone. It was horrible and only caught an Angels fan and some of the field in the distance. Mind you, we were only 25 rows up by 3rd base so it should have been better. Oh well.... which explains the logo in lieu of the picture. The game was good but one home run did the Braves in and they lost 2-0. It figures as it was broadcast on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball and they always lose. We had a great time anyway, eating hot dogs and peanuts and screaming for Chipper (Jones). It was a nice way I think for Riley to spend Father's Day.

We, Putt Chip and I, then stayed at the beach the rest of the week. Good thing since we have had a severe heat warning everywhere but the beach. We all loved it and hated to have to come back. We had planned to come home yesterday (Thursday) but couldn't come up with a reason to not stay one more day so we did. Now we have to get ready to head out to Utah next Thursday. Hopefully it'll be cooler there than here.

Pool temperature update - 93 degrees - guess we'll be swimming tonight!

Flag Day

Today is Flag Day - In the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress. Hopefully everyone remembered to fly their flag today!

I just got to thinking that some of you that may be checking my blog may have no idea who Putt and Chip are so I have included a couple of pictures of them. They are our "furry" children. Much better behaved and not nearly as messy as the people type. They are great travelers and go on the road with us. They are headed to the beach for the next week and will be happy to be a lot cooler there than they are in the desert now. 110 degrees today!!

Good news from the baseball front. The Braves just killed the Angels. That's two in a row. I am hoping for a sweep as we'll be at the game tomorrow night. Unfortunately, Tommy who was scheduled to pitch is now on the DL so we'll be watching an unknown. The only bad part of all of this is we won't be able to watch the basketball game. We loved Thursday night's game and are hoping for the same results tomorrow.

Time to head out to the pool for a quick dip. Makes for really great sleeping since walking back into the house freezes you for a little while.

Fun in the sun!

Summer has arrived. It's 105 degrees right now - 11:41 AM. I just got a new book to read this afternoon. Think I'll sit by or in the pool and read Something Blue by Emily Griffin.

We had a productive weekend and finished all of the repairs that had previoulsy been started. The air conditioning units are working just great now. Funny thing though, now I think my car a/c is not cold enough. Maybe it's just me!!!! We watched with great happiness as the Celtics beat the cry baby Kobe kissing (I borrowed that description from Nan) Lakers. Do you think I have an opinion??? We can only hope that the Celtics win again tonight.

Tuesday, June 3rd

Happy Birthday to Jen!!!

Things are pretty quiet around here except for the wind. It is howling outside. I got a weather alert that says we have a high wind warning for our valley until tomorrow afternoon.

We had another weekend of home repair. Sadly, the new water heater that Riley installed three weeks ago leaked so we had to return it to Home Depot and get another one. Fortunately, it was the 40 gallon unit that supplies hot water to only the casita so the house has had hot water all along. Next project -He and the guy helping him attempted to check all of the air conditioning compressors as I thought they haven't been cooling the house like they should. Yep, that was the case but after giving the big unit a squirt, they ran out of freon. The rest of that story is there's three more units to be done at a later date. Then to top it off, they were changing out a valve in our bathroom that the IDIOT tile contractor screwed up (and that is another story for another time). They were short a part and couldn't complete that task either as it is a custom order and can't be purchased at Home Depot. All in all, not a very productive day and made Riley not a very happy guy.