It's Hot

It is so hot.  100+ for the last few days.  So far it looks like this summer is going to be a scorcher.  Nothing much new around here other than work, work and more work.  I've taken some pictures but haven't downloaded any of them yet.  We went to a Jazz -Laker playoff game a couple of weeks ago and were tortured again.  Pictures to come someday maybe. I did take a few.  What made it even worse was the couple we took to the game with us wore Laker jerseys.  How stupid were we to do that.  Thanks to Gary and the Jazz for making the tickets available to us but please tell me NO if I ever ask again.

I'm still traveling around for work some days.  I wish all my jobs were in Orange County so I could stay at the beach more often but unfortunately, my last one is just finishing up and the rest are here in the desert, the inland empire or SD. It's really fun though learning about irrigation, plants and trees but very hard to pronounce and spell the botanical names.  My favorite species so far is the Tacoma stans.  It's a wildly invasive shrub in the Virgin Islands but more controllable in our area and  has the most beautiful yellow flowers that seem to bloom for months.  I like them so much that I've had several planted.  Check them out it you live in a climate zone that they can tolerate.  That's it for tonight!  Have a good tomorrow.

PS  Who are you in Banning?  I don't think I know anyone there but maybe ...........

Rocking and Rolling

By now, maybe some of you heard on the news that those of us in So California have had a "memorable" Easter.  This was a big one - 7.2 which makes it bigger than the earthquake in Haiti.  Makes you wonder why you aren't more prepared when things start shaking and you have no clue how long it's going to last.  Nothing damaged here at our house but there was a picture of the Barnes and Noble store at our mall on cnn.com - check it out!  http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-428616?hpt=T1   I wouldn't have wanted to be under the signage when it came down.  We had lots of water sloshing in and out of our pool but that's it other than some frayed nerves.  Chip stayed hidden, Putt stayed in her new kitty condo (curtesy of the easter bunny) and Whiff was pretty freaked out.  Hopefully, we'll have a quiet night.  I'm headed off to San Diego tomorrow.  I have to be at two jobsites starting at 8:00 so that means getting up really early.  I so don't like going there. I hate the I-15 through all the crummy little towns that think they are SD and that have really bad drivers. Then, when you finally make it to the real San Diego, the gazillion freeways that intersect each other make it pretty confusing.  It is so not my favorite place to have to hang out.  Thankfully I don't have to do it very often. Oh well, just another Monday.

 Hold a good thought for us that the shaking has stopped for while.  Good night!

Psuedo

Hey, I just thought of something.  I have psuedo nieces and nephews and psuedo kids.  That is a very cool thing!  Last week was almost like the good old days with Gary and his friends.  The only problem was Gary wasn't here.   Speaking of Gary, according to him, I just joined the 21st century because I have a new phone that I can text with.  It's really cute with it's pink rubber protector.  So...feel free to text me any time.  Fyi though, I just tried to text Gary and it's not going so well.  The first two didn't go thru for some reason or another and the third time (a charm right??  NOT) went to the wrong number.  They texted back.  How sad.  So far he hasn't answered so maybe the fourth time wasn't so good either.  We'll see.

Update - it worked - he responded to my three questions with one little word "yes" but I guess I can't expect more than that and I did it.

Crazy Times

Things are really crazy around here.  Back to work leaves no time for much of anything although last week was great with psuedo kids Mark, Dann and Bri here.  They all piled into the casita since the guest bedroom is no more.  Bri got an invite into the qualifer for IW (BNP Paribas) which is the equivilant to trying to get into a Grand Slam, unbelievable.  Riley and I watched, rooted and prayed on Saturday and he won in a 3 tie break.  Monday he won by default and Wednesday was a sad day.  He lost in three sets but what a great thing for him to be invited and make it that far.  I've got to admit that I really wanted to sit in the players box when he played Federrer and he was only two wins shy of that happening.  Hopefully he'll be in again next year.  Well,  this was short and sweet.  Riley called and I have to fill out his draw sheet for March maddness and mine too!  My most favorite month of the year.  Be back soon.

Conflicted

It is a conflicted night.  Who do I want to win????  The heart says Boise State but the head says TCU for Mountain West respect.  Oh to heck with respect. So far so good since Boise State is up by 10 points.  Keeping my fingers crossed and so far so good.  To be continued........ It's over now.  Great game.

Happy New Year

It's been a while since I've updated and this will be brief since I have a house to clean and food to shop for and cook for New Year's eve and day. I have pictures to post too but that will come in a few days. We spent a fun Thanksgiving in Utah at Gary, Jen's and monkey's new house. It was few days spent decorating, eating, shopping and two Jazz games. We got to spend time with Michael and Jennifer too and see the little cuties as they went to a Jazz game with us. Fun, fun, fun. Family and friends took up about one and a half full rows at the game and it was great to see everybody. As usual, it was a surprise as Gary hadn't mentioned who all would be there. Christmas was a stay at home time and very quiet. We had a couple from church over for dinner and then we all went to see Avetar. It was interesting but so not my kind of movie. We wanted to see Sherlock Holmes but it was sold out. I guess I've been living under a rock since I had no idea of what Avetar was about, that it was a fantasy or that it had a "liberal message" but it was still a fun night. Christmas morning was all Jazz and that was fun too. Thanks Gary! Anyway, Happy New Year to all!!!

Line Dry

Don't we all yearn for the smell of fresh outdoor dried clothes? Unfortunately or probably very fortunately, the days of the clothes line are gone except for maybe in trailer parks. I guess that with the invention of the dryer, the need was no longer there so looking at the neighbor's underwear flying in the breeze is only (and thankfully) a blast from the very past. This was my feeble attempt to replicate the clothes line experience with Riley's shirts hanging off the TV in my backyard. It's 87 degrees so they'll dry really quickly and hopefully smell nice and fresh. I'll pay dearly for this though when I go to iron the major wrinkles out of them. And ironing....that's a topic for another time.

**Update** The shirts are back in the house and honestly, they smell way better out of the dryer and are a heck of a lot softer than having been dried out in the great outdoors. We won't be making this mistake again!!!