Thu, May 3rd - 8:23AM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 78
80.6 miles
sunny, hot

This morning there was a big red x on the TV screen, this is not good. Again it erased everything and says it will only do 27 hours in total.

Jim Treacher: It was very brave of President Obama to order the killing of Bin Laden with the understanding that if it went wrong he'd blame somebody else.

The President Has a List

Don Surber Dear Barry: I deserve to be on this list because 1. I disagree with you. Do I need any more reasons? OK 2. I mock you. 3. I hope the Supreme Court hands you your hat on Obamacare and SB 1070. 4. Mostly, I want America to succeed, which should be reason enough.

Bernadette and Rob came over and took some of the wood and junk.  I stopped them from taking the lumber on the carport, since I still have to have the back bathroom subfloor replaced.  They did take some electronic stuff which was probably GoE's, and some shingle on the back.  Rob also will want the asphalt rolls but there's no hurry, I haven't even started on the carport.

Monica's neighbors want some cacti, so I'll take a few on Thursday.

Joanna looked at Pharaoh and said "Dog. Go 'way!" I suspect they will be great friends one day.

Gareth is spending the night.  I took him to the park and he was a little afraid to climb the steps because of the gap, so I went up with him once and then he was brave enough. When he goes down the slides his hair gets all dandelion.  So funny.

He was funny going to bed, too.  Flail and toss and turn, and suddenly out like a light.

Thu, May 3rd - 8:06AM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 78
80.6 miles
sunny, coolish

159 recordings of 46 types. 16% free.  Till mid-afternoon while I was watching Hannity.  The screen froze and the DVR completely died. I lost all my recordings. Rats. A sharp whack and it sort of works, but I'm calling in on Monday.

I played Scrabble with 6 other people and finished in the middle.  I had 365 points, and the winner was in the 700s. She's impressive, but I had a couple of good moves.  Because the WPAC room was in use, we went to the organizer's house.  She's near a park I didn't know about.  I checked for geocache sites, but when I came home found we'd found not one, but TWO, caches there in the past. And when I logged the one in 2008 I said that we kept saying we didn't know about this park, but Rich recognized it as the place where we'd found a cache in 2003! I really have a blank spot on this one.

Two of the Scrabble players have new relationships. It's been 10 or more years for them.  But, all selfishly here, I just wouldn't want, ever, to do this again. And I'm getting used to living alone, watching what I want, going to bed when I want.

I got a facebook friend request from a high school boy friend! (I can remember at that age thinking this guy wouldn't be my first husband, but could be my second.  No imagination then, it seemed like that would be easy, like changing a pair of shoes. Teenagers are very weird.)

The alarm clock has been flashing, and I thought it was getting disconnected. It finally dawned on me that it could be the battery. I replaced it, and yes.

Thu, May 3rd - 7:31AM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 78
80.6 miles
some rain, wind, cold, sun
0bama's enemy of the day: Jim Treacher

160 recordings of 49 types. 15% clear.

Twitter / 'Jim' 'Treacher': I don't want to say @DavidAxelrod is having a bad week, but now he wants to change the subject from dogs to THE ECONOMY.

Today I went on a bus trip with WPAC to Eleven Roses Ranch near Clear Lake Oaks. This was the best-planned day trip I've ever been on.  She'd assigned seats, and also passed us the meal tickets. We started off and there were jokes, then we stopped at Granzella's in Williams.  They've rebuilt since the fire. Rich and I had been to the original, once, though he didn't remember it too well (he didn't remember the stuffed polar bear!) Then we went back when they were re-building, and I was pleased the polar bear had been saved.  Now it's back to speed.  They've got all the exciting foodstuffs, and I had some ideas of stuff I might want when we returned. And onward.

Later I found out there would have been a geocache for me to look for.  Today was our 9th anniversary of caching.  Sigh.

On the way, deer, heron, the theme from Bonanza, turkeys, a bridge made from a flatcar.  The driver told us some information about Long Valley and the different ranches.  It was first settled in 1859.  Interesting.  The people who own Eleven Roses are the grandchildren of the original owners. It's a great family ranch.  We had wine.

The port-a-potties!  Definitely the most elegant I've ever seen!  And I was totally appalled that I dropped a water bottle from my pocket into one, though I didn't own up while I was there.  Darnit.

We had our (delicious) BBQ and then had a story and performance by the
Gypsy Time Travelers.  They made a truck into a motor home is your castle. The forge is next to the kitchen so they have hot water. He made pony shoes while she told the story. Then they gave the shoes away, but, sniff, I didn't win. Then we went out on a truck to look at the valley and the wildflowers.  Nice.  The ride was cold.  It's a beautiful ranch. 

Then it was back to Sacramento. I got a couple of soup kits and some sauces at Granzella's.  I was really really tempted by the striped bow tie pasta, but really have no use for it. 

What a nice day!