Tue, May 15th - 2:02PM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 90
98.7 miles
HOT

53 recordings of 20 types. 66% free.

I packed everything up for the geocaching picnic and started off. I'd seriously underestimated the time it would take, but would have been only 15 minutes late except... road closure.  I did stop shortly on the way at an Eagle Scout carwash. I didn't have time to have the car done, but I wanted to give the kid some money and wish him well. His project is to make benches in the Old City Cemetery.  In Folsom, I passed that branch of La Rosa Blanca, and, sadly, the zoo. (There was a run there today, apparently.) I remember Rich and I taking Gareth there last summer. There were lots of memories and I was feeling very vulnerable when I reached the road closure.

I considered just giving up, but decided to try the detour.  5 very winding, rough road miles and I came out at highway 50.  There was another sign, but I misunderstood where the road I was supposed to turn on was, so ran into another roadblock, and just thought (this was now 10:30) "to heck with it" and came home.

I wanted a rest room, so I decided to check out the California Welcome Center in El Dorado Hills.  That is, until I saw the big event there, and the lack of parking. I then thought I'd go to Target, but didn't see it, but there I was on White Rock Road, so instead of going back on the freeway I followed it toward Rancho Cordova.  Nice country roads, probably chock-a-block full of caches. I recognized one place where Rich and I had been long long ago, but most of it was fairly new to me. I came out near the children's museum and decided to get back on the freeway there.

Tooling up Watt Avenue, I suddenly noticed the SPCA booksale, which is local to me this year.  So I pulled into the mall, visited their rest room, then had a fun browse through the booksale.  I got three more jigsaw puzzles, including one that's borderless and has 5 extra pieces.  Oh, THAT's going to be fun! Also: some kids' books, and

• Ellery Queen, Death Spins the Platter
• Catherine Drinker Bowen, Miracle at Philadelphia
• Notes from a Small Island, Bill Bryson (I may have read this before, guess I'll find out)
• Peru the Rough Guide (!)
• Insight Guide, South America
• The River of Doubt, Candice Millard (about Teddy Roosevelt)
• Sue Morris, Overcoming Grief
• Citizen Soldiers, Stephen E. Ambrose
• David Balducci, 1776

Not that I really needed ANY of that, except for the guidebooks.

Still, frustrating day.

So I went to 5:30 Mass and the Filipino dinner. It was nice, but I was lonely.  Rich would have been all over, but I just sat with the people I'd chosen, and enjoyed the program. I did see one of my former Girl Scouts, though I am pretty sure she wasn't clear who I was.  She'd claimed to be 21, and I told her that then I was 48. I can live with that.

NOOK, 332 books, 18% left.

Charlie Foxtrot: This is why affirmative action is a blight on the American meritocracy. How can anyone look at a minority Harvard professor again without thinking "are you there because you are the best or because you checked off a box?"

Mon, May 14th - 10:44PM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 90
98.7 miles
HOT

48 recordings of 19 types. 68% clear.

I had workmen today.  Mark came by to look at the back bathroom.  He asked a few questions and said he would get back to me with an estimate.  I really like him and he seems reasonable, so I hope this will get done fairly soon.

Then Greg came by with a kid (20s).  He isn't the one in the neighborhood, that's his parents, who have lived there longer than we've lived here. He's actually about a mile away, over by Cowan School.  He liked the big mysterious hunk of wood and was talking about maybe keeping it. I said that's just what WE did. He thought it was from a State Park.  Who knows?  It's gone now, as well as a couple of other big hunks of stuff, and the railroad ties from in back and the rest of the trash pile except for the stuff I wanted to keep.  There was some rebar, and they took all the plastic plant trays. And later I noticed we all completely missed a piece of roof gutter.  That's OK, there's a sandbox full of flower pots I need to go through and then finish destroying the sandbox... so I'll have another midden soon, but it's nice to have that one gone.  A lot of black widow eggs and a huge ugly white worm went, too.  Good riddance!

Then a quick trip to the commissary. I needed to get the stuff for the Frito corn salad, as well as more kitty litter. I'm still avoiding the big trip, though I do see some impulse items.

And down to see Bernadette.  Gareth was trying to tell Bernadette about his classmate "Wahkin" and finally told her "it starts with an L". Oh, Larkin! It's a good thing he can spell since he doesn't yet talk clearly!

Bernadette gave me Jordan almonds for Mother's Day. Under the flap of the bag it says "sharing is overrated!"

I took my neighbor a dish of the cacti she likes, and then later, when I was selling off the Monterey Bay Aquarium tickets which I got last fall, in hopes (in September I still had hope he'd start to feel better), I also gave her a cactus.  So slowly they're going. I'll call the Carmichael bunch again next week.

Archbishop Pelosi riffs on Catholic theology again

But I do have to wonder: What exactly would a person have to say or do until a bishop finally says, “You know, why don’t you find another church?”

Sun, May 13th - 9:23PM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 90
98.7 miles
HOT

45 recordings of 21 types. 70% left.  It goes quickly!!

Because I would be going to a funeral in the afternoon I walked the dog first thing in the morning. I forgot to mention, when I was walking the other day, suddenly he lunged forward, and it was a rat! A very very SLOW rat, that was still climbing into the hedge it was hiding in as we walked by.  Pharaoh could have caught him easily. Not that I wanted to deal with that mess.

Today, nothing quite so exciting, but I did see a bluebird!  Then when I got home I called the hauler.
(I'd seen into the back yard on the way home, and I doubt much he hauls actually ends up in the trash! Looks like a "collector" to me.)  Then I began to tackle the miner's mattress forest in back, which I just noticed.  The neighbors must hate me.

So, the funeral.  Gary was a grand Knight of Columbus and there were at least 30 of the guys in full feathers and regalia.  They made an arch of swords over the coffin and the family. Large family, including grandkids and, woe, his mother. Lots and lots of KCs in the congregation.  But I think there were more people at Rich's funeral.  We win. Anyway, I made it through OK, and I'm glad I went.  Sort of.

Afterwards I went to Emigh Hardware for some nozzles for the mister. I saw a church friend and asked about her husband who just broke his hip. Mary has been through so much. She's recovering from breast cancer.  And her husband has been forgetful and pretty helpless for years.  Yet she's always smiling and cheerful.

I'm pretty happy with the credit card balance.  Without the trip, I'm still keeping it low enough so I don't need to worry.

Jim Treacher: If you think Obama changed his mind on gay marriage, what was wrong with him before? Or, if he believed this all along, why say so now?

Charlie Foxtrot ^^^ This. You can't have it both ways. Either he used to be a bigot or he use to be a liar.

Legal Insurrection

I once participated in a group which gave someone a wedgie when I was at summer camp in the 1960s.  That’s why I’ll never run for President, my record is stained.

Now about that Obama trip to Pakistan and his 20 years in Jeremiah Wright’s church … bigot, racist, Islamophobe, wingnut.

Ed Morrissey
WaPo gives us a cutting-edge look at Romney's high-school pranks. So where are Obama's college transcrips? #crickets

John Hawkins: Oh wait, the Mitt being a jerk kid stuff was actually happening when Obama was snorting coke, but before he attended the anti-Semitic church.

Sat, May 12th - 3:53PM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 90
95.7 miles
HOT

35 recordings of 19 types. 74% clear.

"a well-reasoned, landmark Federal Court opinion out of the Ninth Circuit" (Krugman). Talk about an oxymoron!!

I went out to go to church this morning, and the car battery was really dead. I thought I'd have to wait for the neighbors to wake up so I could get a jump and then go to Les Schwab, but Monica told me that AAA would actually replace the battery in my driveway!  So I called them, and in a half hour they did that, with a diagnosis on the whole car, all is well, and a three year full replacement warranty and three more years pro-rated. Whew! I'm so glad Monica knew that and told me!  I've told a lot of other people who didn't know they did that, either. 

I didn't even have to ask Ron for a ride to go to the concert!  I drove the recommended 10 miles (to reset the car's idle) and stopped at Capitol Nursery for a hat. They look like they are in real trouble. Very little stock, empty shelves, and employees who don't know anything. After 10 minutes, I did get a price on the hat (not the color I wanted, but the only one they had) and got back home in time to get to the light rail.

Ron's all excited because his son is coming overnight. (This happens a lot, but he really likes it.) I told him about the Galapagos trip and he's quite enthusiastic for me.  The concert was the Travis Brass and they're wonderful. It was nice to stand for the National Anthem before the concert and to clap and sing with the Service medley. Afterwards we walked to Old Sac (when was the last time I was in Old Sac? I kept thinking I was with Bernadette, and probably after Rich died, but I can't think of an occasion. So maybe I was with Rich. In any case, lots and lots and lots of memories.) Ron knows everyone at Joe's Crab Shack (and he should. He goes about twice a week!) and I just followed his lead and had soup and salad. Very good, and I now see why everyone raves about the place.

Everything breaks at once. I had to replace a curlique light bulb.  Then I decided it should go with the dead batteries, to be disposed of someday when I feel like going to HazMat. I think the new one is brighter, which is nice.

Sat, May 12th - 7:13AM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 78
91.8 miles
HOT

31 recordings of 19 types. 76% clear.

What a nerve-wracking day!  I went over to breakfast with the WPAC ladies, then filled the car (8 cents a gallon more than last Thursday!) and when I went to drive off, it wouldn't start!  I couldn't even get it out of park so I could move it.  A guy at the station came, turned on the key, took it out of park and helped me move the car to the side.  I called AAA.  After a 40-minute wait, the guy came. It seemed to me that all he did was touch the car and it worked, but he must have given it some juice. I thought he was like Rich, one of his least-endearing traits: I couldn't do something and he'd come and just touch it and all was OK.

Well, then, good thing I wasn't babysitting today. I didn't feel like driving anywhere, too scared. I did go out for the half-price pizza, which was fine.  Fortunately, the class out at the Retreat House was cancelled tonight.

Also, my computer is grinding as it boots up. Argh argh argh.

The day improved somewhat when I got a couple of books about the Galapagos from Monica.

Donovan Colbert: Wait. What if THEY just let ME keep MY money and I was RESPONSIBLE for my OWN healthcare? Wouldn't that cut out a wasteful middleman? ;)

Reading: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (vol 1), Edward Gibbon, The Bible (1 Machabees), The Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales, Blue Highways, William Least Heat Moon, Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Knight's Acre, Norah Lofts, Galapagos, a Natural History, Michael H. Jackson, Death, the Final Surrender, Fr. Cedric Pisegna.