Tue, Feb 7th - 7:12PM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 66
20.1 miles
cool

172 recordings of 46 types. 9%

Today I went to Bernadette's to babysit while she took Gareth to the preschool to have him evaluated. I read while Joanna puttered, and B. was only gone about an hour.  The IEP will be in a couple of weeks. 

Back at home, the calls began to come in from people interested in my tall cactus. One guy came and took one big succulent from the front and 3 or 4 from the back. It's a start.  Our neighbor came by but he only wanted a dish (and he wanted to use the wagon to carry it, which is when I found out my wagon's gone. The last time I saw it was the week before Thanksgiving when I went to the Mountain Mandarin Festival. Sulk.). I had another call, but she didn't leave a call-back number. Apparently the guy who always wants the big cacti has been ordered by his wife not to get any more. Oh, well.

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, Charlotte Figg Takes Over Paradise, Joyce Magnin, Finding Your Way After Your Spouse Dies, Marta Felber, and The Death of a Husband, Helen Reichert Lambin.

Tue, Feb 7th - 11:31AM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 66
20.1 miles
warm

169 recordings of 43 types. 11%.

Rasmussen: -12: 49/49.

Smart power.

I babysat all day.  I introduced the dog back into the living room after Joanna's nap.  She cried when he licked her but I showed her how to push him away and tell him "bad dog."  Wary, and when he comes up behind her he scares her, but she's getting used to it.

After Bernadette got them, I planned a quick dash down Watt to take advantage of a 49-cent Pepsi 2-l. deal, and then to stop at the Commissary for laundry detergent (trying to get only one big bulky thing a trip, and currently I'm OK on kitty litter, dog food, and cat food. What I failed to see was that the Food Source Pepsi coupon was part of its Grand Opening, which started today.  I realized my mistake when I got in and discovered every single cart was gone. oops.

OK, then.  I picked up 4 Diet Pepsis and headed for the checkout.  I made a mental note to come back and check this place out some other time. (There's a Fresh & Easy opening in my neighborhood soon, as well. But I imagine I'm still shopping at the commissary and Raley's.) I looked at the express line and decided I'd do as well in the shorter line for full carts.  In the event, it was about the same. 

Then to the Commissary.  Who knew big amounts of laundry detergent is now sold in liquid form? It's easy to carry and I didn't have to worry. I picked my Arm&Hammer brand with 70 loads, $5, instead of a brand I don't know with 166 loads for $6, as I'm only doing a load a week as a rule, so the second one would last 3 years and that's too long if I don't like it.

So this wasn't quite as quick a dash as I anticipated, but not that bad.

Kathryn Lopez

Planned Parenthood refers women for screenings, they don’t do them. They do abortions. That’s their business. Kudos to Komen for walking away from that. There will be a lot of hell to pay from the abortion industry and its party, needless to say.

Oilwatcher : It's just weird how obsessed the left is with killing babies. What's the deal? Some kind of secret Cult of Baal?

Richard : Is this not a private organization? If he has a problem with how they are spending their money, he doesn't have to donate to them. Why doesn't he just start his own breast cancer foundation?

He can call it the "Howard Brush Dean Breast Cancer Foundation", and then he can give all the donations he receives to Planned Parenthood if he thinks that is the best way to fight cancer...

Sun, Feb 5th - 8:36AM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 62
20.1 miles
fog, then warm

171 recordings of 45 types. 10% clear.

Rasmussen: -13: 51/48.  "For the first time in more than two years, Democrats lead Republicans on the Generic Congressional Ballot." Scary out here!

Occupy Support Drops More than 20 Points in San Francisco.

Maybe he doesn't actually Know It All

Back to the motor home for another good breakfast this morning, then I showed Ina the bamboo and she took a little stalk in the hopes of growing it.  (They also got a small cactus and some garlic.) Then it was time for them to go. I took a movie of Allan navigating out of the driveway, but it was nowhere near as difficult as I thought it might be.  "Don't be sad", Ina told me, so of course I burst into tears. I'm so so SO glad they came.

One of the curly lightbulbs in back had died, so I replaced it, noting that the new one has a 5 year guarantee.  You know, it may well have been that long since the other one went in.

At 10 on the dot, Eduardo came by. He wanted permission to drop the century plant on the neighbors' yard, so I went by and asked them.  No problem.  Eduardo went right to work with his chain saw, first trimming off the spiky leaves, then eventually pulling the stalk down partly in the street. Then he chopped it up, cleaned up, and trimmed the ball at the bottom.  When he was rolling that into his truck, I asked what he meant he wanted to eat it.  Turns out they make candy from it.  These agave are not the tequila agave, but I could make pulque out of the one that's left.  No thank you.  Tequila is made from smaller agave.  Anyway, he was prompt, efficient, and pleasant (oh, the stalk is like sugar cane, he says) so I gave him $40.

This afternoon I babysat.  Bernadette was hopeful that I could drive the kids home so she could go directly to rehearsal, but I'm so tired, I keep falling asleep when I sit down.  I wasn't alone.  Gareth slept on the floor for two hours, and Joanna's nap was also two hours.  There was one blissful hour when they overlapped.

In my old papers, I have the Yellowstone trip in 1964 and a geology trip I took in Marin that Roni resented, because I was supposed to be HOME (she was 8, I believe). Heh.

Monica called.  Their vacation plans this year are to France.  Boy, those kids sure are lucky. I was 10 before I got as far as Denver.

Bre McGloughlin: If tomatoes are a fruit, then isn't ketchup technically a smoothie?

Yay!  Yay yay yay!!!

Fri, Feb 3rd - 8:31AM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 56
20.1 miles
warm

166 recordings of 44 types. 12% free.

Rasmussen: -14: 51/47 (!)

I trekked across the street at 7 and had breakfast with Allan and Ina.  She makes oatmeal with lots of additions, really good. I put in raisins, but she puts in trail mix!  Super good.  Allan had called the garage in West Sacramento I'd found last night to make an appointment for an oil change, and he was happy. 

Then we took the dogs for a long walk at the softball complex, where I showed them the geocaches we'd put out.  Codger's Walk is in good shape. We just eyeballed the other two.

Then we put Queenie into the back yard with Pharaoh and went to lunch at Woodys.  Good stuff. I hadn't been since they moved to Country Club Plaza, though the Widowed Persons Association goes there pretty often. Yummy.

We were going to go look at sandhill cranes but Queenie was heartbroken to be out in a strange place with a strange dog (they got along fine) so we sat outside for awhile and then they took their dog to the motor home and we all went down to see Bernadette.  There was a traffic jam on the way home. 

They fed their pets and I fed Pharaoh, then we went out to dinner at La Rosa Blanca.  Two meals out in one day!!  Eating out is something I miss a lot. Back home, more talk till everyone turned into pumpkins at 9:30 or so. What a nice day!

Disagrees with his own chart.

Thu, Feb 2nd - 7:37PM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 56
16.8 miles
warm

Rasmussen: -15: 49/50.

165 recordings of 45 types. 12% free.

This one was easy.

I'm +.9 pounds up with high blood pressure today.

Father, at church today, forgot the words and ended up saying "and also with your spirit" so I don't feel so bad about all the times I forget. I had companions for the pancake breakfast. Then a quick stop at the store.

Bernadette stopped by after her radio stint and did the pheasant in the puzzle. Then I sent her home so I could go to the grief group.  There were a LOT of people there today, probably because of the football, or rather lack of. I enjoyed it again, but left a little early so I could be home with my brother and sister-in-law.

I was surprised and worried when they weren't in my driveway. It turns out their motor home is ever so much bigger, and my driveway significantly smaller, than I realized. Oops. The neighbors got together and found a driveway that fit, so they camped across the street from my house (still using my bathroom!)

I did a rump roast in a bag, and actually cleared the dining room table and we ate like adults.  We talked and they showed me a lot of pictures of their trip.  I'm so glad they came!

While attending a Marriage Weekend, my wife and I, listened to
the instructor declare, 'It is essential that husbands and wives know the
things that are important to each other."
He then addressed the men, "can you name your wife's favorite flower?"
I leaned over, touched my wife's hand gently, and whispered,
"Pillsbury-All-Purpose, isn't it?"
And thus began my life of celibacy.........