Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Posted: 02/10/09 20:20:07
Hailey turned 15 and my daughter got a year older since my last post. We did the last day of the black and white class at the Wild Animal Park. Lots of walking and I was having a hard time keeping up. So on the way out I took my time. I sat and watched the gorillas for awhile and got a couple of pretty good photos of them. I enjoyed my slow walk back to the entrance. Some taking photos and some just sitting and enjoying the surroundings. By the time I got back to the entrance I was feeling good. I need to do more walking. Sunday we started a new class...Flashworks. I really don't like using flash very much so I have a learning curve ahead. I have an external flash for my camera. Actually I bought it for my last camera. I haven't used it more than once or twice. I dug it out and checked it out and realized that it needed batteries...duh! Anyway it wasn't needed on Sunday. We used the popup flash. I don't use that much either. Though I did use it for the black and white Hailey photos. I have a dreadful cold. It wasn't just the cold day on Sunday...I was already coming down sick. So now I don't think I will make the Wednesday night class for flash. Darn. Maybe I will feel better tomorrow...
Thursday, July 17, 2008
La Jolla Seals and Shores
Jackie and her daughter Jocelyn and Hailey and my other granddaughter Megan went to see the seals at the children's pool in La Jolla. They are so cute. But people in La Jolla want the children's pool returned to the children. The pool was made when a breakwater was built in the early 1930s. The money to build the breakwater was donated by the newspaper heiress Ellen Browning Scripps. There was a natural shallow beach from rocks that partially enclosed the area. The seawall was built over the rocks. This web site tells the story:
http://www.lajollaseals.com/history.html
Jackie drove us there. She parked by the Cove and we asked where the children's pool was from there. About a ten minute walk we were told. So the three girls walking in front, we set off toward the seals. It took us more like 20 minutes to get there then we walked the breakwater to get a really good look at the seals. If the latest court decision stands the seals will be removed and sand dredged out of the pool area to turn it back into a pool instead of a haul out area for the seals. The seals bask in the sun and have their babies there.
I took photos of the seals. The day was overcast.Then we drove into La Jolla to find a place to eat. We ate at a coffee house. I had delicious clam chowder and the girls each had a large slice of pizza. I don't remember what Jackie had. After lunch we drove to the Shores. The girls and I found a place on the beach while Jackie parked the car. The girls walked to the water and got their legs wet, turned around walked back and flopped down on their towels. By the time Jackie got there the girls wanted to leave. I told them that Jackie deserved some time relaxing on the beach after driving around finding a parking place. Here is a link to the photos I took: http://www.dotcombs.net/show/seals1.html
We enjoyed our time at the beach. The sound of the surf is soothing. I wore a hat and I didn't mind too much that the sun was hidden by clouds.
There are a lot of beaches in San Diego. So La Jolla wasn't one we often visited. I didn't know much about the area. I grew up in Lakeside. In the early 1960s I went to San Diego State. Didn't graduate. Lots of reasons for that. One was my family had some problems. When my younger sister decided to go to State my father and stepmom moved into a house in the College area. My father had a swimming pool put in and the house was really nice.
Then I was let go from my job at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company because I was asthmatic. No company could get away with a thing like that now. Anyway I had taken the entrance exam for State...my sister's idea and passed. I had decided not to go to college. I would have stayed at my job. Fortunately the end of my job came just in time for me to apply for college. I only had a few days. So I moved into the new Bixel Street house too. Looking back I don't think that made my sister happy. Going to college was a good thing. We joined a soroity and I made a life long friend there.
Barbara had a boyfriend named Don. I remember Don's sister bringing her little girl to swim in our pool at Bixel Street. Don's sister put a float vest on her and let her jump off the diving board. That little girl would paddle to the edge of the pool, get out, and run back to the diving board to jump off again. She loved it and had a great time.
When my father and stepmom started having marital problems, my stepmom moved out. One day my dad sat my sister and I down and told us that he decided to keep the marriage together and he was moving back to Lakeside with Marlise. He said later that a divorce would have cost him too much money. When they were both old he told me that he was very glad that they stayed together. They really were best friends.
We had to find a new place to live. We found a two bedroom apartment on University Ave. and got two roommates. I shared my room with a girl named Sally.
Barbara and Don broke up before our move to the apartment. My sister went out a lot and I didn't. I was tall and very thin and not very good looking. I also had a lot of problems with self image. One evening when I was alone at the apartment, Don showed up looking for Barb. When I told him she wasn't there he asked me to go down to the beach. Meaning find a bar in the area for drinks. I let him talk me into it. He said it was only as friends and I believed him. Don was shorter than me...Barb had a lot of short boyfriends because she was only 5'1" tall. We were so different. I was tall with blue eyes and thin as a rail, and Barb was short with big brown eyes, pretty with a good figure. Not the same at all. Later we found out that we had different birth fathers.
Anyway after Don and I drank a few beers and talked we seemed to be having a good time. I always was a happy drunk. He drove us to the children's pool at La Jolla. It was dark night and the surf was crashing against the sea wall. We walked out on the seawall and couldn't see anything. I held on to the railing and said that this wasn't a good idea and I wanted to go back. Don wanted to stay there. He picked me up and held me over the railing. I hung on to him for dear life. He seemed to loosen his grip and I really thought he wanted to drop me into the surf. I would have died and I knew it. Finally he pulled me back across the railing and shaken I talked him into going back to our apartment. I guess I let him think I would sleep with him. I did kiss him. When we got home, I tried to say good bye at the door but he came in and sat down on our sofa. I got him a beer and he asked me to sit down next to him. I did sit on the sofa but kept some distance. He asked if anyone was home. I said no. I didn't know our room mate, Sally was sleeping in the bedroom. Don told me to take off my shirt and I said, "No!" When he got it through his head that I wasn't interested he left. I never saw him again.
This whole incident seems harmless enough. Several years later I married E.R. Combs. E.R. worked at Rohr. One day E.R. came home from work and asked me about a boyfriend named Don. I told him that I never had a boyfriend named Don. I never thought about that again for years. E.R. and I had a lot of problems. He was angry at me a lot for no reason. We went through years of that. We had three children and adoped our nephew. In the early 1980s when our marriage was finally to the point of no return E.R. asked me again about Don. This time he told me Don's last name which clicked in my head and I finally remembered who he was.
I remembered that Barb had a boyfriend named Don...not me. It seems that when E.R. told the guys he worked with at Rohr that he had married Dorothy Toston, Don bragged that he slept with me and that I was his girlfriend. All lies. Later I asked Barb about Don an she also never slept with him. Why he lied, I don't know, but the lie caused me a lot of heartache for a lot of years. Now all this is not why E.R. and I broke up. The breakup was more about the fact that something like this could upset E.R. and cause him to make my life miserable. Sometimes I wish I believed in Karma...what comes around goes around. Maybe life would not be all that kind to Don.
So while going to La Jolla Children's Pool to see the seals was fun it did bring back some bad memories.
http://www.lajollaseals.com/history.html
Jackie drove us there. She parked by the Cove and we asked where the children's pool was from there. About a ten minute walk we were told. So the three girls walking in front, we set off toward the seals. It took us more like 20 minutes to get there then we walked the breakwater to get a really good look at the seals. If the latest court decision stands the seals will be removed and sand dredged out of the pool area to turn it back into a pool instead of a haul out area for the seals. The seals bask in the sun and have their babies there.
I took photos of the seals. The day was overcast.Then we drove into La Jolla to find a place to eat. We ate at a coffee house. I had delicious clam chowder and the girls each had a large slice of pizza. I don't remember what Jackie had. After lunch we drove to the Shores. The girls and I found a place on the beach while Jackie parked the car. The girls walked to the water and got their legs wet, turned around walked back and flopped down on their towels. By the time Jackie got there the girls wanted to leave. I told them that Jackie deserved some time relaxing on the beach after driving around finding a parking place. Here is a link to the photos I took: http://www.dotcombs.net/show/seals1.html
We enjoyed our time at the beach. The sound of the surf is soothing. I wore a hat and I didn't mind too much that the sun was hidden by clouds.
There are a lot of beaches in San Diego. So La Jolla wasn't one we often visited. I didn't know much about the area. I grew up in Lakeside. In the early 1960s I went to San Diego State. Didn't graduate. Lots of reasons for that. One was my family had some problems. When my younger sister decided to go to State my father and stepmom moved into a house in the College area. My father had a swimming pool put in and the house was really nice.
Then I was let go from my job at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company because I was asthmatic. No company could get away with a thing like that now. Anyway I had taken the entrance exam for State...my sister's idea and passed. I had decided not to go to college. I would have stayed at my job. Fortunately the end of my job came just in time for me to apply for college. I only had a few days. So I moved into the new Bixel Street house too. Looking back I don't think that made my sister happy. Going to college was a good thing. We joined a soroity and I made a life long friend there.
Barbara had a boyfriend named Don. I remember Don's sister bringing her little girl to swim in our pool at Bixel Street. Don's sister put a float vest on her and let her jump off the diving board. That little girl would paddle to the edge of the pool, get out, and run back to the diving board to jump off again. She loved it and had a great time.
When my father and stepmom started having marital problems, my stepmom moved out. One day my dad sat my sister and I down and told us that he decided to keep the marriage together and he was moving back to Lakeside with Marlise. He said later that a divorce would have cost him too much money. When they were both old he told me that he was very glad that they stayed together. They really were best friends.
We had to find a new place to live. We found a two bedroom apartment on University Ave. and got two roommates. I shared my room with a girl named Sally.
Barbara and Don broke up before our move to the apartment. My sister went out a lot and I didn't. I was tall and very thin and not very good looking. I also had a lot of problems with self image. One evening when I was alone at the apartment, Don showed up looking for Barb. When I told him she wasn't there he asked me to go down to the beach. Meaning find a bar in the area for drinks. I let him talk me into it. He said it was only as friends and I believed him. Don was shorter than me...Barb had a lot of short boyfriends because she was only 5'1" tall. We were so different. I was tall with blue eyes and thin as a rail, and Barb was short with big brown eyes, pretty with a good figure. Not the same at all. Later we found out that we had different birth fathers.
Anyway after Don and I drank a few beers and talked we seemed to be having a good time. I always was a happy drunk. He drove us to the children's pool at La Jolla. It was dark night and the surf was crashing against the sea wall. We walked out on the seawall and couldn't see anything. I held on to the railing and said that this wasn't a good idea and I wanted to go back. Don wanted to stay there. He picked me up and held me over the railing. I hung on to him for dear life. He seemed to loosen his grip and I really thought he wanted to drop me into the surf. I would have died and I knew it. Finally he pulled me back across the railing and shaken I talked him into going back to our apartment. I guess I let him think I would sleep with him. I did kiss him. When we got home, I tried to say good bye at the door but he came in and sat down on our sofa. I got him a beer and he asked me to sit down next to him. I did sit on the sofa but kept some distance. He asked if anyone was home. I said no. I didn't know our room mate, Sally was sleeping in the bedroom. Don told me to take off my shirt and I said, "No!" When he got it through his head that I wasn't interested he left. I never saw him again.
This whole incident seems harmless enough. Several years later I married E.R. Combs. E.R. worked at Rohr. One day E.R. came home from work and asked me about a boyfriend named Don. I told him that I never had a boyfriend named Don. I never thought about that again for years. E.R. and I had a lot of problems. He was angry at me a lot for no reason. We went through years of that. We had three children and adoped our nephew. In the early 1980s when our marriage was finally to the point of no return E.R. asked me again about Don. This time he told me Don's last name which clicked in my head and I finally remembered who he was.
I remembered that Barb had a boyfriend named Don...not me. It seems that when E.R. told the guys he worked with at Rohr that he had married Dorothy Toston, Don bragged that he slept with me and that I was his girlfriend. All lies. Later I asked Barb about Don an she also never slept with him. Why he lied, I don't know, but the lie caused me a lot of heartache for a lot of years. Now all this is not why E.R. and I broke up. The breakup was more about the fact that something like this could upset E.R. and cause him to make my life miserable. Sometimes I wish I believed in Karma...what comes around goes around. Maybe life would not be all that kind to Don.
So while going to La Jolla Children's Pool to see the seals was fun it did bring back some bad memories.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Waiting for the peacocks
Update on Tuxie. After being gone two weeks she came home. She was on top of our garage building at the back of the property. She walked accross the roof and jumped down on the open door and then down on Elizabeth's old van and then to the ground and walked up to me like she'd never been gone. We worried that she may take off again but has been staying close to the house and sleeping in at night.
Hailey was home most of the week with a cold. She went to school Monday only to have me come and pick her up from the nurses office. She had a slight fever and probably a light case of flu. She went back to school today. There usually isn't a lot of traffic on the roads up here in Eucalyptus Hills. Today a white van at the corner started to back up saw my car and drove on pretty fast. I made the stop and then followed. Around a curve there was an old man with a cane and a black standard poodle on a leash standing in the middle of the road. He totally stopped and waved us ahead. He looked confused. I waited for him to cross. The white van must have whizzed right by him. Probably why he was standing in the road. After he walked passed I stopped next to him and rolled down my window and told him he had a nice dog. He said thank you back. We see many people out walking in the mornings and most of them have dogs. I watch out for them because the roads are narrow and sometimes the dogs and the people too walk out on the pavement.
Dropped off Hailey at school and then I decided to swing past Jack in the Box on the way home for some coffee. At the corner of the building a man on a tall stepladder was replacing the metal flange that edges the roof. Must have been met with a motorhome driving too close. They just take down the damaged piece of metal and replace with a new one from the truck. Must happen a lot.
On the way up the hill I drove back Valle Vista and saw that Valle Vista was blocked off with a detour just past the fire station. That doesn't change my path because I always turn at the fire station to take Pinehurst to Manzanita Road. About half way to Manzanita two peacocks were crossing the road. I totally stopped. They stopped too and turned back the way they came. So I waited. Then when they finally got off the road I saw that another vehicle was coming up behind me. I took off for home.
I bought a Garmin GPS and when checking it out found that the little voice can't say Valle Vista. Old timers here pronounce it Val Vista. Newer folks say Valley Vista. I sure don't know what that little voice says but it is not an understandable utterance.
I got the GPS because we plan to take a trip up to Washington state and it will be so much easier finding where we want to go than a road map. It has been fourty years since I've been up there. E.R. has made several trips up over the years. As a child we went up there many summers with our mom. Her family is all from there. E.R. has a lot of family there too though they were from Kentucky originally.
My cousin Valerie and I have kept in touch all these years and haven't seen her since she made a trip down here in the mid ninties to stay with my sister. We talk on the phone often though.
My photoshopping board is having another challenge. This one is turning out quite interesting. We have two photos of Hailey that I posted and we are changing and editing the photos. So far some really nice work. For the photo sections the theme is pets or animals.
I've cut down on the spam bots registering on my board by banning most of the free email servers. That has helped a lot. Most people have an isp address that they can join up from. If they don't I will help them get on the board. Spam bots suck and it is surprising how many free email servers let the spam bots use their servers to sign up on forums and boards. Hotmail and gmail are two that a person would think would have some screening to prevent the spam bots from signing up.
Hailey was home most of the week with a cold. She went to school Monday only to have me come and pick her up from the nurses office. She had a slight fever and probably a light case of flu. She went back to school today. There usually isn't a lot of traffic on the roads up here in Eucalyptus Hills. Today a white van at the corner started to back up saw my car and drove on pretty fast. I made the stop and then followed. Around a curve there was an old man with a cane and a black standard poodle on a leash standing in the middle of the road. He totally stopped and waved us ahead. He looked confused. I waited for him to cross. The white van must have whizzed right by him. Probably why he was standing in the road. After he walked passed I stopped next to him and rolled down my window and told him he had a nice dog. He said thank you back. We see many people out walking in the mornings and most of them have dogs. I watch out for them because the roads are narrow and sometimes the dogs and the people too walk out on the pavement.
Dropped off Hailey at school and then I decided to swing past Jack in the Box on the way home for some coffee. At the corner of the building a man on a tall stepladder was replacing the metal flange that edges the roof. Must have been met with a motorhome driving too close. They just take down the damaged piece of metal and replace with a new one from the truck. Must happen a lot.
On the way up the hill I drove back Valle Vista and saw that Valle Vista was blocked off with a detour just past the fire station. That doesn't change my path because I always turn at the fire station to take Pinehurst to Manzanita Road. About half way to Manzanita two peacocks were crossing the road. I totally stopped. They stopped too and turned back the way they came. So I waited. Then when they finally got off the road I saw that another vehicle was coming up behind me. I took off for home.
I bought a Garmin GPS and when checking it out found that the little voice can't say Valle Vista. Old timers here pronounce it Val Vista. Newer folks say Valley Vista. I sure don't know what that little voice says but it is not an understandable utterance.
I got the GPS because we plan to take a trip up to Washington state and it will be so much easier finding where we want to go than a road map. It has been fourty years since I've been up there. E.R. has made several trips up over the years. As a child we went up there many summers with our mom. Her family is all from there. E.R. has a lot of family there too though they were from Kentucky originally.
My cousin Valerie and I have kept in touch all these years and haven't seen her since she made a trip down here in the mid ninties to stay with my sister. We talk on the phone often though.
My photoshopping board is having another challenge. This one is turning out quite interesting. We have two photos of Hailey that I posted and we are changing and editing the photos. So far some really nice work. For the photo sections the theme is pets or animals.
I've cut down on the spam bots registering on my board by banning most of the free email servers. That has helped a lot. Most people have an isp address that they can join up from. If they don't I will help them get on the board. Spam bots suck and it is surprising how many free email servers let the spam bots use their servers to sign up on forums and boards. Hotmail and gmail are two that a person would think would have some screening to prevent the spam bots from signing up.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Things Change
Our cat Tuxie is missing. She took off a week ago Saturday. She has been seen twice but wouldn't come when called. So we will just have to wait and see if she ever comes back.
It looks like we will have to pay for our wonderful spring while much of the country was still having storms and snow. Now we are having 100 plus days and it looks like a long hot summer on the way. The only nice time is evening when it starts to cool off. It is nice sitting outside then.
I can remember what summer was like when I was growing up. No air conditioning. San Diego would still have been built up along the coast, but inland where we are would never have developed like it has without air conditioning. It would be a different world. I liked it like it used to be. We had to drive to El Cajon to go to stores. Lakeside did have a store grandly called a department store but it had old stuff to buy and sometimes we had to blow off the dust. Everything smelled old.
My mother built a concrete brick house on the foundation when I was in high school. It had tiled floors...no carpets. I remember laying on that concrete floor for coolness with a cold wash rag on my forehead. We grew up in the little concrete block house next door. The old foundation was poured first and then left for lack of money.
My last stepfather got the place when my mother died and then later when he died his current wife got it. By then they had borrowed money on it to buy a new place. She called me and told me a sad story about her financial condition. That was years and years after my mother died and I couldn't talk to her. I think she was worried that I would put in a claim on the estate or something. I hadn't talked to her in all those years or my stepfather either.
Things change. One day someone is part of your family and then they are not.
My forum for Photoshoppers is getting a lot of fake members...ones that sign up with a robot. They call them spam bots but they are not the e-mail type bots. The join forums and then post ads. Some are innocent enough but then there are the drug pushers...Viagra and such and the porn pushers. I've fixed my forum so new members have to be activated by me. That has stopped the posts but not the fake members signing up. Yesterday I had a legitimate site sign up for my forum using a bot. What is with that. I looked up their site and filled out a mail form and told them what I thought of them. Maybe they will get the message. I can't believe that legitimate sites would use spam bots in that way. What is the matter with them. It sure doesn't make for good will.
It looks like we will have to pay for our wonderful spring while much of the country was still having storms and snow. Now we are having 100 plus days and it looks like a long hot summer on the way. The only nice time is evening when it starts to cool off. It is nice sitting outside then.
I can remember what summer was like when I was growing up. No air conditioning. San Diego would still have been built up along the coast, but inland where we are would never have developed like it has without air conditioning. It would be a different world. I liked it like it used to be. We had to drive to El Cajon to go to stores. Lakeside did have a store grandly called a department store but it had old stuff to buy and sometimes we had to blow off the dust. Everything smelled old.
My mother built a concrete brick house on the foundation when I was in high school. It had tiled floors...no carpets. I remember laying on that concrete floor for coolness with a cold wash rag on my forehead. We grew up in the little concrete block house next door. The old foundation was poured first and then left for lack of money.
My last stepfather got the place when my mother died and then later when he died his current wife got it. By then they had borrowed money on it to buy a new place. She called me and told me a sad story about her financial condition. That was years and years after my mother died and I couldn't talk to her. I think she was worried that I would put in a claim on the estate or something. I hadn't talked to her in all those years or my stepfather either.
Things change. One day someone is part of your family and then they are not.
My forum for Photoshoppers is getting a lot of fake members...ones that sign up with a robot. They call them spam bots but they are not the e-mail type bots. The join forums and then post ads. Some are innocent enough but then there are the drug pushers...Viagra and such and the porn pushers. I've fixed my forum so new members have to be activated by me. That has stopped the posts but not the fake members signing up. Yesterday I had a legitimate site sign up for my forum using a bot. What is with that. I looked up their site and filled out a mail form and told them what I thought of them. Maybe they will get the message. I can't believe that legitimate sites would use spam bots in that way. What is the matter with them. It sure doesn't make for good will.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Another Week Gone By
Moved my computer into my room, and E.R. has his set up in the dining room where mine used to be. His new computer is really nice and fast. He is happy with it and can play games on MSN like Spades.
The new challenge on my Photoshopping Board is going pretty well. Some really nice entries. I haven't done anything yet and may not...we will see.
Our weather that was so nice the last few weeks has been cloudy and cool. It is the marine layer that comes in from the ocean. They call it May Gray...in June they call it June Gloom. We seem to have weeks of it every spring. We did have rain a few days ago too. It got very wet but no one would call it rain unless they lived here. My cats stayed in that day...all day.
The new challenge on my Photoshopping Board is going pretty well. Some really nice entries. I haven't done anything yet and may not...we will see.
Our weather that was so nice the last few weeks has been cloudy and cool. It is the marine layer that comes in from the ocean. They call it May Gray...in June they call it June Gloom. We seem to have weeks of it every spring. We did have rain a few days ago too. It got very wet but no one would call it rain unless they lived here. My cats stayed in that day...all day.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Photoshopping Board
We had a great flower challenge. Many pretty pictures. I made a page for the winners though so far only one person has done an acceptance speech. And it wasn't me. I need to do one. Joanne won twice. She does such nice work. I was happy with the way it came out. NIK did the voting form and counted up the votes. Also very happy to have won for a pure photo of an apple blossom.
The spammers have caught up with the board again. The board is fixed now so that I have to approve membership before they can post. Hopefully I will continue to recognize the spammers and delete them before they ever post anything. It is lots easier that way...still I have to go to the trouble of zapping them. One spammer rejoined after I deleted him the first time. Just didn't get the message! Even when they know they can't ever post they think that just getting their web page or message in the member list is doing something. If this wasn't my board I would seldom look at the member list. I don't think anyone else does either.
A few more members from Janee's board have joined and I've a few new people too.
The new May challenge starts tomorrow. I've already put up the page for it. It should be a fun challenge too.
I finally got E.R. a computer so that I can have this one to myself. In case anyone doesn't know about my bad temper...last year he was complaining to me about his computer and our grandson Cody using it like it was my fault and that I should do something about it. The computer was hanging up from all the programs and stuff like My Space and too much being open at once. It might have gotten a virus. I reinstalled the operating system and it seemed fine for awhile. Then Cody got back on it and all the problems started over. Finally it just got on my nerves and since I had bought the darn thing to start with I threw it out the door and ruined it. I warned E.R. that I was going to toss out the computer and he said to go ahead. I really don't think he thought I would really do it.
Anyway I need to get the new computer set up so I can put mine somewhere else. I wanted to get the voting and the new challenge started before I move everything. It might take me a day or so to get back online.
The spammers have caught up with the board again. The board is fixed now so that I have to approve membership before they can post. Hopefully I will continue to recognize the spammers and delete them before they ever post anything. It is lots easier that way...still I have to go to the trouble of zapping them. One spammer rejoined after I deleted him the first time. Just didn't get the message! Even when they know they can't ever post they think that just getting their web page or message in the member list is doing something. If this wasn't my board I would seldom look at the member list. I don't think anyone else does either.
A few more members from Janee's board have joined and I've a few new people too.
The new May challenge starts tomorrow. I've already put up the page for it. It should be a fun challenge too.
I finally got E.R. a computer so that I can have this one to myself. In case anyone doesn't know about my bad temper...last year he was complaining to me about his computer and our grandson Cody using it like it was my fault and that I should do something about it. The computer was hanging up from all the programs and stuff like My Space and too much being open at once. It might have gotten a virus. I reinstalled the operating system and it seemed fine for awhile. Then Cody got back on it and all the problems started over. Finally it just got on my nerves and since I had bought the darn thing to start with I threw it out the door and ruined it. I warned E.R. that I was going to toss out the computer and he said to go ahead. I really don't think he thought I would really do it.
Anyway I need to get the new computer set up so I can put mine somewhere else. I wanted to get the voting and the new challenge started before I move everything. It might take me a day or so to get back online.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Thursday again!
Last evening we went to Barona for the buffet. We took Hailey and her friend Jennifer and Cody too. The prime rib was so good. I love the buffet but never think I can eat enough to get my money's worth. I didn't have seconds and no dessert either. Cody was good company. The only thing I don't like about the place is having to walk through the smoky casino. Now that all the laws prevent smoking in public places it seems strange to be in a place that lets people smoke. I rather love the no smoking laws. I grew up in a home that was often blue with smoke. My having asthma didn't stop my mom from smoking or anyone that came to visit. She kept the house pin neat and clean so that the dust wouldn't make me sick. Yet everyone smoked.
Hailey's Show Choir class is serving dessert tonight at her school. Saturday they are in the Lakeside Rodeo parade. Back in the late 1930s my mother and three other girls led the parade one year. My father tried bull riding but decided he wasn't cut out for rodeo when he landed with his face in the dirt. As far as I know the rodeo wasn't held during the war and only returned in the late 1940s. We plan to go to the rodeo Saturday afternoon. I haven't been to a rodeo in years.
Lakeside used to have a built in rodeo grounds with white wooden fences and a look of permanence. In the early 1960s the freeway was built through there and then the rodeo was gone for a while. The freeway stops not far after the old location and was never built any longer. Wonder why they couldn't have quit building sooner? Now the rodeo grounds is on leased property from the highschool, and it is mostly pipe corral. It never seems the same to me and it has been over forty years. Elizabeth and I went there to see Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson when they toured as the Highwaymen some years ago. It was a really good show.
Hailey's Show Choir class is serving dessert tonight at her school. Saturday they are in the Lakeside Rodeo parade. Back in the late 1930s my mother and three other girls led the parade one year. My father tried bull riding but decided he wasn't cut out for rodeo when he landed with his face in the dirt. As far as I know the rodeo wasn't held during the war and only returned in the late 1940s. We plan to go to the rodeo Saturday afternoon. I haven't been to a rodeo in years.
Lakeside used to have a built in rodeo grounds with white wooden fences and a look of permanence. In the early 1960s the freeway was built through there and then the rodeo was gone for a while. The freeway stops not far after the old location and was never built any longer. Wonder why they couldn't have quit building sooner? Now the rodeo grounds is on leased property from the highschool, and it is mostly pipe corral. It never seems the same to me and it has been over forty years. Elizabeth and I went there to see Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson when they toured as the Highwaymen some years ago. It was a really good show.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Thursday and Friday
Thursday is a day for thinking about all the things I planned to do this week and haven't. It is not the end of the week and still it is too close to the end. Where the freshness of a new week starting has worn off...a sort of nothing day. The sky out is clear and it looks like a bright sunny day about to begin even if it is Thursday. People who live paycheck to paycheck are out of money on Thursdays. Thursday means one more work day to look forward to until the week end. I'm retired but I have a granddaughter in school so I'm up thinking about waking her up and getting breakfast ready. Then it is the off to school morning drive down the hill. I'm one of those parents that crowd the drop off at the school. There is room for three rows of cars to slide through while watching for children threading their way between the cars.
When I went to that school we road the bus when we were with our mother and then later the times we lived with our father and step mother we walked to school. The school is now a middle school. I went to kindergarten there. That little one room building was behind the main school and was taken down years ago when the original school building was flattened. I was in fifth grade when the building came down and our teacher let us go to the windows and watch it fall. We were in the new building then which is now the old building now. Even that was not the original Lakeside school. The one room school my father went to is down the road and still stands. It is where the district offices are. I'm not sure what it is used for. I know I was actually inside the building back in the nineteen fifties.
Took Hailey to school. That was yesterday and she is back to school today. Last evening was the school's open house. The orchestra and the band played in the auditorium and then the show choir performed. Enjoyed the show except when the orchestra was playing a couple two rows behind me kept yapping...mainly the woman. The louder they played the louder she got. I did turn around and give her a dirty look but it didn't faze her.
Hailey was smiling and looking good during the performance. This is probably the last year that I will be at the school ever. It seems strange that I went to school there so many years in the late 1940s and early 1950s and then drove past the school for so many years and never as much as walked on the grounds. My children didn't go there. It has been Hailey's school for the last three years. I got to see the changes made to the school and buildings. My eighth grand graduation ceremony was on that same stage. Now there are too many students for that and graduations are held out side at the back of the school.
The best part of spring seems to be fading fast here. I know it is cold in the north and places could still have snow falling. Here our spring is almost over. The green hills are turning gold and then they will be brown until next year.
When I went to that school we road the bus when we were with our mother and then later the times we lived with our father and step mother we walked to school. The school is now a middle school. I went to kindergarten there. That little one room building was behind the main school and was taken down years ago when the original school building was flattened. I was in fifth grade when the building came down and our teacher let us go to the windows and watch it fall. We were in the new building then which is now the old building now. Even that was not the original Lakeside school. The one room school my father went to is down the road and still stands. It is where the district offices are. I'm not sure what it is used for. I know I was actually inside the building back in the nineteen fifties.
Took Hailey to school. That was yesterday and she is back to school today. Last evening was the school's open house. The orchestra and the band played in the auditorium and then the show choir performed. Enjoyed the show except when the orchestra was playing a couple two rows behind me kept yapping...mainly the woman. The louder they played the louder she got. I did turn around and give her a dirty look but it didn't faze her.
Hailey was smiling and looking good during the performance. This is probably the last year that I will be at the school ever. It seems strange that I went to school there so many years in the late 1940s and early 1950s and then drove past the school for so many years and never as much as walked on the grounds. My children didn't go there. It has been Hailey's school for the last three years. I got to see the changes made to the school and buildings. My eighth grand graduation ceremony was on that same stage. Now there are too many students for that and graduations are held out side at the back of the school.
The best part of spring seems to be fading fast here. I know it is cold in the north and places could still have snow falling. Here our spring is almost over. The green hills are turning gold and then they will be brown until next year.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Cooler Days Ahead?
It was over 90 here yesterday and they said a 100 in El Cajon. Hailey spent Saturday night with her friend Haley T. The family went to a play at the school and invited Hailey to go with them. Sunday morning I picked up Hailey and Haley and her little sister Tyler. They spent the day here and then it was back down to Lakeside to take Haley and Tyler home.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
A Beautiful Day
ER and I had brunch out on the front patio. I never know what to call that area. It was a small front yard that is enclosed with chainlink. My stepmom, Marlise, tried for years to get a lawn to grow there. The small area was dry and dusty and miserable. So a few years ago we paved the area with sandstone. A homemade job...very uneaven but I love it. There was already a drain put in by my Dad years ago that runs under the carport. Otherwise paving that area would be a disaster waiting to happen. The house is in a low spot. So without that drain the patio would turn into a pond when it rains. I bought two table umbrellas at Home Depot for the Walmart plastic furniture that I had bought. It made a lovely place to sit and watch humming birds. I have a feeder hanging from the small porch overhang at the front door. The only downside is that the umbrellas blow over in strong winds...if I don't get out there quickly and roll them down. After three years the umbrellas needed replacing. Was going to do that this summer but happened to see just what I wanted at Wallmart. Love that store.
There was a tree in the corner of the yard that finally just got too old. Branches were falling so now it is a stump. We planted yucca around the stump so it doesn't hurt me so much to see it.
And of course the fire pit that Elizabeth bought for me at Christmas. The area is perfect.
My Dad got this place back in the late 1960's. He had made a loan to a friend...a second mortgage. The friend defaulted on the first and the loan company was forclosing. That meant my Dad would loose the money he had loaned on the second. So he went to the loan company and took over the first. The house is very old and started out as a two room with a large round rock fireplace. Mostly built with redwood. It was added on to in 1940 and then my Dad made some changes too. They used the back bedroom and changed the front room into one larger room. In the late '70s he built a new master bedroom and bath.
The ceilings are low and since my dad was 6'2" wondered how he liked living here. It was planned to be temporary. He owned a hill off Woodside Ave. and always planned to build a big house up there. After he moved here Marlise didn't want the big house. She liked it here. This place has a special feeling that is hard to describe. He died in 1985.
He liked the look of palm trees and palm lined drives. This property has a long driveway to the road and he planted palms along both sides. The neighbor on one side would like them removed. The neighbor's property is higher than our drive and I think it would make a real mess to remove the trees...and it would ruin the look too. I love those trees. The people that owned his place sold out and moved to AZ. He and his wife bought when property values had hit the high mark. They paid a couple of hundred thousand more than the place is now worth.
The previous owner had gotten permission from my Dad to drive from his back yard down into our driveway. Then after my Dad passed away he built a paved drive way down into ours and built some sort of building there. Marlise, was so mad about that, but she never said anything to him. I made it very plain to him that new owners would not be using my drive. That there was no easement to our drive and that it would be closed off. That didn't make me flavor of the month when the new owner asked me to relent on that and I refused. Though when they wanted to put in an above ground pool in the back corner of their property I let the work men drive up the bank on our side of the fence and even take our fence apart so that they could take all the supplies for the pool in.
After my Dad passed my stepmom lived here until she died in the summer of 2000. I bought the place from the trust. I like living here too. Marlise let the little house in back to ER. We separated in 83. Our son Dave was living with him too. Then two years ago my Daughter came with her two children. Now she is living in the little house. Hailey and I were on our own for so long it seems strange to share a place now. I have my own space and spend a lot of time there. Otherwise I would go nutz. Last year Megan went back to live with her father. So mostly it is just Elizabeth and Cody.
Yesterday I visited Jackie and had lunch there. She has new puppies and so had some puppy time. The big girl puppy is so cute. I could fall in love, but since I lost my dog because ER left the gate open don't want to get another. I will stick with our cats. We have five.
Fluffy was the only one that wasn't fixed. He started catting around, yowling, and pissing on everything. So off to the vet. Over $400! He has been very quiet since and now even lets me pet him. To get him to the vet we had to get him into the carrier. He ran under the furniture and finally Dave and I cornered him and got him secured. I think he knew.
There was a tree in the corner of the yard that finally just got too old. Branches were falling so now it is a stump. We planted yucca around the stump so it doesn't hurt me so much to see it.
And of course the fire pit that Elizabeth bought for me at Christmas. The area is perfect.
My Dad got this place back in the late 1960's. He had made a loan to a friend...a second mortgage. The friend defaulted on the first and the loan company was forclosing. That meant my Dad would loose the money he had loaned on the second. So he went to the loan company and took over the first. The house is very old and started out as a two room with a large round rock fireplace. Mostly built with redwood. It was added on to in 1940 and then my Dad made some changes too. They used the back bedroom and changed the front room into one larger room. In the late '70s he built a new master bedroom and bath.
The ceilings are low and since my dad was 6'2" wondered how he liked living here. It was planned to be temporary. He owned a hill off Woodside Ave. and always planned to build a big house up there. After he moved here Marlise didn't want the big house. She liked it here. This place has a special feeling that is hard to describe. He died in 1985.
He liked the look of palm trees and palm lined drives. This property has a long driveway to the road and he planted palms along both sides. The neighbor on one side would like them removed. The neighbor's property is higher than our drive and I think it would make a real mess to remove the trees...and it would ruin the look too. I love those trees. The people that owned his place sold out and moved to AZ. He and his wife bought when property values had hit the high mark. They paid a couple of hundred thousand more than the place is now worth.
The previous owner had gotten permission from my Dad to drive from his back yard down into our driveway. Then after my Dad passed away he built a paved drive way down into ours and built some sort of building there. Marlise, was so mad about that, but she never said anything to him. I made it very plain to him that new owners would not be using my drive. That there was no easement to our drive and that it would be closed off. That didn't make me flavor of the month when the new owner asked me to relent on that and I refused. Though when they wanted to put in an above ground pool in the back corner of their property I let the work men drive up the bank on our side of the fence and even take our fence apart so that they could take all the supplies for the pool in.
After my Dad passed my stepmom lived here until she died in the summer of 2000. I bought the place from the trust. I like living here too. Marlise let the little house in back to ER. We separated in 83. Our son Dave was living with him too. Then two years ago my Daughter came with her two children. Now she is living in the little house. Hailey and I were on our own for so long it seems strange to share a place now. I have my own space and spend a lot of time there. Otherwise I would go nutz. Last year Megan went back to live with her father. So mostly it is just Elizabeth and Cody.
Yesterday I visited Jackie and had lunch there. She has new puppies and so had some puppy time. The big girl puppy is so cute. I could fall in love, but since I lost my dog because ER left the gate open don't want to get another. I will stick with our cats. We have five.
Fluffy was the only one that wasn't fixed. He started catting around, yowling, and pissing on everything. So off to the vet. Over $400! He has been very quiet since and now even lets me pet him. To get him to the vet we had to get him into the carrier. He ran under the furniture and finally Dave and I cornered him and got him secured. I think he knew.
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