Normal Friday

Ha!
It's supposed to rain.
Lately when it rains here that's anything but normal.
But then, if you've followed for any length of time, you seen me wax ad nauseum about how I feel about normal.

Somehow I missed Carlos Santana performing the National Anthem at the World Series. . .   If I had know he was gonna do it   . . .well, you probably get the idea.
There's video out there, but I can't seem to make the embed code work.

 Class act in KC Wednesday night

 From KTVU:

"CLASS ACT IN DEFEAT: Giants fans on twitter pointed out a classy move by the Royals after San Francisco clinched the title last night. The fountains at Kauffmann Stadium, which had been many different colors during the series, including Royals blue, were turned orange... presumably to congratulate the Giants!"

Went to the Doc yesterday. . .   routine visit.
Clean bill so far.

PHG is back from Sac.
Sebastian is once again a happy camper.

yeah, normal

Somebody asked me. . .

. . .asked me if I was dancing last night.
I answered, "In my head."
kinda like the couple in this picture.

The one thing that stands out for me about the this is how the Giants players, unlike many of their fans, keep the whole thing in perspective and, after a brief moment of euphoria, revert to who they are.

At the end of Game 5, Bumgarner could easily have been hyper and excited.
Instead, he was calm and, twice, interrupted Erin Andrews to acknowledge the fans.

Also, I would be willing to bet that the first number little children in San Francisco will learn this year is three.

Somebody said dynasty.
It doesn't feel like it.
It seems more like chemistry.


Oh  . . .and the best play of the game


I'm gonna savor this for a day or so.

it's kinda bittersweet

I really like this

credit

Why would anyone reject it?
Oh, right.

it misogynistic

. . .and then I was turned on to this

. . .by my niece

Why I didn't watch the game

There was this dinner meeting.
Perhaps I should say dinner, then the meeting.
Last night was the annual 'Official Visitation' by the District Governor to the Anderson Lions Club.
We were joined by another club, the Happy Valley Lions Club (which also has an Anderson address but is in actuality some distance away).
Instead of our usual restaurant meeting place, we met at the Cottonwood Lions Club's clubhouse (it's nearby   . . .closer than Happy Valley).
Because we were not at the restaurant it was necessary to cook our own meal.
We had spaghetti. . .   for 30 people.
I made cooked it.
(I made the sauce and cooked the noodles).
The sauce took some time because of the fresh stuff that went into it.
The only shortcut was the canned tomatoes and tomato sauce.

The spaghetti was prepped ahead, too.
I parboiled a little more than 3lbs of noodles so they'd just need to be reheated before serving.
I hadn't done this before.
It turned out great.
I was pleased.

There were also many compliments on the sauce.
I just followed the recipe I found on the Intertubes, modified it by substituting Italian sausage for half the meat called for, and added some fresh mushrooms.

There is some leftover sauce.
I will freeze some.

It took almost all day, working at a leisurely pace.
The show time to prepare for the meeting was 5pm.
The DG visit is a pretty special event.
There is protocol to be argued over before he arrives. . .   and other last minute things.

The game started after we began setting up.
What little I heard I didn't particularly like.
A friend texted me updates throughout the evening.
That wasn't pleasant, either.
I'm glad I was preoccupied with the Governor's visit.
I took some pictures, too.

There was socializing beforehand

It was a good evening.

except for one thing

Alrightythen

I have a full day, getting prepared for the District Governor's official visit to the Lions Club tonight.
I probably won't bore you with any details.

after I get the cat out of my lap

It's just me

. . .and the cat here at the house

In memorium

Jack Bruce



Sunday morning
Sunshine!!!

looking NE

I think I heard chain saws running.
The Weather Service is having some issues.
The closest thing to local weather has been the overall information to the Northern Sacramento Valley out of the Red Bluff airport.
The Redding information link is down.
Seeing that the cell which produced all of the chaos on Saturday blew right over the airport, I can understand.

It got interesting yesterday

I'll start with how windy it was.

It was pretty windy.

Then the sky darkened because of the clouds and it started to rain.

A lot of rain flooded the back patio

That picture is after only about five minutes of rain.

So I looked out front.

almost on the porch

I'm glad I dug that trench

I don't know how long I would have to run the water from the hose to accumulate that much water.

. . .and I sure wouldn't want to have to pay the bill.

Later I checked the local TV f/b page.
This was their image.

It was moving WSW to ENE.

Then I went to look outside again.

looking SE

looking East

The Sunset creates some awesome colors on the clouds.
 I could hear the thunder and saw flashes in the clouds.

. . .and the wind ceased entirely.

All of that in about an hour.

This guy doesn't understand that kind of drama.

He just goes about anywhere he wants.

about any time he wants

You're stuck with this for today

 

Yes indeed, the rain has returned. . .   and brought along a bit of a breeze.
(Don't be fooled by the little gadget in the graphic. Put a 2 in front of that 8 and a 3 in front of the 9).

The sky was totally free of clouds by 10am yesterday.
By 4pm there were fresh clouds appearing from the west.
I was in the supermarket parking lot and took the opportunity.

looking north

looking west

About 1am things started to shake.

The cat is learning all about fickle weather.
He was all upset about his "box" being moved into the shelter of the garage because it messed up his routine.
That is until he caught a blast of raindrops in the face when he went to go outside.
He's perfectly content to remain indoors for the nonce.

I'd clean up the papers but he'll just mess them up again.

if he'd only leave

 my coffee alone

What we have here is. . .

, , ,a brief followup.

It rained steadily yesterday for almost exactly 24 hours.
The 'official' tally at the end of said rainstorm is .45inches.
We'll take it.

 . . .and scenes like this.

from the den (looking northwest)

Looking east (out back)

It pays to look up from the computer screen.


Enough o' that.
This tickled me. . .

. . .and reminded me there's an election.

The congress part, not the airbag recall part.
Actually, there are daily reminders in the mailbox and on the television.

I'm thinking it would be interesting to see what would happen if we really did replace the entire congress.

Speaking of airbags. . .

. . .mine have been recalled.

It isn't official because I didn't get the letter yet.
But Honda's website says it's so.

it's always somethin'

Have I mentioned the weather lately?*

It hasn't come close to being hot lately (YMMV).
It did reach 82 on Saturday, but, otherwise, has been in the 70s or lower.
There was even some rain, but not enough here at the house to consider it more than a trace.
Officially there was about a quarter inch.
Other locations had even more, but we were left out of the distribution.
Maybe the next week will give us another shot at it?

This is from a week ago, it has more character

Even this one from Monday has more character

Here's a link showing something of what folks around here talk about  . . .a lot.
There aren't many things uglier than a reservoir that appears to be empty.
The media does no favors for the folks who operate the recreation concessions at those reservoirs.
They should tell the entire story.

they're lazy

*means I got nothin'

UPDATE (0800)

If it's gonna be dreary, it may as well be wet.

A little over a week ago a box was delivered

I waited to re-assemble the contents because, as delivered they couldn't stand alone.

This morning the second box arrived

a plaque was included

these seats rock!

Really rock

Just in time for game two.

the colors are right, too

There are some who will totally relate to this

credit Broadside Blog

Others will say, "Huh?"


. . .and another

1st one cracked me up

Yesterday was one o' those

It came to pass that, having been on a sabbatical since Saturday morning, I had a lot of catching up.
First, and foremost, PHG had returned from her sojourn shortly after I departed.
Thus, we had some catching up.

She had a great time. . .  other than the fact a lot of time was spent riding in a car.

My own little changeup came about for two (maybe three) reasons.
My brother left a gas can here when he and his missus were here last month.
His missus had mentioned she was looking for a western style outfit for Halloween.
There was one hanging in GS's side of the closet that might work (that's the maybe).
So I drove to Concord for an overnight visit.

I had already arranged to visit my daughter and family in Sacramento on Sunday (the main reason for the trip).
I allowed myself two hours for the drive to Sacramento and decided to do a little exploring.
(That means I took the road less traveled)
I crossed through the Delta instead of following the more traditional, freeway, route.
It was interesting.
Now I can say, "Been there. Done that."

When I arrived in Sac, Big Brother was waiting at the curb for me. . .   and when we got inside, Li'l Teeny was just about as excited.
I am not sure if it was because they were happy to see me or we were going to the Pumpkin Patch.
(I choose to believe it was me)

So we all piled into the Prius (theirs) [I squished myself into the back seat between the kid's car seats].
Off we went.

I'm kinda glad it only takes about 15 minutes to drive to the pumpkin patch.
Almost as soon as we were there, the pumpkins had been selected.
Li'l Teeny seemed most interested in the pumpkins that had seen better days.
You know, the ones that look like they had been full of air but were now deflated?

I think the part she enjoyed most was riding in the wagon.

Then it was home again for her to take a nap [that way she will be nice and fresh at 5:30 in the morning again].

While she was napping, Mom was prepping meals for the week and Dad, Big Brother, and yours truly went off to Funderland.

I had almost forgotten how action packed a day with kids is.

Then, after the nap, we all piled back in the care and went for a late lunch.
Then we went to look at a house.
Then I got in my car, after bidding everyone farewell, and drove home.
It was only about 470 miles, total.
I didn't mind it, except when traffic signals were overly long.

Meanwhile. . . 

I couldn't resist

fun stuff

 let's do it again

Why there was no post here yesterday

Doesn't Li'l Teeny look like she's outraged at Big Brother?

she's not

 at least not this time

They what?

Over at Sarge's place the other day there was a discussion [more so in the comments].

The topic was travel.
Specifically, it was about driving to the airport.
Mostly it was about traffic delays, even about the frustration of not knowing the cause of the delay.
In any event, the discussion became balkanized to various aspects of travel irritations, from slow trucks passing even slower trucks going uphill to the necessity of arriving at airports well before a flight's departure.

This post has more to do with airports.
More specifically flying out from out local airport, which most folks who fly regularly avoid at all costs.
The reason, of course, is there is only one airline and one destination.
The airline is one of those set up to appear to be a major carrier with a decent reputation.
A paint job is a poor excuse for attracting fliers.
The destination is a major hub, San Francisco.
When there are delays at SFO the flights from here are put on a ground hold until SFO can handle them.
Of course, one delay begets numerous further delays because those planes are scheduled to be elsewhere picking up other passengers.
Nobody flying from here is just going to San Francisco.
It's a lot cheaper to drive and, many times, it doesn't take as long (if you take into account the time from home) and the luggage won't get lost.
The one major drawback to driving is where to park once you're there.
But that's another issue.

No, folks fly from here to make connecting flights to less exotic places than SF.
(GS and I missed a connecting flight to Cleveland, once)
The issue is that just because there a some delays at SFO, not everyone is delayed at SFO.
So a flight from here has a ground hold, but the connecting flight at SFO doesn't . . .and they don't hold a plane because a passenger is late.
It seems that no matter how hare one tries to arrange some extra time between connecting flights, the airlines conspire to put folks in a rush.
So the savvy traveler from around here drives to Sacramento, the Bay Area (with three choices), or to Reno.

I wish Reno was closer.
I would drive over the day before just so I could go to dinner at my favorite restaurant.
PHG is in Reno celebrating with her dad for his birthday.
I'm not telling them about  this place.

It's one of my favorite restaurants

I digress [par for the course, lately].

We were talking about airports, weren't we?
I hate that we have to get to them so early before a flight, particularly since all of the really good flights leave the West Coast relatively early.
A drive to the Sacramento airport takes about two hours if there are no delays.
Arriving an hour and a half before a flight means and 8am flight requires a 4:30am departure and driving in the dark for awhile.

Then, if there are no check-in issues there's an hour and a half to kill.
There's always eating, drinking, reading, and shopping.
Then there's always the unconventional, as mentioned here.

I know some folks with lots of frequent flier miles.
I may do a survey of my own.

never once occurred to me

Saw this yesterday

is it working?

When in doubt. . .

Weather is a good topic.
The folks in charge of reporting the weather got all excited the other day.
There was a prediction for a rainstorm.
They talked it up for a couple of days beforehand.
It turned out we had about a tenth of an inch.
Here at the house there was probably even less.

Now we're being told another, "less organized," weather system is approaching.
So we shouldn't expect as much rain from it as from the one I mentioned above.

I'm told someone actually pays these people.

I think I mentioned PHG is away on vacation?
So far the cat, Sebastian, and I have gotten along pretty well.
I have to remember that he is still a rambunctious kitten and not hold him entirely responsible when he acts inappropriately.

I wish he really wouldn't look at me like I'm food.

Speaking of Sebastian, he has some favorite spots.
I've already posted some images of him indoors.

Outdoors he has another preference

He's the gray lump just right of center

He thinks he can't be seen

He was being pretty silly, as the wind was gusting to about 25mph and really whipping the branches about.

He cam down on his own.

eventually

Follow up

Yes, we do pay attention to comments  . . .even though we don't always reply.
(My current excuse for not replying is, the cat was in my lap when I read your comment)

Yesterday's post about the printer that almost screeched [my metaphor for the sound that emanated] brought a number of comments.
Mostly they were about the propitiousness of the features of the new business location.
However, one commenter remarked about how the more things change, the more they remain the same  . . .sort of.

The was a lot that went into creating signs and banners.

• ink ribbons - five different colors and it was necessary to have back stock because the stuff wasn't available locally
• paper - it wasn't just regular printer paper, it was heavier stock and was available in at least five colors, coming initially in the folded style with perforation every 11 inches, but eventually coming in rolls that could be cut once the print job was completed
•  lamination supplies - rolls of plastic laminate and various fasteners for same.
• software -  I mentioned this yesterday, two large containers of 5 1/4 inch floppy disks.

That doesn't even begin to cover the equipment, office furniture and office supplies.
I operated that shop, with the help of one employee and an occasional contract worker, for a little over one year.

I was offered another business opportunity.
A really good deal.
I couldn't pass it up.
So I went off to explore the wonderful world of neighborhood grocery stores.

The employee continued to operate the sign shop, which was actually becoming more of a laminating shop.
Then the landlord sold the space to someone who intended to occupy it.
The business had to move. . .   again!
Empty store fronts were kind of at a premium.
We could move the shop into my garage.
Then the help took off.
(No, he didn't quit. He went on vacation for a week)
I was in the midst of acquiring a grocery store 30 miles away.
We packed up the sign shop, made three or four trips with a Ford Econoline van and a Chevy half-ton pick up truck, and loaded all the stuff into my garage.

A lot of it is still there.
Most of the office furniture is gone.
The laminator was sold.
And we had to toss the paper products because they got wet and mildewed.
But, the printer, computer and all of the software are still in the garage, along with the bits and pieces of a few other computers, a metal table, a chair, a cabinet that still has some supplies in it, and a filing cabinet with the business records.

I bet if I was to clean that stuff out of the garage and the rafters, I could probably park both cars inside?

What does one do with 25 year-old technology?

don't ask about the grocery store

So there I was*

...responding to a comment Buck made to a post the other day.
As I started typing my reply, it occurred to me I had a story of my own about irritating noise.

A few year ago [okay so it was the late '80s] I had a sign shop.
This was just any kind of signs.
It definitely didn't require artistic talent.
The signs were made with a computer (an Epson running DOS 3.0).
The computer had no memory to speak of.
There was no way to store any information.

There were two 5 1/4 inch disk drives.
One disk drive was for operation, the other for input options.
By input options I mean various fonts . . .there were five choices, each on a separate disk . . .and a multitude of graphics [think clip-art] about 15 to a disk, with about 30 disks.
There was no choice between caps and lower case.

This allowed for lots of variations to the signs, including changing font size up to 12 inch letters.
There were also limitations, but those could be overridden with scissors and glue.


Then there was the printer.
It was quite a piece of work.

It was programmable.
It took as much knowledge as the software to create the signs.
The issues with the printer weren't too bad.

• the parallel cable was only so long, so it had to be withing about ten feet of the processor
• it used ink ribbons, so if there was more than one color of text a second run was required
• it was dot matrix and printed letters and graphics in solid color, so think of how many little dots it takes to make a Helvetica Bold capital "W"
• when it was printing the computer used for production was basically out of service [it was a single purpose unit anyway]
• It took forever to complete a print job
• Oh, and it was loud and high pitched

It was so loud [no joke] that the guy I was sharing rental space with asked me to move after three weeks.
This was after I had arranged to have an electrician wire 220v for the commercial laminator [to make the signs more durable] to the shop.
I had to agree with him that when the printer was printing it was nearly impossible to even think if you were in the same room.
Ear protection was probably a good idea.
I really liked the shared rent [and the fact that I didn't have to purchase any furniture].
I also understood how his office couldn't cease functioning  . . .because he did a lot of telephone communication  . . .just because I had a sign job.
It was a dilemma.
I was going to have to move.

Crap!!!

Then, at lunch in the burger place [I'll have to tell you about the "Home of the Ugly Burger" some time] across the parking lot, I was told of a space that was available in the very same center.
I also told there was good news and bad news.

• the good news was it was available immediately
• the bad news was it was set up as an audiologists office so I would probably have to remodel a little to take full advantage of the space

It turned out that the bad news was better news than I could've expected.
The place had a room within a room that had been soundproofed.
That room was more than big enough for the printer.
The exterior room was ideal for the computer.
Best of all, there was a chase to run the printer cable.
I wouldn't have to leave any doors opened. . .  even a crack.
I did have to have 220v wired, but that was okay.

There was a bonus, too.
The space had a small kitchen area with a refrigerator and a break room in the back.

I did notice, however, that even with the printer inside the sound-proof room and the door closed to the exterior room, I could still hear the printer.
I was just happy that I wasn't in the Mexican restaurant next to my shop.
The owner didn't notice so much as the folks seated at a particular table did.

what?

*What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story?  A fairy tale starts with “Once upon a time” and a sea story starts with “So there I was”.  
(that previous line paraphrases another blogger's tagline)

. . .and then there's this

239 years today

"☆•*¨*•.♪♫♪♫.•*¨*•☆☆ ♪♫♪♫☆•*¨*•..•*¨*•☆ ♪♫♪♫ HaPpY bIrThDaY tO yOu ♪♫♪♫ hApPy BiRtHdAy To YoU ☆☆♪♫♪♫ ☆☆HaPpY bIrThDaY♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ U.S. Navy ♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫ HaPpY bIrThDaY tO yOu ♪♫♪♫☆•*¨*•.♪♫♪♫.•*¨*•☆♪♫♪♫☆•*
•.♪♫♪♫.•*¨*•☆AnD mAnY mOrE!

minor detail

Guess what today is

That's right, Friday the 13th is on Monday this month.

I had to post this.
Someone had it up on F/B last Thursday and folks were freaking out.
About the only thing correct is Halloween is on Friday.

That's right.
It's Columbus Day

it IS a holiday