This is not a cat post

 

Huh?

I cruise a number of other blogs hoping for inspiration.

My muse has been loafing far too long.

My attention span hasn't helped, either.
I'm staying away from politics . . .   and other things which may disturb the aura.

I could post Christmas stuff . . .  but there's already plenty of that.

So . . .  

source: dailytimewaster

When does Wednesday feel like Monday

Where were we?

Oh. . .   Yeah!
I was gonna post about my little road trip last week.

It seems that by this time last Monday I had already passed Moodonna and her calf, and the dragon, named Priscilla, sometimes called Myassis.

Maybe I will get it done tomorrow.

gratuitous picture of Tacoma

not lazy, just busy

A little misdirection

I have nothing this morning.
Thought about being reflective. . .   not in the mood.

My good friend the Brighton Pensioner has three posts [because he didn't want to put up one long post] you should read:

• Part one
• Part two
• Part three

Those are just my titles for his posts.
He's used a little more imagination in his titles.
The story is better than the titles.
Go read it.

. . .then go buy a copy of the Boston Herald and send it to Suldog.

whatever

Contemplative, reflective . . .whatever

So there I was* looking at a relatively long drive.
The trip south had been well thought out.
I even had a book to which I could listen on the way.

This trip was more ad lib and all I had was the radio.
I had already passed along the book, John Grisham's Gray Mountain.
(should that go on my reading list?
I didn't actually read it.
Maybe I should have a listening list?)

Speaking of listening, I've been listening to the Beatles on the Echo for the past few days.
But I digress.

Did I say ad lib?
The intention was to generally follow the same route home with a couple of minor detours.
The first for a loaf of sourdough.
(have I told that part?
. . .uh, yeah)
Then to Sac for an impromptu visit with folks I know there.
Had I made prior arrangements, I would have stuck it out.
Instead I decided I'd had enough with traffic and headed home.

But then if you've been following long enough [four days], that's ancient history.

What happens when traveling alone for long periods of time is the mind grabs onto things it wouldn't routinely seek.
One of it's favorite places is the past.
It finds things there that give us pause.

My thoughts were comparisons.
Four individual life changing incidents over a period of more than 40 years.
All similar, having to do with loss.
Not all of the losses over those years were included (and not all had to do with death).
Only those which were blindsides.
(Well, one wasn't quite as sudden as the others and one isn't quite so permanent)

What makes them as devastating as they were (are?) is what is invested in those relationships. . .
. . .and what wasn't.
No, what is really so devastating is that there's no starting over. . .   no new beginning. . .   no making up for the past.

That's what made the early losses so much worse.
Regrets. . .   you know, the what ifs.
Those don't do anyone any good.
They fix nothing.
They're the toothpaste you can't put back in the tube.

But like I said, the mind will drag those things out of the attic to remind us.
It also brought me current and showed me I have moved on.
I think I know how to move forward without any drama now.

The road's wide open

That makes it a lot easier to like myself.

ending on a positive note

*SJC

Bologna

If you have looked at the reading list page, you'd see I have added another book to the list.
I finally finished The Seventh Child while we were at Maui, staying here.

Just one building in an entire complex at a huge resort.

The conclusion left me wanting a lot more. . .   particularly since it took me longer than usual to read it.
The suspense kept building and my interest was held fast, but at the end I'd felt like I must've missed something.
That's about as close to a book report as you will get from me.
(I will remind you that Atlas Shrugged was a real dog to read.
This wasn't.
It just disappointed at the end.)

there're more pictures

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

I almost wish I could rant

It would probably make for a more entertaining blog post.
If you were here yesterday, you probably know what this is about.
I got to go to the DMV yesterday to renew my license.
It was the first time in a long time that I actually had to take the written test.
Heck... it was the first time in 12 years that I'd been inside the DMV office for anything but to pick up a form.

The Redding DMV office has been at the same location since before I moved here.
I guess it has seen a lot of wear and tear.
There is a temporary office set up in the parking lot while the old building is renovated.
The old place was cramped for space.
The temporary place has tons of room and is efficiently set up.
The clerks must like it, too.
They were all smiling and friendly.
I'd give them five stars on

Really.
My only complaint is about how folks don't seem to be able to follow instructions.
There are two lines when one first walks into the office.
The first is for walk-in clients.
It is well marked.
It is also the longest line.
The second is for those with appointments, like me.
I was the only one in line.
When the space in front of me vacated, I started forward..
But the little blonde witch in the walk-in line darted to the counter before the clerk acknowledged me.
I did get an apologetic look from the clerk.
I shrugged it off.

The b-witch had a whole folder full of papers.
I was thinking it was going to be awhile.

The clerk at the window next to the first one finished with her client and called me over, looked at my paperwork, gave me a number, and told me to sit down and listen for it to be called.

I watched while the b-itch animatedly discussed her issues in the first line.
I could almost hear every word she said, even though she was across the room, about 25 ft. away.
Finally the clerk handed her some forms and a clipboard and the client sat down two seats away from me, mumbling under her breath the entire time.

My number came up and I headed to the testing area.
That's where they have you sign forms, pay fees, turn in your old license to have holes poked in it, give the eye test, hand you some papers and the holy license, and pass you along to the next window to have your picture taken and be given the examination that will determine if you will be approved to drive for another few years.
After the young lady had me read the eye chart, first with both eyes, then with the right eye covered, and then again with the left eye covered, I asked why she hadn't looked at the chart while I was testing.
She told me she knew what was on all of the lines.
I asked her what chart she would use when she tested.
She laughed, said she didn't know because she hadn't had to re-license since she started working there.

The next window the lady had me switch places with some young man who only had to have his picture taken.
She finished with him, handed me the exam papers, and had me stand in front of a green screen while she took my mug shot photograph.
Evidently she wasn't happy with it because she had me brush my hair back and took another image.

Then she told me to go fill out my test and get in line to have it scored.
There were 18 questions.
Most of them were easy, common sense things that were covered quite well in the drivers handbook.
I blitzed through them and got in line.

Someone else came along and started a line right next to me.
Again, she was a blonde witch.
This one was medium sized.
She had her husband, boyfriend, significant other, roommate [pick one] with her.
Someone else attempted to continue that line, but inferred there might be some grief if they didn't get into the real line.
The partner of bl-itch #2 and I had a brief conversation.
It was brief because it was quite obvious English was his (and her) second language.
From the accent I am thinking German may have been the native language.
B-itch #2 was exchanging here foreign license for a California license.

Finally I was up to have my test scored.
The clerk took her sweet time.
She said to me, "Well, you passed." almost like it was some kind of miracle or that it barely happened.
"You missed one." and she smiled.

I hadn't gotten the right answer for the height and age for occupants of child safety seats.
I guess that means I can't drive with children in the car until they reach a certain age or a particular height?

She handed me my holy license, the receipt showing I'd paid, and another paper that's my temporary interim driver license.
It expires in September.
I'm hoping it doesn't take that long for the new, permanent license to arrive.

When I left both of the blonde witches were still dealing with the bureaucracy know as DMV.
I was actually only there for about 20 minutes.

Someone alluded to the Social Security office yesterday.
I have been there, too.
I had heard horror stories.
I experienced none.
I'm pretty sure that's because I was prepared, as I was at DMV.

Then I went to Costco (and TJ's).

hope their mothers bite them when they get home

I purposely didn't edit the music

It's Flag Day


Once again I was in a place at a propitious moment and the camera was close at hand.



The North wind was cooperating as well.

Happy Birthday, too, to the United States Army.

"the Devil made me do that"

I think I have figured out one of my problems

But, maybe not.
We're talking about my writing.
It's mostly accidental.

. . .like this post.

Something pops into my head and, if I can develop a conclusion, it becomes a blog post.
Sometimes, too, it ends like this. . . [with an ellipsis]

My problem is my brain works about 50 times faster than my fingers.
It will forget to capture a thought.
That's probably a good thing because not all thoughts should be retained.
They definitely need not be always acted upon.

The problem is by the time I start a post my mind has raced on to about three more topics and I've totally forgotten where the thought process has taken me.
That creates an issue also because I hurry to finish and a lot of times the result is incomplete {at least in my own mind].

Ooh, look!
A squirrel.

In case you are new and haven't been following here for long, or are only an occasional visitor I will remind you the blog has a title.
Most of the time it is operational. . .

. . .even when I am serious about a subject.

That is one reason why you won't find a whole lot about current events here.
My thoughts on most issues are constantly evolving.
What's scary is I can even find myself disagreeing with both sides on an issue because they have such a narrow view.
One of my favorite expressions is, "That's not right!"
It's not nearly as challenging as saying something is wrong and it allows for some latitude.

ain't semantics grand?

I seldom do this

http://www.dispatch.com/content/sections/opinion/beeler-cartoons/index.html

But it speaks volumes.

click the image to enlarge

About the three ring circus

Go ahead and play yesterday's music again.

I have a theory about about businesses who operate in the manner of some so-called service companies such as those of whom I was discussing yesterday.

They are such that they have many of the regular clientele locked in to their system.
The clients have no choice.
The put the front line lowest level employees up as the first contact for those clients.
Said employees bear the brunt of the client's dissatisfaction and unhappiness.

It is part of their plan.
They use this scheme to cull all but the most compliant workers from the workforce.
It makes it possible for them to keep the brighter individuals from becoming tenured employees and also allows a potentially lower pay scales.

In other words the lack of communication on the part of the different departments is planned incompetence.
The fact that none of the employees are empowered to act without the complicity of others is planned incompetence.
The fact that everything must be signed off by an absentee before being acted upon is planned incompetence.
The government has operated this way for years.
I think they've learned it from European governments.
The private sector in this country is finally catching up.
I'm not just talking about big government, either.
I think maybe this started out at the local level and worked it's way up.
I have a story about a minor home improvement project whose inspections, after more than two years, may still not be resolved, all through the incompetence of one inspector, who never worked a day of construction in his life . . .but he knows the friggin' code.

this could go on for weeks

I hate it when that happens

Sometimes a post on another blog will remind me of something in my past.
Most of the time I will remember that I was reminded, but not remember of what I was reminded.
That's not the case here.
I remember what.
I don't remember who reminded me.

The subject was cliques.
Or maybe it was about belonging to cliques.
Or maybe it was non-cliques that it was about.
Anyhow, that's only partly relevant to this.

It's about high school.
More specifically it's about Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California.
It may have been [and might still be] important for the school to be in Atherton.
That's because, if the school was in Menlo Park, a good number of the residents of Atherton would probably have sent their kids to private schools... many did, anyway.

There was a social studies teacher who was doing post-graduate work at Stanford (officially the Leland Stanford Junior University [I know what junior colleges are. What are junior universities?]) also known as The Farm.
I have idea what his area of interest specifically was.
But the study took several years (9th to 12th grades) and was pretty comprehensive.
My class was the subject of this study.
It may have been limited to cliques.
Then again the clique information may have been what we learned about.
That class started out with something over 800 students.
We do not qualify as baby boomers [we're too old].
During the sophomore year (10th grade) there was a lot of shifting around of students in the district because two new high schools opened.
Many were transferred to the two new schools.
Others transferred in from still another school.
There were now less than 700 students in the class.

The kids at M-A came primarily from two elementary school districts.
There were other feeder districts but the numbers were much less consequential.

That's the background information.

The teacher passed out questionnaires to the class members... at least to those who were attending college prep classes.
Answering the questions was voluntary.
I'm pretty sure most did.
(Don't ask me what the questions were.
I don't remember.)

Sometime during out Senior year (12th grade) we found out about the makeup of our class.
There were something like 53 cliques.
They were subgroups of two main cliques.
There were also those who did not fit into any of the subgroups or the main cliques.
The surveying of the questionnaires determined the main cliques were only slightly connected to the elementary school districts.
They were more closely related to two persons.
For want of a better term I will call them princesses.
They were, of course, girls.
They also were cute ...even, in the eyes of a teenage boy, beautiful [or hot].
One group was social.
The other was service.
I mean that in the context of high school.
The social bunch were the ones who came up with ideas for dances, mixers, and the like.
They decided what was needed... what were the good ideas.
If it was fun, it was a good idea.
The service bunch were actually put on those events, as well as put out the yearbook, published the school newspaper, and anything else that required organization.

The subgroups could be pretty much put under one or the other of the two main groups.
About the only crossover subgroup was the jocks.
Those subgroups, except for the jocks, could also be divided up by whatever elementary school they attended.

Then there was a small group of those where were undefined by any clique.
Ironically, most of those in that group hung around together.
Some could have been called misfits.
One or, maybe, two really were misfits.
I was one of that group.
I'm pretty sure you could call us a non-clique clique, whatever that is. [eye wink thing here]
Most of us joined a branch of the service soon after graduation.
I have no idea where they are today.
I miss a couple of them.
Their choice was to drop out.

I'd post a picture of my car from back then...

...but I didn't even have my license, let alone a car.

Mom drove...

I ducked

Are we having fun yet?

If not...

1. go on over to Suldog's and see the knock, knock jokes [if you haven't already done so].
2. check out Buck's happy hour music.
3. see what's flyin' at the Sarge's place
4. find out what's stirring in Merry Olde England
5. or what's challenging the Cranky Ol' Man [GIYP - girls in yoga pants?]
6. hit the road
7. stargaze [Moongaze?]

It's raining again here... not like the other night.

Thank God!

It's only a little more than a drizzle.

So there's no further damage leakage.

We actually were luck yesterday.

The weather system that blew through mostly missed the southern part of the county.

Up the road, from Redding north, it was gangbusters.

When I went out in the afternoon I could see the rainclouds dumping all over them.

There were even local flood warnings for that part of the county.

On the plus side... a good part of that rainfall ends up in Lake Shasta, rather than as runoff.

It isn't much.

But, considering the circumstances, we will take what we can get.

Our roof situation is a true puzzle.

It appears the only time we have a leak is when the wind is from the east to east-northeast.

It has to be either heavy rain or the coming in sideways.

It's definitely a poser.

TGIF

Monday update #(oh yeah, we forgot to number them)

What I failed to relate yesterday, because there were some time restraints, was the fact that it was almost balmy weather wise at 6:00am.
The temperature was in the mid fifties.
Up to yesterday morning the temps have been in the low thirties or high twenties.
That made the start of the day most pleasant.
It got better.

The breakfast went off almost without incident.
The regular fry-cook is laid up with a bad back so we've a replacement who's still learning.
He has a tendency to get a little ahead of himself.
Nobody went hungry.

Did I mention the weather?
There wasn't a cloud in the sky.
There was a light breeze ...down from wind gusts to 30mph in the previous 24 hours [which just might explain the balmy temps?].
It was an occasion to do something outdoors.
...probably as good a time as any to remove the outside decorations.
It was either that or stay inside and watch PHG and GS handle the indoor decorations.

I still had about two hours before game time.
My team, the San Francisco 49ers, were off in the land of the freeze, playing to remain in the playoffs and an opportunity to once more vie for the NFL championship (aka Super Bowl).

Did I mention I have a new ladder?
It's a stepladder.
It's big.
It makes taking down the lights lining the eaves a simple task.
Now I need something to make storing the lights a simple task.

Whilst moving my ladder I took notice of a plant that's been in the front of the house forever at least ten years.
It bears fruit.
In January.
It's not citrus.

I forget what it's called [and the little nursery sticker thingy is long gone].
Anyway, I never noticed the fruit before because...
Well, may this picture will explain.

the bush is about 2 1/2 feet tall

Then it was time to go in to watch the game...

...and deal with Christmas lights...

...better now than next year when we want to use them again.

Do you have any idea how hare it is to relate to cold weather when the outside temperature is hovering near 70 degrees?
Maybe someone, some day, will be able to explain to me why the game was played so late in the day... I mean other than to optimize the earning potential for the TV network [and the NFL].
I thought it was a good game.
Just about any time the 'Niners win is a good game.
Have I mentioned I am a long time* fan?
I know I probably haven't mentioned I'm not nearly as hyped as I used to get.
That is most likely because something keeps telling me the season should be finished.

We should be able to concentrate on basketball and hockey [do I have to say ice hockey?].
Speaking of hockey, I no longer get all of the Sharks games.
I'm not even sure I get any of the Sharks games.
Other than that I am really happy with the cable provider.
I don't have to pay extra for HD TV now.
All I need is for someone to explain what the big deal about HD TV is.

cows are ubiquitous

 in the kitchen and

 other parts of the

 house, ducks are not

*60 plus years

Now it's Friday here

Did I mention GS has another test?
Did I mention it's today?
So later on we'll drive up to the imaging center in Redding.
A bone density test has been ordered by the oncologist.

I forgot to mention I got a haircut Wednesday.
That was right after I went to the bank.
My barber's a Dodger fan.
He knows how I feel about the Dodgers
I still got a good haircut.

It's also that time of year when we winterize the house.
That was on Wednesday, too.
The first thing is to shut down the evaporative coolers and cover them.
The house stays much warmer that way.
Since I don't do climbing so well we have to hire it done.
I can get up just fine.
It's getting off the roof that's challenging scary.
The fella who does the coolers had his dog with him.
The dog waits patiently in his truck.

His name should be Kilroy

The best part of the whole day was the text from my daughter.
It had pictures.
Here's one...

...and another.
Big Brother and Little Teeny get along pretty well

They're funny kids.

growin' too fast

It's Friday in Singapore

So far there's only been one Monday this week.
It was a so-called holiday.
Another blogger kinda related how I feel about what Monday holidays are.
Confusing...

I will relate a story about Monday.
I took GS for lab work in the morning.
On the way home I stopped by the Post Office to mail a letter bill payment [because that's the most convenient place to mail anything now that there are no letterboxes on street corners any more and it isn't safe to leave unattended mail in sight because the miscreants of society will steal anything that's not bolted down].
On the door to the Post Office was a printed notice to the effect that, due to short staffing, the local branch would be unable to process passports for the next two weeks.
As I reached the door, a lady was exiting and mumbling grumbling, "Why did they close the damn Post Office because they can't process passports?"
Poor lady didn't realize the P.O. was closed because of the holiday.

BTW-
GS blood work came back with all the numbers looking good so she didn't need to have a shot on Tuesday.
We didn't visit the doc in Redding this week because we're still waiting on the "specialty pharmacy" to finish the process of getting the new meds.
We have, however, been on the phone almost every day... and sometimes more than once.

The automatic garage door picker upper was acting up.
It would pick up okay.
But it reached a point to where the door had to be lowered manually.
That isn't so much an issue for me, since I can't park the Honda in the garage because of the accumulation of heirlooms on that side of the garage.
But, it is a major issue if the PHG wants to use GS's Mustang.
So yesterday I called the garage door picker upper company ...three times.
They are an extremely busy outfit.
Sometimes it's a two day wait for them to get to a customer.
The first call I told them of my problem and explained what I knew about it.
They said they'd get back to me about when they could make it out for repairs.
I called them back about a half hour later, after further investigation on my part, with more information.
They offered a couple of suggestions.
My third call was to inform them I had been mistaken about the information I gave them on the second call.
They told me they could have someone out today.
Then I went off on a run to the bank, Tj's, Costco, and the lemon meringue pie place [special request by GS].
I bought some flowers, too [who knew pie's cheaper than flowers?].

Buck and Suldog are quibbling about the Red Wings and Bruins [that's ice hockey for the uninitiated].
I feel it's much too early to even begin to think about indoor sports.
Though, I truly believe baseball should be finished by now.
I blame economists for the over-long professional sports seasons.
I include the major college sports under the umbrella of pro sports because they're no longer about the students, but about the money.

Back to Buck and Sully.


Look at teh Sharks
                          
Yeah, yeah, it's early yet and they still have to prove themselves as a playoff team.

the slow post from...

What?

I guess I'm not going to change the font on the blog.
At least I'm not going to change it to the one I showed yesterday.
So that means you will continue to see the current plain vanilla  ...for awhile,anyway.

I have promised, on occasion to clean up the sidebar.
That has been happening either.
I do move things around.
But it's still pretty much the same old stuff.

the really old stuff is at the bottom of the blog

435

That would be one more post than I had last year.
At the rate I have been post so far I will reach 435.
The reason I reached 434 last year is there were 54 posts in December.
Those of you who've been following for awhile know why there were that many posts in December.
It was all of those Monday Updates.
There were also a number of extra posts early in January.
They were also Monday Updates.
I am hoping the necessity of Monday Updates has waned.
We shouldn't have more than one Monday in any given week.
Nobody should have more than one Monday in any given week.
Even my worst enemy...
Do you get my drift?

Anyway, we shall confine updates to Mondays.
If I forget to post an update on Monday, remind me and I will try to remember to post one on the following Monday.

Where were we?
Oh yeah, I was writing about December... sort of.
There was a steep increase in pageviews during December, almost twice the number of any prior month, other than last July.
I have no idea what happened in July.

Enough of that!
What inspired this post (almost all of my posts are inspired by some outside agent) is a post by the Old AF Sarge, another of the True Patriots. [Maybe I should list their blogs separately in the sidebar?]
The major difference between his post and this one is he went on about January.
This one's going nowhere.
He did mention how he remembers how many days there are in a month.
I have a remembering thingy, too:

Thirty days have September, 
April, June, and no wonder,
All the rest have thirty-one,
Except my grandmother,
Who rides a little red wagon.

 I didn't say it made sense.

Until Grandma Skip's surgery the most popular post had to do with the weather, or rather a particular aspect of the weather.
Now that post is only just in the top five.
The most popular has five times as many views.
It doesn't hurt page views when I send emails with links and post those links on Facebook.

Now, except for the periodic Monday Update, I can go back to posting the usual drivel... and, when I can get out with the camera, more pictures.

BTW - did I post a picture of the flowers sent by GS's Brother and Sister-in-Law?

Thank you!
Flowers, cards, letters and visitors [timing is everything] are most welcome here.

not gonna spell it out