Hello?? Knock knock...Anyone Out There?

 Wow - I did not post ANYTHING for over a year? 

But I have thought about it!

And so much has happened!

I came here to tell a funny little story.....but now I feel like I should do a catch up.

Lets see - 2023 in a nutshell - 2 high school graduations, 1 8th grade promotion. Some great camping trips. A WONDERFUL 50th anniversary cruise with a couple extra days in Paris (Paris, and France, was never on my bucket list - now I wish I could go at least yearly!). So far this year my oldest daughter receieved an award for Officer of the Year 2023 at her job; my walking companion is on house rest because he needs to have surgery to fix a CCL (which in a human would be ACL) but it is a 12 week recovery/rehab post op and that would be within the time frame for our family trip (all booked and paid for) to WDW in June....so he has to wait....so we have already rearranged camping trips knowing that some more might need to be changed. No granduations (oh, I like that typo - it is perfect!) but 2 more have already gotten their driver's permits, and a 3d is working on hers.

So my story.....earlier this week we had our yearly service meeting for the Auxuillary at which I "work" twice (sometimes more) a month. We were waiting while one of our guest speakers was working on trying to get her laptop hooked up for her powerpoint presentation. And she was being helped by one of my fellow volunteers. We have lunch catered for these meetings but people bring in extra.

All of a sudden Linda (the volunteer) looked up and said "Can someone put the chips out in the bowls please?"

And the volunteer seated across from me (I am not the youngest in this group but I also am not the oldest) looked up and said to her "I am sorry, I am not computer literate, and I have no idea what you are asking for".

Complete silence at our end of the table....

Linda said - "I am asking if someone can put the chips in the bowls for me while I am helping _____"

And again the woman said "I still dont understand what you are asking me to do because I dont know anything about computers"

Again. Complete silence.

Finally I looked at her and said - "Linda is asking if someone can go over to that counter - I pointed - and open tha bags of tortilla chips and put them in the bowls she has sitting there"

Still a blank look from the person until she looked where I was pointing......luckily for all of us she immediately started laughing at herself - because that gave us permission to break out laughing!

Not sure exactly what she did for a living but I do know she worked in a lawyers office.....maybe before the computer age???

I would promise to go through some photos and post them but I am not sure I will follow through. Maybe I can get a couple posted right now

Aging

 Why is so much about aging kept a secret?

Or is it that we just dont pay attention when we are younger?

I mean we all know about the wrinkles, and age spots/sun spots......but balding women???? No, that is only supposed to happen to men!

And what is with hair? You find bits and pieces growing in places that they dont belong. And the grow longer much more quickly than the hair on top of your head!

And then there is the areas that grown sparser with age....not your underarms....not your legs....but much more private areas.

And ok, over the years of being a CNA and then an RN, I have taken care of elderly - very elderly - women who were, shall we say, bald as a baby? But why dont we know that it starts happening long before that? And not in  an attractive way either. 

You know what I find the hardest to deal with - the most sad - is the back of my hands...it seemed like overnight they turned into old lady hands. And nothing I try seems to help.

Dont get me wrong - I dont regret my age - I am luckier than many people I know to have lived this long. And there is no way I would want to repeat ages - I would never want to be a pre-teen or a teen in this day and age!

But I think there should be some warning, dont you?

(I think this was all precipitated by reading a book I found called No! I Don't Want to Join A Book Club, Diary of a 60th Year by Virginia Ironside. Not the most compelling book I have read, but one I cannot put down even though I have to wade through British colloquialisms)

Please share any thoughts  you have on this subject!

Napa and Cline Family Cellars

 Monday we walked around Napa. I spoke about it in the other post but forgot a few photos

This one cracked me up - apparently there is a new day of the week I had never heard of before

This was in downtown Napa

Lots of beautiful rose trees in front of the tasting room - but this multi colored one really caught my eye

Monet's garden? No - Cline family Cellars. I really love this place. First of all, it is comparatively reasonable. Looking for wineries most of them are charging $50 - $100 PER PERSON - and to get that money back you have to buy 2 - 3 bottles of their wine.....

Here it is $25 and you just need to buy 2 bottles of their wine to offset the price. It was actually difficult to only choose 2 bottles - but we have too many bottles at home right now! The day was beautiful - but for some reason 2:30 PM feels more like 4:30 or 5 PM! I guess with the earlier sunset the sun is lower in the sky at 2:30 than I am use to....we sat on their beautiful veranda and just enjoyed the weather and the views - they very good wines - and a lovely charcuterie tray! I really didnt want to leave!

The public course tom played on. Turned out to be one of the two times/year that they have an unannounced $1 day! $1 to play 18 holes - how much better could that be???? Of course, when he left for his tee time it was all of 36 degrees out....brrr....said they had a delay in the start because of the frost....but you can see above how the rest of the day turned out!

A (partial) Week in Napa

 So because of the pandemic we had some points we had to put into RCI if we didnt want to lose them. Well, tada, they expire at the end of this year (yes, we had forgotten about them....) plus DVC is not partnering with RCI after this year.

So we started looking around for some where to go with the limited number of points we had - and we didnt want to have to do plane travel at the end of the year.....finally found a studio in Napa that met out schedule and travel so we booked it... arrived on Sunday and we are leaving Friday.

Mentioned to our daughter we were driving by and we had something to drop off for our grandson - so she invited us to dinner. And a very good dinner it was! Pork chops (which husband loves) with apple slices, stove top stuffing, green beans with a very good lemon and pine nut sauce, and an apple spice cake for dessert! And I have a lovely small glass of wine - Primitivo by Garre Winery (Our Story - Garre Vineyard & Winery (garrewinery.com)). Needless to say we arrived in Napa way after dark.

And this place is HUGE and confusing and it is dark out.....LOL. Got checked in - and ducked out of their sales talk that of course they want to give (this is a Wyndham resort - Meritage - and we had a frustrating and irritating sales talk with Wyndham in another state - so no thank you!).

The 'front door' complete with doorbell!

The actual door into our room

The studio room is lovely - there are some irritating things, because nothing can be perfect - but the room is nice considering it is a studio. (I will hold off posting this so I can add photos). The first irritation is that online they do not list/show that the studios have a washer and dryer but they do! The very very small irritation is that although they supply 2 packets of soap - no dryer sheets! Which I would have brought if I had known....

Another irritation is that the evenings/nights/mornings are COLD! But to warm up the room you turn on the heater right? Well it is SO LOUD - it is like standing next to an airplane warming up its engines! so you literally cannot hear TV or each other when it is on!

My other irritation is on me - when we packed on Sunday I checked temperatures for the week. And so I packed for temperatures in the low 60's. I should have known better - come on - how long have I lived in California?! Today is supposed to be 69 degrees, and tomorrow 71....

So it is just a kick back week. Nothing really planned. Husband is playing golf this morning (it was 36 degrees when he left!).

Yesterday we walked around Napa. Some beautiful buildings and houses, some interesting factoids. But lah-de-dah stores which are just not our thing. I picked up a few (a very few) tchatckes for presents....

Had lunch at Gotts Roadside at the Oxbow Market (Menu | Gott's Roadside (gotts.com)) and eh....

Nice to know they cook the food when you order it - took over 15  minutes to get it. I had the home made lemonade - very ehh, It wasnt too sweet or too sour - it was jsut kind of tasteless. The hamburgers were great! The order of french fries were cold - and cold french fries are nasty (can I jsut say we did not finish them?). And the "large" chocolate milkshake was smaller than my regular sized lemonade! He said it was ok - I tasted it (even though I dont like chocolate) and thought it was gritty tasting.

So of course we werent hungry for dinner. So we walked across the street to the "grocery" store (think resort + Napa = pricey). We bought a sandwich and a salad to split and they both were very very good!

No wine tasting yet - we do have a reservation today. Yesterday we were in Napa too early in the day - wine tasting did not appeal to us at that time and many we were not open (tasting rooms downtown I mean). A bottle of red wine came with the room - we havent cracked it yet  - decided the white wine we brought with us went with turkey sandwiches better!

Tomorrow we are going to drive over to Sonoma -  we havent been up here in maybe 4 years? So we are going to wander around and check out the State Park things again - and there is an Italian Restaurant there that we enjoyed the last time we were there - so we hope to visit them again! No other plans - wherever our fancy takes us tomorrow!

Wouldnt you think - when they charge $499 for a studio - that they would have a duvet that would fit? because there are no blankets on the bed - just the sheet and duvat. And this is more of a queen sized duvet for a king sized bed. We were cold! Of course the next morning we realized they had tucked the duvet in the bottom of the bed which is why we couldnt even cover our shoulders with it.....

Complimentary bottle of wine from the winery on site (???) Actually not bad.....

Deep deep tub. Considering the ages of most of the customers I have seen here - this is not safe. And there are no safety handles...

The only ice skating rink in the Napa Valley

The view out our winder - well, if you look to the left. All we see in front of our balcony are cars and then a street and another building. But this is a pretty view

I dont remember ever seeing poppies in November!

This tiny little sliver of a soap cracks me up. There are 3 of them ....each of them this tiny little size - a true sliver, they are so thin! Use them once and the break up because they are so thin!

Husband has a tee time for Thursday too - but he is talking about cancelling it - I dont know - we will see.... (edit: he cancelled it - said he enjoyed the public course more than the private one with too many rules)

Last week we had the cutest visitors in our front yard - a small doe and a small buck. I dont know - they looked so young I am hoping they are brother and sister! They wandered around our front yard - headed across the driveway and headed away. Bucky stopped to nibble on our little tree but he was not impressed - and when I looked at the tree the next morning he must have literally just tasted it and did not like it - I didnt see any nibbled leaves!

Critter Country

 Where to start....oh yeah, the radishes. I planted radishes this year. And they were coming up GREAT. Starting to see the little globe of radish under the dirt....the green leaves taller and larger. And one day I went out - and there was a whole row of them gone. Just GONE! No leaves - no radishes, nothing!

But there was still another row of radishes. Until the next day. And that day, 1/2 the row was gone. And the following day there was not a radish to be found! No leaves anywhere. No partially eaten radishes. They just disappeared!

So we planted a zucchini - 2 tomatoes - the bell pepper that we forgot to pull last year was loaded with little peppers. Carrots were coming up from seeds we planted last year! And we planted 2 cucumbers. All within our netting enclosed veggie garden.

Then one day husband went out to water and found 2 little bell peppers outside of the enclosed garden, on the ground. Strange. And the day after those 2 were gone.

And the next week I went out and saw something zipping past me at the end of the garden with a little red bell pepper in it's mouth! A squirrel! A smallish squirrel. A squirrel I had never seen before. I chased him (her?) but he was long gone but he had dropped the bell pepper.....but apparently came back later that day to get it.

Then we noticed something was nibbling on the leaves of the cucumber plants. And then we noticed something ate ALL the leaves on the cucumber plants and just left little nubs of stems...

So we went back to Home Depot to get cucumber plants. They didnt have any. Then we went to the nursery and paid (well, husband did) >$3 for one cucumber plant. He planted it. We put some old fashioned type bird cage over it thinking maybe it would make the squirrel think twice. We fixed up the netting (we thought). Went back out several hours later and the new plant was GONE! MIA. GONE. Nothing there inside the birdcage. And the nubs of the other plant? Even more nubby!

BTW we have been eating the carrots and they are quite good - although some are quite large! And I wonder why the little shit doesnt eat the carrots? Or at least the carrot tops?

Meanwhile I have been finding Ralph nibbling on the zucchini leaves!!! He must be taking lessons from the squirrel!!

Yesterday I sprinkled chili pepper flakes all around the basil, the zucchini, and the tomatoes (so far we have flowers and 2 tiny tomatoes) and today we are going to look for something that has been recommended to us - Critter Rid.

Now, while hubby was fixing the netting I decided I should water one of the new plants in the upper level that I had planted in a pot. I opened the gate, glanced down and there was something on the ground. Mind you, my hands were full and I just glanced. First thought - oh no, a dead bird! WRONG!

It was the head of an opposum! The snout intact, with all the teeth, the eyes, and pretty much nothing else. Reminescent of the horse's head scene in The Godfather (we have been watching the series The Offer - very good series!) minus all the blood! There was no body - no entails - no blood - nothing. It was not old (I had planted that plant less than a week prior). The only thing we can figure is something killed it (mountain lion bobcat? coyote?) somewhere else and something brought the head into the yard. A cat? Or a bird?

Husband thinks it was the squirrel sending us a warning.....

Then husband wakes me up - well, makes me get out of bed - yelling about some noise he is hearing "in the walls". I get up, and sure enough - you can hear this clanging metal noise in the area of the wall between the hall and living room and the kitchen. It was sporadic. And really didnt seem to be traveling much. And it was just clanging noises, not really movement noises. And it stopped.

Didnt hear anything the rest of the day, or the night or the next day.

But that following day, in the afternoon, we heard the same type of sound but from a different area - the living room wall - the outside of the house - where the pellet stove is. So I go outside to investigate. I see nothing. I really thought it was the squirrel!

Get around to the side of the house and something made me look up - and there sitting on the stovepipe coming out of the chimney from the pellet stove - 2 big old crows! (Or ravens - I didnt take time to figure it out - we have both). One was trying to crack a nut open on the top of the stove pipe! One flew away as soon as I yelled at it - the one with the nut took a bit to fly away but of course he made sure he had his nut when he flew away!

So thinking it over, the area of the house were we originally heard the noise, there is the fan exhaust hood right up where we were hearing the noise! Bet it was the same Heckle and Jeckyl there too!

We put a motion detection light on the corner of the shed. Dont know that will deter anything - but at least in the evening I know when Ralph does go back there to go to the bathroom before bedtime!

Now we wait and see what other critters we will see - the plum tree across the street is full of fruit - when they ripen I will not be surprised to see the deer coming back to strip it!

Havent seen Mr or Mrs Waddles in awhile. Not sure the dead oppossum was the one we have seen before or if it was from somewhere farther away. Hoping it was not a mama oppossum otherwise whatever killed her got some nice hors' de oevres with their meal. Only down to 1 occasional cat sighting.....so I am worried that there is some cat action in the area that is taking care of the wildlife. 

More Catching Up

 I think I need to change the title of my blog to Catching Up With My Life!

A lot of catching up to do so this is going to be totally out of order unless I do some rearranging.

Just finished another MKAL - another gnome. Love Imagined Landscapes MKAL. She makes it so much fun and so easy. And Wednesday I start Summer Camp with The Loopy Ewe and with Colorado Cross Stitch!

And we went camping for a very very relaxing 3.5 days!

Can anyone guess where this church is?

And where I might have taken the photo above?

Of course we went to Cover's Apple Ranch! Twice in fact! We went Tuesday and got our favorite cookies - and a Dutch Apple Pie - thye were out of their Mile High Pies. And I have to tell you, apple pie is no where near the top of my favorite pie list but theirs are SO GOOD! When we went back for lunch Wednesday they did have a Mile High Apple pie but we restrained ourselves from buying another pie - but we did get more cookies! Oh the reason I posted this is I was shocked to see Apple Beer at this place - I always thought this was run by a religious family.....They also had Apple Soda you could get with your meal but I chickened out!

Black Oak Casino RV Park. You can see our baby right there...wish I knew how to add an arrow of something! Beautiful park - and perfect timing. The weather was GORGEOUS! And we left Thursday so we left before the place became packed - we overheard them say that they were fully booked for the weekend. So not being there we missed a free BBQ but that is ok. We enjoyed ourselves! $5 casino voucher per person every day you and there.....and the nest pool I have been in for a long long time! IT was so nice and warm I could get right in without taking many many minutes to ease myself into the water!

For some reason it will not let me delete this duplicate photo

These last 2 photos are 2 of my favorite items from the Garage Sales we went to this weekend. Other than these 2 items, I also got a book, and we got a pack of disposible grill trays that will go into the trailer (as will the quilt)!

And look, now it duplicated all the photos again and it is not letting me delete them. Sorry folks!

Stopped at Anderson's Pea Soup for lunch on the way home. I use to hate that place when I was a kid. Now I love it! And then over the Pacheco Pass......I burnt up the heavenly prayer lines on the trip home - not unusual on this Pass - because of the winds and one really big gust that scared me to pieces! I hate that pass.....One more trip this summer to go over it.....sigh....

A Big Thank You

 My internet friend is home from the hospital and doing much better.

She still doesnt have all the answers she wants but....

Late last night our friend who was #2 of the transplant list received his new heart.

According to his son the MD said the surgery was "phenomenal" and John is doing very well.

Unfortunately the son cannot go up and visit because he has come down with an awful cold. 

Oh My, The Plate is Full

 Full enough to put things into perspective and make me count my blessings.

Youngest grandson left today on his first solo plane ride to Southern CA, for a weekend of waterpolo camp. I am just the grand mother - I can only imagine how my daughter is feeling! Luckily he is with team mates and not completely alone.

Our friends is in Stanford still. Wednesday they places an intra aortic cardiac balloon pump. And he is on the heart transplant list - supposedly #2 so that shows how dire his need is. And I guess 70 isnt that old anymore if they are willing to do a transplant. But other then this heart failure, he really doesnt have any health issues.

And today I found out a "friend" on a Knitting list who hadnt been feeling well earlier in the week was taken by ambulance to a hospital (and she lives in the back of nowhere so wonder how long that ride was) because of breathing issues - and she was found to be in heart failure. What are the odds of something like this happening? From what I know, this is new onset. For our other friend it has been years.

And now we are shuffling around trying to figure out dog care. Small potatoes in the bug picture of thngs. But we are supposed to fly down next weekend for a waterpolo tournament with grandson and his mom. And our very dependable dog sitter is the younger son of our friend - who is divorced, and has 2 sons who are dependant upon him in different ways. So with not knowing what is going on, we are trying to figure out contingency plans. Worst comes to worst I would stay home. The plane tickets are not refundable but we could eventually use the credit for the one....

We had hoped our other daughter could take the dog - we could drop him off and pick him up - but her new lease says she cannot have any more pets at all at the house....

Oh well, this will work out. And I guess he will be going camping with us this summer! We had already planned on taking him on the short May camping trip as an intro back into camping.....but we have a 2 week trip to Hawaii coming up in September.....everything booked. Everything paid for..... But you know what, things will work on in whatever way they will work. 

\So prayers please for our friends who are hospitalized.

Happy Easter!

 We had a very very happy Easter!

Even with the gas prices, the girls drove down, and we had a lovely Easter meal with them and all 5 grandkids!

And you know what? I did not think to take a single photo!

The food was delicious - we made enough peirogies - and the tri tip was tender - the sausage was good. Not much of the asparagus was eaten and now we have LOADS of asparagus left over....

The chocolate bundt cake and the carrot cake were good! And DD #1 brought a lemon merangue pie.

Hubby made a donut run that morning and sent them home with donuts.

Grandson #2 was prompted to share with us that his name is going to be on a plaque at the HS because his GPA is 3.5!!!!!!!!! This is the one who has spent more summers in summer school than I want to count!

Grandson #3 drove all the way down here! The longest drive he has done - and he was tired out! Mom drove home!! LOL

Even the dog got exercise - Grandson #4 ran him all around the backyard and then Grandsons #1 and #2 took him for a walk! Which was a good thing since he did not get to go for one the day before because of our cooking and the storm!

Grand daughter has asked me to knit a hat for her (stuffed) frog.....which I just printed out a pattern for...

I Think Our Weather Has a Personality Disorder

 Got up early today because the City was having a cleanup day - drop your items in a bin for free. It was overcast but not foggy for once this week! Husband was convinced there would be lines of people, especially after they announced that once the bin was full, it was over and done; and only open to .town residents;  and a  seperate area for electronics. So  ee thought that meant there would be personnel at each site.  There were 4 or 5 sites around town. Went to the first site and there was no bin. Went to 2d site and there was one bin but no one there to verify residency. Also no line! So we dumped our stuff and went home. 

Husband didnt want to go to the #1 (on my list!!) garage sale today.....so we started out (just like most stores do not open as early as we are use to living elsewhere, neither dot he garage sales) and had to put our sunglasses on because the skies were blue and cloudless!

By the time we were on our way to our 3d or 4th stop, it was overcast again. Now it is late afternoon and the sun is out!

I am hoping this will help contain my piles of craft supplies next to my recliner!

These will be used to adorn XS or something - I just thought the tiny locks were so cute! Too bad there were no keys with them....nah, I dont need no stinking keys!

$1 for an almost new loaf pan - cephalon loaf pan. Now I can weed out one of my old ones....

I could not resist the saying on this!

Husband found this for me - and they let me bundle some things together so I was happy with the price. Now have to decide where it will go

Christmas in March!

I weeded through this - dumped A LOT of loose needles! Kept quite a bit of thread - silk thread, buttonhole, thread, regular thread, many on interesting wooden spools. Bits and pieces of  yarn which will be good for gnomes....I grabbed it primarily for the Longaberger basket and the scissors - overall I think I got my money's worth!

There were actually 3 of these little measuring tools (I am sure I have quite a few more around the house)  but this was interesting with the square top. And the rose decoration was so pretty. I dont think I have ever seen a darning egg with a silver (maybe silver plate?) handle before! And I am not sure what the other one is far - to darn the sole of a sock? Anyone know?

Did a lot of dusty cleaning in the bedroom (yes, Bella is apparently still with us!) Only got about 1/2 done but there is always tomorrow......then we took some things out to the trailer. 

And now I have more laundry to do tomorrow (one load done this morning but now it is the high use/high cost electric hours....so the clothing that hubby got on dirty with grease will have to wait until tomorrow. And this is why we really really need to CLEAN out the trailer basement, reorganize, regroup!

So Proud And So Excited

 Last weekend we were back in the area that we moved away from 2+ years ago.

Youngest grandson has been playing waterpolo for a couple of years now. And he loves it.

He does very well at it - but he needs to grow more!

Anyway, he was selected to try out for the USA Waterpolo Olympic Development Program for the 14 & Unders.

Training, evaluating, and cuts....he was pretty well convinced he was not going to be chosen.

And he left the last day, after shaking the coache's hand and telling him how much he appreciated the opportunity and the training, and thanking him for the opportunity. This is the kind of kid he is!

But he was!

And then, he and his mother both expected he would be put on the B Team since this was his first try at this. And they got the email that he was on the B Team. But then - it turns out - the wrong email was sent and he was actually chosen for the A Team!

So, as a team, they had one meeting and one practice. And then a 2 day nation wide tournament. With only 1 day of meeting. Now, this team has a total of 4 players from his water polo team; and other boys that he has swam with, or competed against. But still, not a cohesive team, and a new coach.

They played 3 games on Saturday and won them all! One was against a team from CT, and another game was against their own B Team! One they won in OT! That was a nailbiter of a game!

Sunday they played a game, and won. And now they are in the gold medal round.....against the top team in their section. Yeah, they lost. They lost bad. You could even see when they gave up. 

BUT....this brand new team came in 2d overall for their age group - silver medal winners! So proud of these boys!!!

We had a great time being up there. Got to eat at places we miss (hello Amici's Pizza! Hello Chik-Fil-A!). Drove around and saw SO MANY changes around town......Got to go to not 1 but TWO bookstores! And I got some new walking shoes which I just discovered I really needed!

That first game Saturday morning was at 0700 and so cold - it was like 36 degrees! But it was a clear and sunny day and so it did eventually get warmer. And on Sunday the first game wasnt until 10 AM so it was warmer! Felt so sorry for those kids!

After receiving their medals we left to drive our 2 hours home. And after we got home we recieved a phone call from our grandson who told us he had been selected for a very special award: 

Nick Johnson Inspiration Award - USA Water Polo

It is a very touching award - and yes I know I am biased - but it describes our Luke perfectly! And so it is extra special that others see this in him!

Monday evening daughter called us and told us they had received notification that he had been chosen for the National Team Selection Camp. I am linking the money raising he (via my daughter) is doing for this experience - it explains a little bit about it (and any donations are tax deductible!).

USA WATER POLO INC - Jessyca Bozzy's fundraiser (networkforgood.com)

This will be quite the experience for them. Parents are discouraged from going. So he will be flying down with his team, staying with his team, flying back with his team.....and helicopter mom is going to be unbearable until he is home! (I will be quite relieved when he is home too I have to admit. I know lots of kids fly by themselves younger than he is but.....and this is only into LAX - only one of the biggest airports - but not that far from home).

This whole experience helps teach them to act professional - dress professional - discouraged parental over involvement (these experiences are for the kids not the parents) and are really grooming them to be Olympic bound. So it is quite an honor - quite an experience. And hopefully, not overly stressful for this guy. He LOVES the sport, and I hope this experience does not change this for him.

At the end of April we will be flying down to San Diego to watch him at a tournament for his other water polo team. 

So Much Catching Up to Do

 And I will take just some baby steps here...

• Last week was incredibly beautiful. Sunny, temperatures in the 70's and even up to the low 80's. But it was all tinged with - we NEED rain! And there is none in sight
• Tom still working 3 days/week throughout this month. So we could not really take advantage of the weather. One day he played golf. The other we had errands that needed to be done.
• BUT last week for the very first time Ralph decided he wanted to walk on the beach. San Carlos Beach is a short, small beach. But he wanted to walk on it! And so we did - all 3 days of our walks down there. Now mind you, he hugged the rocks but still...it is a grand step he took!
• This week is much cooler. In fact yesterday on Ralph's walk the wind was downright cold. So it was a short walk. And the tides were in so no beach walking because there was no beach to walk on! And of course, yesterday was the day I left my phone at home so I could not get a photo of the otter who was very very close to shore! But it was so sunny, and so clear (the best side effects of a windy day!) it was beautiful!
• Today was sunny and beautiful too - but no wind, not quite as clear. No beach to walk on, but also no otter floating near the shore (yes, I remembered my phone today). But because of no wind we went for a longer, as in 2.25 miles, walk.
• Valentine's Day was nice. Lovely dinner at home. A lovely pair of earrings from hubby. And the sweetest card from 3 of our grands, with a Fandango card inside - which is great because there are 2 movies coming out we want to see!
• Today when I pick hubby up at work we are going out for our Valentine's Day dinner. He works down by the Wharf so we are going to Domenico's (just so happens, hmmmm, that I have a GC from there that he gave me last year) for happy hour!
• We dont go out on holidays - they raise the price of food, the service is usually not as good (mainly because they are so busy) and the food generally isnt as good either. And places are just too busy and too noisy. And yes, I am making generalizations but this is our findings after many many years of marriage! So we typically go out before or after the holidays.

Hoping the next time I get on here I will catch up with the missing parts of the end of 2021!

Am I Wrong to Feel Slighted?

 I think I am. But it still bothers me.

I belong to a group on FB about Congenital Degenerative Myelopathy.

And all these people post about having to euthanize their animals. And yes, I cry at each and every one I read but I still cant leave the group. 

But then I see how lovely their vets treated them afterwards - flowers, foot prints, candles, etc.

Our old vet in Livermore send a footprint ..... and we got a card from the crematorium where the ashes were buried.

So yes, we got a card from the vet.

And we got a card from the pet insurance company.

But that is all. 

And it makes me feel sad that Bella wasnt better memorialized. 

Last Camping Trip of 2021

 It was a lovely trip. Even with all the (minor) issues we ran into! So relaxing!

Drove to Paso Robles RV Living in California - Wine Country RV Resort (sunrvresorts.com) on Wednesday - and yes, our brand new Passport America worked on 2 of the 3 nights stay - saved much more than what our 2 year subscription cost us!

It is not Cava Robles | Sun RV Resorts but it is also definitely NOT 49er Village RV Resort | Sun RV Resorts nor is it Paso Robles RV Ranch - 7 Photos, 7 Reviews - Paso Robles, CA - (roverpass.com).....our pull through site was up near the wall that is also close to highway 46 so there was the sound of cars and trucks but in the night it became background noise....the site was small, we became VERY FRIENDLY with out next door neighbors! LOL. But the swimming pool and hot tub was nice, and very close to us was the adult only hot tub. The store was nice too, even though we did not buy anything there (the hours were kind of inconvenient). And on Friday nights they have free wine tasting from local wineries. The 2 that we tasted were very good! They also had a food truck there that night.

So our first stop after hooking (partially) up was Walmart! Our black sewer dump hose brock! So we had to go buy a new one! But I found my Halloween popcorn balls while we were there so I was especially happy.

We have also had a recent issue with the big window over the couch not staying closed. It came open again on our bumpy way (gotta love California roads!) down there and somehow the string for the blinds broke - or frayed - or was cut....

Thursday IT WAS COLD when we got up! Down into the 40's! And of course, I thought I packed sweatpants but they were apparently at home nice and clean....Took our time with breakfast and showers. And then we went to Award Winning Paso Robles Wines | Eberle Winery. We had been there once before. This time the weather was perfect for sitting out on their deck! And the view over their vineyards was lovely. We really enjoyed all the wines we tasted - and found out that the owner offers discounts to military and law enforcement - as he says "anyone who has to duck bullets" - which we thought was awesome. So, surprise to me, husband decides we need to join their wine club (after complaining we never drink all the wine we already buy!) so we joined a twice a year shipment club...

Back to the campground, and hit the pool. Then got dressed and drove to Cambria for dinner. Once again Ball & Skein & More (cambriayarn.com) was not open - and there was a group of about 5 or 6 women outside the store that made me think of the old Mervyn's ad....open open open! So we visited an antique store, bought 2 slices of pie at Lim's, and had a margarita at Hours & location – Las Cambritas while we watched some Halloween bake off show - never got to see who won!

Last time we were here we ate at www.seachestrestaurant.com, so this time we ate at Home (thesowsear.com). These 2 are our favorite restaurants in Cambria. As always, the food and service were wonderful - but this time the ambience sucked. Very near to us was a table with 3 couples. And one of the women was VERY LOUD.....and the talked incessantly....even taking a phone call while eating at the table! You can tell that all the customers in the restaurant, not just us, were very irritated by her (the people at the table next to us chose not to have dessert because they just wanted out of there). The host was young, and I am sure since this was mid week and in the off season, he didnt want to take a chance of ticking anyone off....so no one said anything to them....AND THEY WOULD NOT LEAVE. They were there before us....they were there after us. It ruined the experience for us.

Friday we again took our time with breakfast. Went into Paso Robles and went to several stores: my favorites Spare Time Book Store and Reminisce Antiques in Paso Robles (reminiscepasorobles.blogspot.com). Got some Christmas shopping done! And also visited a Goodwill store and another thrift store - got myself some socks and some items for the garden.

Here are photos of things I did NOT buy!:

Oh I wanted this pumpkin basket so badly! And the price wasnt bad either (neither were the prices on 2 picnic baskets I walked away from...) but I talked myself out of it....darn it!

And, except for the books, the wine, and Christmas presents here is what I did buy:

Isnt this sweet? I restricted myself to ONE even though there were quite a few, different sizes. different materials, that were darling!

I thought this sign was sweet even though the grammar stinks!

Then on to our favorite restaurant in Paso, www.cowgirlcafe.net and had lunch. Do you see this cookie? These are cowgirl sized cookies! I bought one, and hubby bought one, to snack on on our trip home on Saturday. THEY ARE HUGE! I think they were 2/$3 or 2/$5....it took me days to eat mine (snickerdoodle; hubby had an oatmeal raisin and never even offered me a bite...)

After lunch headed over to what was a gamble, and ended up that we loved it, https://www.tincitydistillery.com/. We thought we were not going to get there in time. First of all, it is difficult to find some of the places that are tucked into the back, or inside of other places.....and there was a large truck unloading in the middle of the street. Told hubby to go around again, and we would park in one of the nearby parking lots - he refused to do that - we will get towed! - and when we came by again we could not squeeze by because now next to the big truck was a Global delivery truck totally blocking what little space there was left....

But the truck driver - delivering cans of hard cider to TIN CITY CIDER CO. - and he told us to pull into their parking lot - that there was a parking place just for us there! And there was! So this place is on our list to check out the next time we are down there.

So we made to it the tasting. And it was wonderful! First of all, they make a canned lemonade/vodka that is SO GOOD that I had to buy one of their last 4 packs.....I am not a gin person but it was pretty good. We were there primarily to try their brandies and we came home with a bottle of their hibiscus brandy AND a bottle of their apricot amaretto! Then husband tried their bourbon (I am not a hard liquor drinker) and I took a taste - oh my that was smooth! Got home and was looking at their site and I saw that a lot of their stock was sold out so I splurged on a bottle of the bourbon (and paid the shipping) to give to hubby for Christmas!

Back to the campground - it was hot today - and we turned the AC on in the trailer - and hit the pool again. Came back, changed clothes and went to the wine tasting. Tried wine from Sculpterra Winery and Sculpture Garden – The Top Paso Robles Winery and Museum - their viognier was very good. And then the other winery had good wine too (I have forgotten the name of that one!) and we found out about some wineries in San Miguel we will be checking out too....

And then to the main reason for our trip to Paso Robles. The members only BBQ at Castoro Cellars | Homepage - our first time going to the BBQ. The first year we joined we heard about the BBQ too late to go - and then of course there was the year-that-wasnt.....We had a nice time. It was a lovely evening to be outside and the music was good - the food was good - and the wine was very good!

See, I can and do drink red wine! This is Pasofusion and I love it!

I never remember the names of all the big bottles (and this guy told me he had to look up the name before serving it!) but this is called a Methusala -  full of Pasofusion!

I told you it was a beautiful evening! We left about 8 PM (after not winning any of the 4 raffles) and there still was no reason to put a sweater or jacket on!

Saturday dawned chilly again! But we got up and went back to Cowgirl Cafe for breakfast. Which was good. And then time to pack it up and leave.....and found that we had to handle for the valve to pull to drain the black tank! What makes it funny was that just that week I was reading something on a forum for our trailer about checking the screws because the poster had lost his.....so hubby was able to get it open to drain (and he tightened the screws on the grey water valve handles before we left.....).

Home again, home again, jiggety jig....to a dog on a hunger strike....not sure if it was because we were gone AGAIN so soon after the last time....whether it was the loss of his big sister.....or he is just on a food strike. When we went to the store I got a couple of cans of wet food and mixed a little into the dry food and he has been eating very well since we got home. He is such a brat! And enjoying his walks too!