Pictures from Washington

Shipyard in Port Townsend


Port Townsend


Fun with Photoshop. Lockhaven Marina where my aunt and uncle's boat is stored

Yesterday was a good day...they released us from work a little early, affording me enough time to get started on my backyard drainage project. For some strange reason I like digging in the backyard. My hole digging was interrupted by a visit from Apria Healthcare and resulted in the repossession of my wheelchair. Thankfully it was not due to a lack of making payments but rather my intense desire to not ever require that device again. They're lucky I didn't push it off a cliff, burn it or repeatedly run over it with the truck. The wheelchair departure required a drink and nachos celebration with friends at Tahoe Joe's, followed by a great meal at the Macaroni Grill (one of my favorite eateries). Had I not stuffed myself to the brink of explosion there probably would have been a frozen yogurt trip in there too.

My aunt flew back from Seattle with me and spent some time last weekend showing me how to ferment vegetables. It sounds weird so I won't get into it, but the result is kim chee and it tastes great and does wonderful things for your body. The crock (used for the fermenting) was imported from Germany and we had to hand-carry it back on the plane--you can only imagine how broken it would have been had we checked that bag. We ended up being "those people" that delayed boarding of the plane because the stupid thing wouldn't fit in the overhead bin even though we measured it and was well within carry-on spec. The overhead bin thing is a complete chaotic disaster now that airlines are charging money to check bags.

My house is looking much better inside after her visit. She is an interior decorator and went to town moving furniture and coming up with great ideas. I finally had to send her home after she spent all my money. :) We picked up a really nice leaning bookshelf and wine bar setup from Crate and Barrel, a wooden and leather bench from Cost Plus World Market for my bedroom, some artwork for the walls, a new comforter for the bed with 5-billion-something thread count sheets (oh my gosh they're great!) and now I'm worried I won't get out of bed at all in the morning.

I am getting bids tomorrow to have my room painted. I hate the thought of paying someone to do it but the bedroom and attached bath have tall vaulted ceilings and neither I nor Kaiser can afford another fall. The room is being painted "camel," a light brown color with a lighter color on the soffit and ceiling. I should find it more pleasant than the aqua green that now graces the walls and makes you feel like you're in an aquarium. My aunt has it all color-matched, we even bought all new linens to match and we are working on picking out fabric and wood that matches my bedroom set for valences (window treatments). Everything we bought was darn-near half price. I like half price.

Can anyone recommend a painter?

So much for seeing fall colors from the air...

Weather forecast = and loving it.

Attention friends: I need to borrow your children occasionally. I want them at Halloween for carving pumpkins. And while we're at it, I want them so I can feel okay about riding the crazy ponies when we go wine tasting up in El Dorado County. In the meantime I rounded up a few other participants to eat dinner and carve pumpkins.

There are three things to note in this photo. 1) Good company. 2) Bill is not smiling because he was jealous of my jack-o-lantern design. 3) My fence is standing upright again. I think a few co-workers read this blog so I will be the first to say that the beer bottles were simply there for effect, no alcohol was consumed that evening.


There are two things to note in this photo. 1) The jack-o-lanterns we came up with and 2) there are now plants in the backyard, the creekbed restoration is complete, the bridge is refinished and the flagstone paver project is nearly complete. A huge work-in-progress, it is.



There are a few more jack-o-lanterns not shown here. Matt was adamant that we draw our designs on the pumpkins and he would carve them. With a sheetrock knife, mind you. So I drew my best rendition of a Steve Memoring painting of the Tower Bridge in downtown Sacramento. I'd post a photo but Matt is still trying to carve it. ;)

Happy Halloween everyone!

Sorry, I've been slacking a little on the blog. Going back to work has been a bit of an adjustment for me. I obviously do not have the kind of free time I previously had and when I do get home I am completely exhausted. Afternoons have been particularly challenging as I became accustomed to taking naps in the middle of the day. I have not asked, but I am pretty sure Arnold would disallow afternoon napping. I imagine my body is putting a lot of energy into healing, so I should start getting some of that energy back.

Things are absolutely great at home. I am thrilled with the house and the neighbors/neighborhood. I could tell you the names of both the husband and wife in each of the eight houses on my court...I would usually forget names instantly but they always seem to remember mine, so I had to step up to the plate and remember theirs. No doubt I had to forget some really important things to commit those to memory. With a lot of help from Sara the backyard is beginning to look really nice. As the weather turns to rain we will start focusing more attention to the inside of the house. I would like some new art work, a pub table to add some fun to the dinette area, some painting here and there and I have a lot of organizing to do.

The storm last week did put the house to the test and it passed, the fence did not. I failed to get a picture of my fence laying on the ground, but a contractor friend replaced three of the 4x4 posts and now it has considerably more stability than previously. The gutters were completely clogged and overflowing when I came home that day and that has been fixed also. Speaking of the storm, I did happen to make the news that day. A section of I-5 south near downtown Sacramento flooded, and that was after taxpayers spent $33M for improvements so it wouldn't happen again. Apparently there was an Associated Press (AP) photographer on the overpass waiting for a good picture and I didn't let him down; this photo ended up on all the news sites--MSNBC, Yahoo, CBS, etc. It's a stock photo now so I'm sure every time a section of highway floods this photo will be used over and over. A friend with a good eye for 4Runners came over to my office the next morning and said "I think you made the news this morning." The roof rack with bike and kayak attachments gave me away.


http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=328751&src=110

I hope my insurance agent isn't following this blog. I hope the guy in the gray Honda Ridgeline isn't either.

Back to work

I just wrapped up my first week back at work following a three-month leave of absence. I use the word “week” loosely since Thursday October 1 was my first day back and Friday was a furlough day. Why can't every week be like this? One week ago I attended the company picnic and was able to visit with my colleagues that I had not seen since mid-June, although roughly a dozen of them had contacted me in one way or another while I was on leave. I work with some great people and it has helped ease the transition back into the working world.

My first week didn’t go without a hitch of course. I was notified that I was being transferred to another job. It wasn’t so much a “welcome back...oh, and what do you think of trying this other job opportunity” discussion. In fact, it wasn’t a discussion at all, just a simple email sitting in my inbox, along with 313 other messages I had while out on leave. Ouch. Apparently our section has an average staff retention time of around two years and currently a very high vacancy rate. I can't imagine why that might be.

I suppose I once again need to keep track of what day of the week it is. Up until now I didn't know whether it was Tuesday or Saturday. Thursday was a rough start, however I am happy my life is returning back to what it was prior to June 19.