Category: Smelling the roses

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Plans Change…

The plan was for me to get up, have a cup of coffee, get a shower, and go grocery shopping. The plan was to head to Ralphs, and Costco to do a little comparison shopping. Both are double the distance from home than the Stater Bros.

Recently, I’ve become very dissatisfied with the local Stater Bros. Both in selection / availability of products and the fact that lately touching the Coolers or Freezers anywhere in the store I get shocked. Yeah Electrical shock. It tends to make the shopping experience not so nice. I’m also tired of the crowd at that store.

I discovered that the Ralphs and the Costco are on the same street down the hill, and may even be at opposite ends of a long shopping plaza. That could be super convenient as long as the prices are comparable or better than the local market.

There is a possibility of rain late in the afternoon so the plan was a good one since the pup was going to be outside and I didn’t want him to be out in the rain.

My plans began to change when I came out of the shower and the pup was sound asleep in front of the fireplace instead of his usual spot out on the deck. He also was disinterested in my bagel. He didn’t want his usual cookie, or to play with the ball. He did take his greenie out to the deck then ate it in a very leisurely way.

As I type this, he’s ignored a bunch of barking outside preferring instead to be “husky curled” in the chair.

I’m glad I didn’t go. I was feeling punky yesterday I think today is the pups day.

I’ve got food here in the house, this was just a routine replenishment. Mostly it was an exploratory trip.

If the pup isn’t feeling well, I worry. He may not be my actual ‘child’ but I feel very paternal towards him.

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Sometimes you just have to say Screw IT!

I’ve been trying for 3 days to get a tow truck to get one vehicle to a service facility.
It’s less than 10 miles.

But because…

What? Why is it always so difficult to get almost anything done here? It’s not that there aren’t folks to do stuff, it’s that they’ve always got attitude about it as if they’re the only ones available, and truthfully sometimes they are.

When you try to locate someone else it’s like pulling teeth, there’s tons of scheduling difficulties and lots of hemming and hawing.

So this morning, after spending Monday and half of Tuesday and the first couple hours this morning trying to locate another towing company. I said screw it! I fired up the car that has been overheating, and in the cool overcast I allowed gravity to assist me down the mountain while keeping cool airflow over the engine. I made it to the repair facility before the temp reached 212° F.

The difference between being someone who can drive versus someone who Drives I guess. This is probably why I got almost 100,000 miles out of the brakes on my 1 Series.
If you can gauge the weight and how your car slows down when you take your foot off the gas, with engine braking you don’t really need brakes until you need to stop at a light, stop sign, or because someone else in front of you is slamming on their brakes every 8 seconds.

So I’m at the repair facility and I was thinking about the general difficulties of living where I do.

Things were never as easy as when I lived in dense urban areas. But over the past decade things have gotten a lot harder.

It’s simple things, like mandated inspections. Getting tow trucks, finding someone to do a septic tank replacement, or paint the whole house. Repairs around the house for which I may not have the tools, the skill, or both, are also a pain.

Theres a lot of good about being here.

I love my view, I’m becoming less fond of winters. Even so, the sound of snow, the beauty of full moon on untouched snowdrifts, the rainbow sprinkles you sometime see on fresh snow in the sun, these are things that I will miss if I leave this place. Typically the Summer isn’t too hot or uncomfortable and as in winter, I appreciate the sounds of nature, the beauty of a sunrise or sunset, the rare rain and rarer thunderstorm. I like hiking around the area and having pretty safe places to walk the dog. I enjoy watching the hummingbirds and their battles around the feeder. Their aerobatics always put a smile on my face.

There’s a lot of bad about being here.

One or two neighbors up the road who make things super miserable for everyone else. Slow police response time, The difficulties I mentioned before about getting things done. The exceedingly long commutes to get to basic services. The general cost of everything here in California. There’s no sign of that changing any time soon. I suspect that it’s going to get worse before the state figures out the people they’re increasing the taxation on are the same people they’re forced to pay subsidies to because otherwise those folks are below the state poverty line, but not the federal level.

It’s with a lot of this stuff in mind that I’ve started a pro and con list of remaining here.
It’s questionable if I can stay here without finding a job. There are a lot of memories here. Most of them are happy, but some of them are very sad. Finding people to interact in positive ways is difficult. Dating, should I choose to do that, will be almost impossible. Commuting to a job will be more difficult. Traffic has gotten so bad that even a short commute is not as easy as it once was. Sadly the bad list is outweighing the good.

I’ll keep working on it. It’s been suggested that I pack the dog up and take a road trip to some of the places I’ve been considering as alternatives to California. I think it’s a good idea…

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Gentle Rain…

Last night soft rain began falling just as I was heading to bed. I love the sound of gentle rainfall and often use the sound of rain on the HomePods in the bedroom to fall asleep.

Last night the fake track wasn’t necessary, Mother Nature provided a natural soundtrack all night long.

Although about 1 or 2 am, the natural soundtrack was interrupted by a bunch of noise from jackass central where Crazy Pants and the other transient trash live.

I suppose that as much of a pain in the ass as it is. I’m going to have to start making noise complaints.

My hesitation about that is if I’m not going to be living here for much longer do I really care? Another consideration is if I start a “war” with those idiots, it could impact my ability to sell my house because if their behavior gets worse, it could scare off potential buyers. Fortunately the eye sore that it their property is mostly concealed by trees and other structures that don’t look like cover photos for “Homeless Beautiful, Your definitive guide to shitty living”

I love that the police are always so concerned about Crazy Pant’s rights, but when asked what about the other neighbors rights they shake their heads. Technically it’s not fair to place the police in that metaphorical vise. It’s not their job to decide. Since Crazy Pants and everyone else in the neighborhood have equal rights, it’s for a judge to determine where the line is.

Eventually the noise died down at Crazy Pants place. I can only hope that they drugged themselves into a stupor or death. I know there’s no such luck on the latter so I’ll take comfort in the former. Once their annoyance quieted, the rain was back. The sound seemed a little louder, as if the intensity of the storm increased.

Perhaps Nature was just trying to drown out the shenanigans so the neighborhood could sleep soundly.

On thing of note about the noise was that the dog didn’t budge from his spot on the bed. When the noise started, he looked up, groaned, and went back to sleep. That’s a comment on the frequency of the disruptions coming from Crazy Pants place. Even the dog is disinterested. He’s a classy dog & they’re trashy primates.

It’s cool and overcast this morning. There’s a slight chance of more rain but I doubt it will happen. I’m thankful for the break in temperature and the quiet of the morning.

I won’t have to water the trees and there may have been enough rain to rinse the dust off the solar panels. That’s one of the things the brochures don’t tell you. Those panels on the roof have to be rinsed from time to time, dust and pollen have a measurable effect on the panel efficiency.

I’m sure there are additional chores that I need to do around here. With watering and rinsing off the list, I think I’ll have another cup of coffee and enjoy the morning a while longer.

Besides, the weather station here in the living room says we could have some thunderstorms. I’d like that, but I’d also be content with more gentle rain.