Random Ideas, Comments & Thoughts, Sometimes Political, Sometimes Adult… Hope you don't choke.
The pup has had a busy day. Nobody mentions that his Dad is tired too. After all, Dad walked the pup, then showered, then loaded the dog in the car and drove to the groomers. Dad didn’t get lunch until about 3 PM.
Nobody cares though, it’s all about the dog!
He was a good boy for the groomer so he got to pick out a new rope tug toy.
He’s tired. But like a two year old, he’s fighting sleep. Give it another 5 minutes and he’ll be snoring.
Thank goodness Jesse doesn’t have a phone… or an opposable thumb.
I’ve had a touch of a cold, developing for the pasts few days or so. Nothing serious but it’s tiresome. I’ve been feeling drained but trying to keep regular hours.
Last night Jesse & I went to bed as usual, but I was feeling much more tired than usual.
Perhaps my tiredness has something to do with Southern California Edison choosing the end of November to do routine maintenance which required the power to be of from 9 am to 4 pm.
Uh, dumb asses it’s Winter. The daily high temps was 44°F yesterday. Heat is an issue as is the fact that this time of year the sun drops behind the mountain between 3 and 4 pm. So we’re in a deep twilight and the temperature starts falling rapidly, well before official sundown. But it didn’t matter, because Southern California Edison didn’t get the power back on until 5:30 pm or so. But that time my house temp had dropped below 48° F.
After getting a $400 to $500 bill for natural gas last year I’ve been keeping the house in the low 60s hoping to avoid an obscene natural gas bill again, because of Biden non-economics and shitty planning on the part of the natural gas company.
Sitting on the couch shivering in 3 blankets due to the slight fever and the cold. I thought about calling Southern California Edison and asking them if this was part of some evil plan,
Last year the blizzard coupled with complete lack of planning, caused us to be ignored, essentially out of food, fuel, and snowed in, for several weeks. Older people died. The cost of natural gas was so excessive that lots of people, myself included let their homes be very cold. Older People also died due to that. Now as we enter winter Edison decides to fiddle around with “Upgrades” that should probably have been done before it got cold.
Shivering on my couch. I really wondered if this was all an elaborate plan to force the white people out of our homes up here so that Biden’s newest crop of illegals or BLM’s richer activists could be given the white people’s homes up in the mountains. Perhaps it was the fever, but damn I feel like it’s death by a thousand cuts lately.
In fact Edison, if they had a brain between them, would do better doing upgrades in the mountains in late summer when it’s blazing hot down in the valleys. Their crews would be more comfortable and they could do other upgrade work in the valleys as fall rolled off the valleys. Their crews would be more comfortable and possibly safer.
The thing is, the workers don’t appear to be actual Edison employees. They’re contractors. So calling Edison and raising hell doesn’t matter in the least. The contractor handles the scheduling of their employees. This gives Edison the ability to wash their hands of any situations that may arise.
I didn’t make the call. I had enough presence of mind to realize I was cold, hungry, angry, and not feeling well.
Anyhow, Jesse and I went to bed about 10pm. I’d decided “fuck it” and set the temp to 68°F when the power came back on. It sets back to 64° F at 11:00, so I wasn’t going to be running up the bill too much.
I was asleep instantly. Something woke me about 11:30, then Jesse woke me around 12:30 and wanted out. He seemed like he was trying to toss his cookies. I knew he’d be a while, so I sat on the couch, then wrapped up in a blanket…
My alarm sounding in the bedroom at 6am woke me. Poor Jesse was sitting “pretty” looking at me through the sliding door. The temp was 34°F and had probably been colder. He’d been outside all night because I fell into a deep sleep.
I feel like a total shit! Because I left the poor guy outside all night and this cold is draining me.
Jesse and I are on the bed now. He’s sleeping under a blanket that I might designate as “his” in the near future. He seems to like this blanket more than any other in the house. If I’m using it, he’s typically got his paws and chin resting on it. Other blankets, he’s not interested in.
I’ve apparently been dozing off because I keep finding my computer is asleep though from my perspective I’m mid thought.
I might not get a lot done today.
I have to give Jesse his heart worm preventative today. That’s going to wait a while, he’s sound asleep and I’m going to let sleeping dogs lie.
The way I feel right now, I might not get out of bed until noon or later. Jesse seems content with that idea.
It’s rained most of the day.
The pup hates being rained on.
About every hour or so, he’ll go to the door, I’ll let him out. He will wander from one end of the deck to the other verifying that the rain is really coming from the sky and not some other source, then he’ll come back in with this pitiful look on his face.
I’d put on appropriate clothing and walk him in the rain if he wanted to go.
On the other hand, I’m just as happy to not go out in the rain. It’s nice that accidentally the dog has some common sense.
I think I needed the day off. We walk at least a mile, usually more every day seven days a week. That distance isn’t much, but it is downhill and then uphill, usually I’m being dragged a bit by the dog with 4 paw drive on. It puts a bit of stress on my knees both directions.
I’ve noticed that when I have a rare day off from the “exercise” that I feel better and stronger the next time we’re walking.
The down side is that tomorrow he’s going to have a lot of energy. So I’m likely to be really dragged all over hell’s half acre.
Eh, it’s worth it.
For some reason I only got about 3 hours of sleep last night so I’ve been a lazy slug all day. Neither the dog or I have gotten anything done.
On the plus side, at least he’s not using my pillow!
I got up, filled the car with gas and washed it, came home, walked the dog (as best I could given the heavy equipment running incessantly,) ate lunch, showered and played ball with the dog for an hour or so then saddled up and drove to Palm Springs.
I was expecting the grueling stop and go traffic that has become so common every hour of the day or night here. So I left early for an appointment out in PS.
Thing is, traffic wasn’t the usual insanity. In fact it was a pleasure driving. That’s something I haven’t experienced in California for a very long time.
The last time(s) the freeways were this open I can count on one hand. Sept 11, A day without a Mexican, and the height of COVID panic.
No, Really, I’m not being racist. The organizers called it, “A Day Without a Mexican”. It was a protest organized by an organization that helped illegal aliens and they wanted to make the point about how many Mexicans provided various services such as labor, to the Los Angeles region. The whole thing backfired spectacularly.
As requested, the Mexican labor force didn’t show up to work. And the freeways were blissfully wide open. No broken down cars or trucks littering the I-10. No gardening equipment was bouncing randomly on the 405 during rush hour. And no one was inconvenienced at all at any of the fast food joints. The whole thing was so noticeable AM and FM radio personalities were saying we needed to have “A Day without a Mexican” on a regular basis.
I think the organization the set the protest up is no longer around. I haven’t heard anything like their rhetoric for a very long time.
Anyhow, I was moving along so well, and the online freeway maps were all showing green, that I dropped into the Apple Store and purchased this nifty little charging stand. It was inexpensive and super neat, ( I wish I’d thought of it!)
If you’ve got an Apple Watch, you’re familiar with the magnetic charging puck you set your watch on to recharge. Apple makes a bigger version for charging iPhones. I’ve had the iPhone charging puck for a few years. The problem with the thing is that it’s not anchored to anything and it’s light enough that if you pick your phone up, the puck stays attached to your phone, so you put stress on the cable, and if you’re in a hurry you’ll pull the phone off the puck and the puck lands on your desk, nightstand, or counter, with a bang.
In my case the wooden nightstand. The puck has enough weight to ding the top of furniture. Especially if it lands edge on.
The nifty little stand I purchased lets you snap the Apple charging puck into it and then holds your phone via the magnetic puck at a nice viewing angle. It also allows you to use a new feature in IOS that turns your iPhone into a very nice bedside clock.
I like that the phone is up off the nightstand, (so I don’t put my water glass on it, mistaking it for a coaster in the middle of the night,) and I found a clock face on my phone that is nostalgic. This particular face is reminiscent of an old Sunbeam electric alarm clock in my parents room when I was a child. My mom kept that bedside alarm clock until the grinding of the gears kept her up at night. Yeah, we’re talking analog, with a gear train and it was always warm to the touch due to the a/c motor and neon lamp inside.
Goofy as it sounds, seeing that face in the night makes me feel like “I’ve Arrived…”
Arrived at what, I don’t know. Perhaps the stage where nostalgia puts a smile on my face.
Apple Store purchase completed, I got back on the road to Palm Springs. And I flew! Just being able to drive without dealing with morons blocking the freeway because they were texting, jerking off, smoking dope, or finger banging themselves was bliss!
I love my car, but I really love my car when I can open it up.
Admittedly, there were a couple of times yesterday when I punched through the inevitable knots of stupidity before those knots fully formed and “solidified”.
I punched through these tiny annoyances at 95MPH.
FUN!!!!
I wasn’t in a hurry, I was just enjoying the power and smoothness of a machine that I really enjoy.
The down side to my enthusiasm, is that I arrived at my appointment 30 minutes early. It would have been 45 minutes early, but for the Apple store stop!
After that appointment, I’d planned to meet a friend at one of the bars in the area. The plan was to have a couple of drinks and then wander off in search of food. Whoops! Last weekend was Palm Springs Pride. The weekend before that was Palm Springs Leather Pride. Several of the bars that I like were closed on a Tuesday night due to “Pride” fatigue.
REALLY!!???
Pussies! In my misspent youth I was the energizer fucking bunny! Party Starting Thursday Night go to work Friday Morning, with clothes stashed in the trunk of my car “just in case”, and party right on through the weekend, go to work Monday morning and I was driving all over hells half acre to bars and friends places.
(Honestly, I don’t know how the hell I did it. Oh, right… There was speed involved! Uhhh, well, okay, I retract my earlier “Pussies” comment.)
I met my friend outside the closed bar we were planning to meet in, his dog recognized me after 3.5 – 4 years of not seeing me. My friend recognized me too, which felt amazing since he looked so damn nice and I feel that I’m aging poorly and at an accelerated rate!
We negotiated the bar closures, and several restaurant closures to find ourselves sitting out on a patio having a lovely dinner & drinks.
We caught up, and enjoyed each other’s company. Then as these things go, it was time to call it a night. My friend had an early morning and I had a long assed drive.
Fortunately, I was once again able to enter the time warp on the freeway, and got home at a decent hour.
Jesse was throughly displeased with me.
I think he might have thought he’d been left alone forever. He was outside, it wasn’t too cold, he had food and water, but the house was dark and he might have remembered the events of January. Maybe he thought he’d lost me, I’m not sure.
When I got home, the lights turned on automatically, the garage door opening may have woke him. When I stepped out onto the deck I was greeted with happy zoomies, then several balls were dropped at my feet.
Then… My dog slut shamed me!
No I hadn’t had sex, but I had been with another dog so for the next 15 minutes every inch of me was sniffed. The look on Jesse’s face was really funny. On the one hand he was glad I was home, on the other hand he’d caught me cheating. Last night, he wasn’t letting me out of his sight. He went so far as to keep grabbing my arm.
I learned that I don’t like being away from him for extended periods. All told I was gone about 8-9 hours. I missed him. I think we need to start going places together. This is going to be a pain in the ass at first, but I would like for him to be able to be a good traveling companion. I think it will be worth the time and effort.
I need to find some decent seat covers!
I was planning to head out to the grocery store this morning. But as upset as Jesse was last night, maybe I’ll wait to do that until tomorrow. There’s a Petco near the grocery store. That would give me the opportunity to shop for seat covers and a padded harness that wouldn’t hurt him in an accident or hard stop if he was secured via a seatbelt.
Now I’m off to make amends by sharing my breakfast.
Have a great day.
And I don’t mind one little bit!
The pup woke me about 1AM because he had the hiccups and wanted to go out. He came back in about 30 minutes later and was not his usual bouncy self. He curled up on the couch, and I sat with him for another half hour while he snoozed next to me.
Sometimes if he’s not feeling well, he’ll need to go out several times in quick succession. Last night he didn’t, do the usual thing. After a while I went back to bed and he joined me taking his usual spot at the foot of the bed.
About 6:45AM I’ve got a puppy nose in my ear. Opening my eyes, I see a very worried look on the pups face.
I know that look!
I roll out of bed and he’s already at the sliding door. I open the door, and he makes it out onto the deck and tosses his cookies. I’m pulling on sweats and heading for a kettle of water to rinse the deck. He’s already down stairs in the yard retching again.
You feel so helpless when they’re sick. After a couple of minutes he comes slowly back up the stairs. I open the slider and follow him inside. He gets a small drink of water, then jumps back up on the couch curled up Husky fashion.
That’s where we are now, I’m sitting here beside him. He’s not curled up, instead he’s alternating between having his head propped against the arm of the couch, or having his head propped against me. (I think the alternation is about being too hot on one side or the other.)
So my day is now all about attending to my sick friend. It’s only fair, he’s taken very good care of me these past months so I’m happy to return the favor.
I notice that he wakes up every half hour or so, looks around, finds me in the room, then goes back to sleep. I guess he figures I’m watching the doors and windows for him so he’s safe and all is well.
I’m going to try for a nap later in the day. But right now I think I’ll tackle the job search. At least I’ll be able to knock that off my ToDo list.