Time to lose weight

I can't seem to lose the pounds.  I was walking, eating right and a little would come off but it was way too easy to put it back on...  I've decided to give up the booze, exercise, eat what works, and lose the weight.
Here we go!

Trees

So my city has sent out notices that 15 trees are going to be removed for one reason or another.  I really wish they had contacted the folks around those trees, as I have some to be removed and don't understand why others were removed.

As much as I want to complain, the city did do a good job, as there are no divots or obvious signs that trees used to be in the locations that are now bare.  And as much as I don't agree with removal without replacement, the sun bearing down on my personal space hasn't changed.  I'm being selfish at this point.

Also, this past week a very large oak tree lost one of the 3 large branches that come off the trunk.  City quickly took care of that mess and local resident only had damage to their fence - not their car/house/or any other property...

A week of injury recovery

What a week for my body.  

Last weekend when I was doing that yard work and attacked the orange tree, it turns out that not only did I get finger stuck with a thorn and part of it remained in it - it turns out that I also scratched the heck out of my other arm and didn't realize it!  I only figured it out when I discovered blood on my clothes and detective work revealed it was coming from my arm!  After a few days of slight infection and then all was well.

Thursday night I had dinner and drinks outside at the Rath alfresco.  This is the casual summer dining area for the Caltech Faculty Club - the Athenaeum, https://www.athenaeumcaltech.com/.  Unfortunately for me, I am food for misquitos.  Somehow they always find the one area that is exposed that I am not aware of, and I end up paying the price for it.  Boy oh boy - they found behind my ankle right above the shoe line.  On Friday (my day off) I decided to go for my walk in the morning and I proceeded to take of the head of the bite and now my ankle is red and hot and swollen!  

I am relaxing most of today - my body is worn down!

Home Maintenance

I've been able to walk about 2 1/2 miles in the morning before work since sometime in April/May since the sun comes up around the early 5AM time frame.   The morning sunlight, besides just beautiful, shushes the mountain creatures back up into the mountains (bears - never seen in AM, coyotes - seem them a lot!, skunks - I give them a wide birth, and deer - who seem to be more interested in H2O then me).  But since the solstice, the sun is coming up later and later and my walks before work have stopped.  Which is why I enjoy the weekends that much more - I get to walk for coffee again.

Now being up early, and without others around, and with the sun at a low enough angle that it isn't August Summer hot yet - I decided to take a look around the property this morning.  Boy, there was a lot of stuff that somehow just appeared!  

1. Weeded and watered the driveway trees - come on and grow!  
2. Looks like the 3 dead Fruitless Plum trees in my front yard have beetles - bummer - now that I know I need to move out and get someone up here to cut these puppies down before they beetles spread further.  Not good!
3. I got my plant sheers out and attacked the dead branches on the Navel Orange tree and the Pomegranate bush/tree in the backyard.  Now the Orange tree has thorns - ouch!  Sadly, I now have an end of a thorn deep in my index finger which I can't get out.  Hope it doesn't get infected. 
4. When I came into the house, the angle of the Sun revealed the layer of dust on the furniture - Whoa!  So I tackled that...
5. The problem with starting to clean is that you need to finish cleaning, so there I was in my sweaty walking outfit windex'ing, dusting, finding dirt in places I hadn't looked at in a loooooong while!  
6. While Vivi was here 2 weeks ago, the toilet flapper in the guest suite decided to stop working - I had gotten the replacement but forgot about it since I never go into that room/bathroom but I did in my cleaning bonanza...palm to forehead - duh!  Luckily it was not too hard to replace and the part was only $6 verses a plumber call which would be 60-75 easily.  Yeah me! 

Glad I got all of that done this AM, yesterday my car registered 106F and today is supposed to be just as hot... 

The Killings

Totally binged.  Excellent show and ending!

Hotel Moran and Moran Shuttle Services

I've renamed my house "Hotel Moran" and my car "Moran Shuttle Services" for obvious reasons.  I found a sicker from an Ebay purchase years ago for Hotel Moran in Prague and I've jokingly attached it to the extra bedroom door. 

Since I wrote about my guests in a post below...I've had additional guests:
- Nick was home for springbreak in May
- Vivi passed thru from Beijing to Salvador for 4 nights and there was a party at my house while I was on business travel in Texas
- Bill passed thru from Beijing to Salvador for 4 nights and again there was a party at my house while I was on personal travel to Texas.  Bill and I got coffee on the morning of my departure

  
I visited my son in Texas and saw is new home.  We also traded cars so I got to drive home in this 4Runner which I sold 2 weeks later via text messaging - that was easy!

- My cousin Cynthia stayed mid-week as part of her round the USA train trip to reconnect/recover after JIm's untimely death.  She left on a Friday.
- Saturday Tish came in for one night to attend our 30th high school reunion.  Dear God where did the time go?
- A few weeks later Bill came back for a few nights from Salvador back to Beijing and 3/5's of the siblings went out for a drink, or two...

 - Nick came back for 2 1/2 weeks in July.  I really enjoyed having him home, snapped this just before his departure.  I love this photo!

Vivi arrives on Tuesday morning and the great news is that Bill got a job in the USA so he is moving home and Vivi doesn't have to go back to Beijing!  She'll be with me a few days to a week and then into an apartment that they've already found.  My next planned visitor after Vivi is Nick over Xmas.  Hotel Moran will be closed until then...
 

Past Month

This past month has been full of activity for me - both good and bad!

The family moved Mom into a new place that is smaller but much more affordable for her (us).  She is still independent and almost done working...time for her to move into the retirement world and enjoy her grandchildren more than she is.  Good thing too is that her health is better than it was one year ago.  She'll be on medication for the rest of her life but then again won't we all!

During this time, I got the crud that is going around.  Wow - it was intense.  Only way I made it thru the moving weekend was steroids.  I haven't been that sick in a long long time and it took almost a complete week to recover.

Good think I was sick before we moved Mom because the weekend after I was in Vegas visiting Tish on my yearly trek out for her birthday.  Now we don't hit the strip or go out to wild Vegas clubs, but we do go out.  Tish and I went out to a food truck/bands / art houses street blocked off event and ran into the family from "Sister Wives" which is a show on cable about poligomy.  Tish totally freaked and didn't want to acknowldge what was right in front of us.  I said a few words to one of the wives and she responded in kind.  To each his own, this world would be a better place if we all just stopped judging and left enough alone.

I learned about Vegas as a small town when I was married in the early 90s and we used to go out to stay with his folks on the South East side of town.  Tish lives in a community built in the 60s where a lot of the 'stars' of the time lived.  This community also is where the house from the movie "Casino" is.  They are updating the house, bringing it back to it's original glamor of the 60s and doing a fine job of it.   Oh got me some new shoes from the Sketchers outlet around the corner from her house...I like them!

Upcoming events: Mardi Gras party, Nick comes home for 10 days; I head out for a long weekend in April; Thirtieth high-school reunion ... when did that happen?!?! 

Binge weekend - worth it!!

I totally binged this weekend by watching all of Season 2 of House of Cards!!  This series is better than Breaking Bad - YES I just said that!!!  The one thing I completely can't stand - yet love at the same time - is that Netflix puts out the entire season at one time!!  I can watch it all in one day or 11 hours; not one week at a time or 13 weeks.  Not sure which one is really more fufilling; it comes down to the argument of immediate satisfaction verses letting it linger for months without the LOOOOONG wait for the next season.

The really unfortunate thing here is that they do not plan on releasing Season 3 until 2015.  Oh My Gawd!!!  This is exactly how I feel right now.

The joys and pitfalls of having an extra bedroom

I feel like I'm running a hotel because there is always someone staying with me.  Don't get me wrong - I love having guest but I also love when they leave and it is my place again....  

1. My son was home from May thru mid August; 
2. Oops I forgot Tish who was in for a long weekend of fun for us and a reunion for herself in September; 
3. Then I actually had a very long break to October when it was a week with Katie (So. Carolina) and Janet Lee (Idaho) who came in for a week visit;
4. Then it was Thanksgiving (November) with Nick back for 4 days;
5. Two weeks later Nick was back for 4 weeks for Winter break December into January; and
6. My sister-in-law was in town from Beijing for a week and left this past Thursday night.
7. Finally, my Mom maybe staying with me for a night or two starting this weekend. 

Mom maybe staying with me as we are moving her from her current home to an apartment around the block.  The family will get her in in one day; but it maybe a little to cramped and full of boxes, until she unpacks, for her to stay there comfortably.  This new place is 30% cheaper/month and there is only 1 step and the threshold to get over.  Her current place requires climbing 14 steps up a narrow passage - not too safe for a 71 year old who is starting to shuffle her feet.  She is not happy but dealing with the change.  I've spent a lot of time with her over the past year due to illnesses/doctor appointments and now this. If you are wondering why she isn't moving into my extra bedroom - my siblings will not allow it.  It would be okay for a week or two and then it would be a challenge for both of us...

I'll be posting more that it looks like I may not have another visitor until ??