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...