Automated/Not Automated Toilets

Do you ever find yourself wondering if the public toilet you are sitting on is going to flush by itself or you have to flush it?? Yes, I am a little sick but I was thinking about this the other day.

As I never pay attention when I sit down on that seat, there are sometimes that toilet flushes a little sooner than I want too. You get splashed on. Then there are the times after you are done with your stuff and you are working pulling your pants and whoosh it goes all by itself. Again you might get splashed again.

Then if it is taking you a little time to get finished with your slacks/pants or whatever the people outside give you that look as to why it took you so long after they have heard that flush not knowing if you flushed it or it happened automatically.
And there also has to be a way that automated toilet does not flush while you are still in the sitting position because let me tell you, I don't sit on them that long!!!!

This is my little rant for the day.

Still Reconnecting with old friends

Who knows all the reasons why people reconnect and/or find each other after years of not being in contact with each other. However, I feel really lucky and fornuate to have reconnected with another very "old friend". Pamm, oh the stories we can tell but we will not.

I met Pamm in high school when we were Senior's I went to go live with her and her parents. My parents decided to move from San Francisco, CA to Phoeniz, AZ. That was such an insane decision to me that Pamm and I decided I would move in with her and finish out my Senior year. The deal with my Mom was that I was to finish school and then move on down to Phoenix after graduation. Well for many who know me, that didn't happen and was not ever going to happen. Could you see me living in Phoenix, not me.

Pamm and I were very close. We double dated, helped each other out with our boyfriend up and downs, got into some trouble but nothing earth shattering at all. Family life with Pamm was crazy and fun. Sometimes things were a little tense with her folks but on a whole we made it through. One time her folks took off for Hawaii and left us on our own for about 2 months. Now you would think we would of had parties but we didn't, who knows why. When we graduated from high school we rented a flat together and we had some really good parties back then.

We just kind of lost touch after she got married, I got married and then each of got divorced and remarried. I found her on facebook and her and her hubby Steve stopped by and visited with us a couple of weeks ago. It is so weird how we just picked up and feel so comfortable with each other. Pamm and I talked about this and I truly do believe it is like she said, "we have a history together". This is also why others who I have reconnected with it is like yes there have been some years since we last saw each other or hung out but it is just like yesterday in other ways as well.

Another interesting thing is how our interests are so similar. Both her and Steve are Hobie folks like Ron and I. When they stopped by to visit us, it was so cool to see our husbands get along so well as it gave her and I chance to visit and chat without having to make sure they were comfortable with each other. We are hoping to figure out some kind of kayaking trip together in the spring. As her and Steve were leaving, he made such a nice comment, "We won't lose touch". And we won't.

So up above is a picture of her and I.

Class of 69--Reuniting with old Friends

Boy, where do I start. Last weekend, I went to my 40th High School class reunion. It was an absolutely blast and had such a good time. I had not been to a class reunion since the 25th, so it had been many years since I had seen a lot of the people. This one turned out to be one of the biggest turn outs and many people who had not been to a class reunion in a long time came. Saw many people whom I had not seen in a lot of years. About 15 of us have recently reconnected through facebook and so glad we have.

Yes, we are a little older but as I have said in a previous posting, it is like we were all together just the other night hanging out at Tick Tocks, Garrette's, The Dug Out, Castle Lanes or trying to sneak into the Geneva Drive Inn. If you are familiar with these names then you know I grew up and went to school in the City (San Francisco), Balboa High. We all talked about how those times were and what were some of the different things we experienced, Winterland, Avalaon Ballroom, the "Y" dances and all the stuff we used to do.

The most interesting part is that many of us have not moved that far away from the city. And if we have, we still enjoy going back for visits.

All of us have varied careers, some are still married to their high school sweetheart, some of us are retired and others are hoping to retire in the next couple of years.

I am sharing a couple of pictures of the gang and hope you enjoy. I sure as hell did and can't wait for the next one to be here.

The next day about 8 of us met and went out to breakfast.

Fun evening and fun time. For those who didn't go, they really missed a good time!!!!

30 Minutes to Decide

About 2 weeks ago, after spending a beautiful day of kayaking we were faced with having to make some decisions when upon arriving at home we had 30 minutes to evacuate our home. Up here in the Sierra foothill town of Auburn, CA, where we live there was a fire within about 2.8 miles from our home. This was a very quick moving fire because of the winds that day. Needless to say, we were moving around pretty fast trying to decide what to pack. Pictures, important documents, clothing for a couple of days and some other items were loaded into our RV as we hooked up one of our vehicles to leave.

We were very fornuate as the winds changed direction and went to a more northernly direction, we found out we could stay. However, we did stay packed up and ready to go if things could change.

This fire destroyed 63 homes, about 5 businesses completely and a couple of other structures were damaged. So us not having to evacuate was a very minor inconvenience. There is no way I can comprehend what these families are going through. I knew someone personally who lost her home completely, but as she says, at least her family was not hurt. That is the one most fortunate thing out all of this, no lives were lost.

Since that day as I look out from our deck, admire the trees and other natural scenery, I realize how quick things can change for you of which you have no control over. I've also decided that I am going to get those old photo's scanned, loaded onto my computer and then put some of those little family memento's in one place so if we need too leave they are all where I can find them. However, I also realize that it is more important that noone gets hurt during times like this. You know, stuff can be replaced.

I am also very proud of the citizen's and businesses in this town. So many people have donated clothing, food, money and other assistance to help out the families who lost their homes.

Friends Celebrating Birthdays

Have talked about this group of friends before. We came together because of knitting. About 2 1/2 years ago we met at an evening class and something clicked with us. The core group started out with about 5 of us and our group has now grown to include 4 more people. We not only enjoy knitting together but we are also in a book club together. Earlier this year we got all of us together with the hubbies at my house and we had a great time. A couple in the group have other artistic interests which including painting, quilting and we ooh and aah when see their completed projects.

We share many stories of our families and life's other challenges. One in the group is currently being treated for breast cancer. We have all come together in making various meals for her and her hubby (who still has not mastered cooking in the kitchen yet), taking her to her treatments, visiting with her.

Can't speak for the others but probably the hardest thing for me has been talking to her about what she is going through. It is like you always have that elephant in the room and you just kind of know it is there but what do you say. Carolyn talks very openly about her treatments, how she feels and that has helped me to ask her questions and just be normal. Hell if it was a cold/flu or a rash I would be asking all kinds of darn questions.

Anyway, last week it was Carolyn's birthday and Bev's as well. So we decided to celebrate both of their day's together and have a pot luck over at Carolyn's house. We usually go down to Roseville and eat our hearts at the Golden Dragon but we wanted to visit and knit.

Sharing a couple of pictures from that day.

Trip Delay and Puzzles

Well our trip up to Oregon is going to be a little delayed. Truth of the matter, Ron wasn't looking forward at being my shovel boy for the clam digging!!! As I thought through it some more decided we should wait until my shoulder is doing a lot better and I would not be restricted as to what I can do. Kind of bummed out as it does not look like we will have low tides in the fall. But that is okay, Jim will come down and we will do some crabbing like we did last fall. And I will defintely need my shoulder strong for that, cuz he makes me work for those.

Getting a stir crazy as I cannot do that much. Can't do any knitting, so when I meet up with the "knaughty knitting group" I just visit.

Just got through with my 3rd puzzle, at least this one took me a little longer to finish.

Life is a little boring right now, but sure hoping to being able to get around and do some picture taking.....

Surgery and Getting Ready for Another Trip

Well, it has been a little while since I did a posting.

The Friday before Mother's Day, I had shoulder surgery. As usual, I never do anything easy. What we thought might just be a little orthoscopic on the shoulder turned out to be a full rotator cuff repair. OMG (OH My God), it has been a tough couple of weeks. While the shoulder pain is gone, the physical therapy is very grueling. I know you must do it, but there are times during the day that I just want to not do it. But I do.........

The other hard part, it is my left shoulder and I am left handed. Oh yes, I have heard all of the jokes and they are true. Ron laughs at me and I laugh at myself when I am eating right handed. It just does not feel right (so to speak).

Well, it has now been 4 1/2 weeks and we are hoping we can make our trip up to Oregon in mid to late June. Going to do some clamming, but Ron will doing the digging this time. Jim will be coming down from Portland so we can do some fishing. We will visit with the Frankhouser's and some other buddies from my AT&T days. I'll post some pictures and log our travels for you all to read about. We'll just be up in the Florence and Winchester Bay area of the Oregon coast which we have really enjoyed visiting the last 2 years now.

Spring is in the Air

Well the warm weather is finally deciding to stick around for a couple of days. With that I am out on the deck cleaning up from the last bit of rain and cleaning up the deck furniture. Pollen is also on the tables. However, pollen out here in CA is nothing like when we lived in Atlanta. At least out here your cars still stay the same color not like back East. They all turn yellow!!!!

Today, the weather is warmer and we are thinking about doing some kayaking later on today. I'll be taking the camera and taking some pictures.

Along with Spring coming so are the bugs and other little creatures. We seem to have a new visitor in our garden, yep a Gopher!!!! 5 years and no problem but all of sudden he has decided to visit us. So, I am going to let the master gopher killer loose so he can taken care of this guy and his buddies so we can get our garden planted.

Friends Continued

Well, I blogged about high school friends, work friends and new friends.

Now, I am on to friends who you meet, live by move away and they and/or you continue to stay in touch.

One particular couple Jo and Roy, we met when we lived in Atlanta for 9 years. We met them when we were looking at some property in a suburb outside of Atlanta, Alpahretta back in 1991. They were also checking out property. We saw their station wagon, saw their license plates (NY) and thought "oh boy, they are like us, transplants"!!!! Their kids (Allison and Bryan) were in the back of the car waiting and ready to go. We stopped and for those of you who know Ron, the conversation was not a short one.

Turned out they were moving down from NY, cold turkey, meaning they decided to transplant themselves. Not like us, being relocated because that is what your company decided to do. Back in the 90's the economy was in the droll drums (although not like today).

As soon as I met Jo, knew I would like her. We both started building our houses at the same time and so we shared a lot of fun, pain and frustration together. I'll never forget the time, Jo told me she was going to paint their entry way inside a bright red. Coming from CA you just didn't see those type of bold colors being used. So I was thinking, okay let's see what this looks like when it is done. It was beautiful and the reddish red you can imaging.

Over the years we spent a lot of time together. We joined them for many Thanksgiving when we were not coming back out to CA to see the family. Jo is from a large Italian family and after they moved down a couple of her cousins and Roy's brother moved down as well. Heck we got Jo to join us in the Hot Tub a couple of times. Guess New Yorker's think us Californian's are kind of all new age stuff. Ha-ha

We watched the kids grow up and both are great young adults. In fact, Roy and Jo are soon to become grandparents for the first time. Allison and her hubby are having their first baby in a couple more months.

You wonder why I am blogging about them today, well, I talked with Roy today for quite a while. Then later on while I was doing some stuff around the house, listening to Talking Heads (Speaking in Tongues) and every time I hear this particular CD I think of them, especially Roy. One year when a bunch of us were houseboating out on Lake Lanier, we played Talking Heads all weekend long. On the way home, the 2 guys (Roy and Bill) decided to moon each other on the way back from where we were at on the Lake. Allison and Bryan just shook their head at their Dad. Bill, the wild man what do you say. Bill was always mooning someone. You just never knew when it would happen.

We will keep in touch and consider them family. I am sure it is the same with them as we continue to get family invites, but we can't always make the trip back there. We did go back for Roy's 50th and Allison's wedding and had a good time, even though I broke my wrist (that is another story for another time). They have been out here and we are working on them to come back out.

Friends, you don't have to always see all the time, there is just a special bond there that doesn't go away.

Friends Old and New

Where do I start on this subject. Lately, actually over the last year I have been in contact with old friends from high school and have made new friends up here in the Sierra Foothills.

The old friends from high school, my goodness how we have gone through various life changes over the years. However, we still keep in contact. While keeping in contact is not as much as when we were in high school there is still that something that binds our friendship. It is amazing given the various paths we have all chosen. Some are still married to their high school and/or college sweetheart. I applaud them, other of us have gone through 1,2 or multiple relationships and/or marriages. But between all of us we are still the same. Our married spouses just kind of roll their eyes and smile when we all get together. There is some kind of unspoken word between us all. It is like we understand each other moods or whatever. I enjoy and cherish these friendships as my new friends cannot fathom the stuff we all went through back in the 60's, 70's, etc, etc........

My friends from the old work days, we stay in touch but we have also found we all live in distance states. However, our friendship has stayed throughout the years and we will always remain buds!!! We continue to see each other and love our times together.

New friends, these are the ladies I have met through a common interest, knitting. Who would of ever known these gals would become a part of my life. We come from varying backgrounds except for one. Bev, she comes from SF and funny thing, her and I both graduated the same year except different high schools. We have a lot more in common then we both thought and over the last year we have begun doing things together with our spouses. The others in the group we have as well become good friends and have shared various things together. Recently one in the group has discovered she has breast cancer. It is true, your friends all come together in time of need and comfort.

I will still continue to cherish my old friendships, the new ones I cherish just as much and maybe a little more. Kind of makes me feel a little guilty about the old ones, but you know it is different. The old ones are like a fine wine while the new ones are still being developed. Does this make any sense??

Yes We Can and What It Means to Me

Oh my, how I have thought about this over the last couple of months. "Yes we can", what does this really mean to all of us. Yes, it was used as a presidential campaign slogan, but have you really thought about it?? I have. It does not mean only that we have elected a bi-racial President. Yes, I say this because all the mainstream media ever talks about is the first "African American President", but he is not just African American, he is truly "Bi-racial" and there are many more of us who can identify with this. As a bi-racial child (yes, 1/2 Mexican, English) I myself have experienced prejudices, but it has been more as a female. The opportunities were there and I made the best of them. We have a generation who came of age in the 60's and 70's who experienced this in various different forms (color, gender, how you looked, etc), however, we have a whole generation from the late 80's to 90's who did not experience some of this.

My, hope of "Yes We Can", means to me, a new beginning and hope. For the last 8 years we have seen our country disrespect grow by leaps and bound more than I have ever seen. Not just by foreign countries but by the American people as well. Yes, we may have been asleep, ignored things and we had a terrible incident with 911, but have we really learned anything from that? Don't believe we did. We seem to be forgetting what this country's foundation was built on. We are a country of immigrants and opportunity, that is what makes us such a great country.

To me, "Yes We Can" means we can see ourselves getting out of this economic mess and get our country's self respect back. We all need to be accountable for what we do and how we operate. For too long, we all took the easy way out. Let's become more responsible for what we do and what we want. Be proud of yourself, your country and be proud of this new presidency and what it represents. The possibilities are endless and for that we must look for the positives.

And to those who said they would leave this country if Obama was elected, well you might be surprised as to how other countries political system are built. Along with the personal rights we take for granted.

Our new President will have his mis-steps. I can deal with this because I personally believe we have put a lot of hope that everything will be magically fixed, it won't. It took us a while to get to this state and so it will take us a little while to get out of it.

This is enough of my political comment that I will say.

Wishing you all positive for the rest of year and wishing our new president all the luck because he will need it.

Another Year Has Come and Gone

Well, I just can't believe we are now into 2009!!! 2008 just seem to go by so fast, like swishhhhhhhhhhhh.............

But what a year. A couple of RV trips, family discoveries, family meetings, watching Chloe grow, a fantastic presidential race and Ron and I maintaining our health. Can't be more thankful for all of the positives. Won't go into the negatives, of which there were not many except watching our investments go and down, at least they went a little before the end of the year.

So now we are at that time of year, I dislike. Taking down the decorations and putting them all away. Yes, for some reason, I do not take down the holiday decorations until the Saturday after New Year's. Not sure if it is because it was always what Mom did or a Catholic thing, who knows. Tells you how much of a practicing Catholic I am these days. But some traditions are hard to break.

But the good news of taking down the Christmas decorations, Valentine's Day. This is special for me as it is also my birthday as well.

The weather is dreary and raining today so I am just going to honker down and watch movies and knit. Got hat requests after the Christmas gift Hats I made.

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2009..........