Mosh Glass

I am enjoying it. No one home but me. Amazing how quiet it can be. I ruined it a little by starting the washer. Not noisy but when all else is quiet, it seems noisy.

At this point, it’s 145, I am relaxing between chores. Laundry being the biggest one. I have not stripped the bed linens because the cat decided to work it’s way under the covers and go to sleep. And I am nice so I have not disturbed her. I should say, made her more disturbing. Last night she went to sleep next to my head and then rested a paw in my face. I woke to the very warm pad on my mouth. Cat is a freak. But, I left her to her nap.

We slept in till after seven. Though I was awake a couple hours last night. Still nice. Dee is coming by at 10 this morning to pick up Emily and head to Sonoma. Lunch with the folks. They will have fun. I get to stay. I like that.

We had a lot of time till Dee showed. So, I did all morning tasks with skill and vigor. It’s Saturday so I got a paper. Thin as hell. But that’s ok. Got to try out the gift of java that Cissie sent me. Very nice. Enjoyed by all. A nice morning.

Emily and Dee left just after ten. I mowed the lawn. It’s been at least four weeks since I seeded it and the lawn is really filling in. So I mowed the whole lawn. Looking ok. If we buy the house we saw, I will pull the stakes out to. Otherwise, I am waiting on that.

After my landscaping duties I went inside for a little domestic tranquility. I need to marinate some chicken. If I can get a good enough marinade going I will slow roast/smoke the little birdies for three hours. That should make them perfect. Or perhaps close to.

Now back to other chores. Saturday is bed linens and towels. So cleared out the dirties and put up some clean. Still no sheets due to the cat. See above. Did one basket of clothing. I don’t like clothes because you actually have to be careful with them. Or you get yelled at. What else is new?

Since I don’t feel like doing anything else, I am gonna sit for awhile. Blog some. Maybe have a snack. Or a shot of whiskey. I don’t know. When Em finally gets home we will go grocery shopping I think. The excitement is quite palpable.

I am sitting here with the black cat. I need to mention this. The cat does like a shout out once in awhile. It goes like this, I walk into front room and sit in one of the two comfy chairs, check my watch, and within 10 seconds, usually much less, Prince joins me. Next to me in the chair. This is not a joke. Under five seconds is probably closer. I don’t know why she does it, it is annoying, and I get black hair all over me. And it’s only me. It gets old.

Emily is supposed to be home by 330. I just checked my spy ware and she has not left Sonoma. I figured her for late in the day. Looks like that is the case.

Checked on Emily’s drive. Tracked her. Stalking I think it’s called. She was going to be home at 330. But I watched her take a detour towards shopping. Gotta love cell phones. Ok. Looked again. At the Nut Tree outlet stores right now. Hope she. Buys me something nice. I am still sitting here finishing laundry and keeping and eye on the slow roast chicken. That will be good.

So Emily just called. She wanted me to know she was in town but Dee wanted to stop and shop the outlets. I knew that. No worries. I can wait all day. When I am here alone I can set the house as I like. No TV, no radio, sit and read or write. Very peaceful. Just me, my thoughts and the chicken on the grill. Should I bother with the sides or just eat chicken? Emily will want a side.

Just texted a little with friend Cissie, the one who sent an awesome care package. She likes to know if her baked goods are as awesome as she hopes. They are. And she sends some to me. I’m lucky that way.

Checked up on the old lady. She switched stores. I don’t see the big thrill from shopping. Does nothing for me.

Well they finally got home. Dee here long enough to pee, and off. Emily did not have too much to say about the day. There was a text stream going so I got the jist of it all. They went to sonoma. They had lunch. They shopped. And shopped more. Then home. See, I do to pay attention.

I checked on my chicken. Still at 200 degrees. So Emily and I went to. the green grocers. The expensive one I don’t like. I hate them because they cost to much. But they are closest to the house. But I won’t shop there for moral reasons – I am anti theft.

So, off to the den of thieves for veggies and salad. Three minute drive. Wandered the aisles looking for cauliflower bread. That’s bread made from cauliflower. Actually very tasty so don’t make fun of me. The rest of the basket came from the produce aisle. 23$. Rip off.

Back home. I finished making dinner. Steamed some asparagus, mixed up a salad. Pulled the chicken thighs off the grill. I opened a split of fumé for Emily. And there you have it, dinner. Dinner was good though not fabulous. Still enjoyed it.

Now we are relaxing with terrible television. I had it off all day. I think that raised my IQ even. And turning the TV on causes a loss in IQ. I can’t win.

I am sure this is the balance of my evening. Then bedtime. Up early tomorrow to see the LAST home we are going to look at. Probably. I look forward to this. If we like this one, we offer. If we don’t like it we offer on the last one on Ellen ct. Whatever happens, we offer. See, last home. Sooner I go to bed, sooner I get up and sooner I have a new place to live. I hope the day goes very well tomorrow.

It’s friday which has little to do with anything in my day. Except I will probably go out to dinner tonight in honor of Friday.

The morning was he usual with addition of cleaning up he poop. It’s the first, or close, so I paid the bills today. Always fun in a strictly masochistic way. Fortunately it is only one day a month. But, still, I spend the entire paycheck in one move. Just like 30 years ago. Some things never change.

I called our agent Kary. I let her know we had made a decision and I wanted to firm up our offer. Kary told me to hold on and she would take care of it. I will call her later.

All the work I did at home did push me late into the morning. I got to work around 1130. Which is early compared to the rest of the week. So I will pat myself on the back. Not so hard I break my arm though.

Usual crap all day. Work is work. I can’t remember what I did. Not much. Went to the post office and mailed a box. Made the deposit. Paid my employees, beyond their worth I think.

I did receive a large box from my friend Cissie. Inside was 4 lbs of coffee beans from her friends roasterynin Texas. She also included a signature spill prof mug and homemade cookies!! It’s like my birthday. Cissie is awesome. And she bakes great goodies.

Oh, some interesting news. My agent texted and she has a new place for us to see. I called her and reminded her we picked a place already. What are u doing? She said the place she wanted us to see was too perfect to not tell us. She got a delay on our offer on he other place. This new one, per her description is better in every way than our pick on Ellen Ct. And it’s not on the market. We get first shot at it. So it’s great and exclusive. We see it Sunday morning.

I did manage to head home by 6. Home at seven. The drive was smooth and easy and fast. If only every day, would be cool.

I tasked Emily with finding someplace new for dinner. Strangely, she actually found a new place. We have never seen it or eaten their food. Wow. Who knew there was such a place in Vacaville? Well, Emily for one.

The joint was a pious as place, which is El Salvadoran, but they also had Mexican food. Place was packed, service slow, but food excellent. And we have a new place to go. Till we get bored at least

We are back home. And going to bed. Finally. Emily has to be up early to head out to Sonoma with her sister for lunch with their parents. Fun. I’m not going.

Today I have a busy schedule. Not at work. I have a meeting at 11am in Auburn with fire and planning. On my side my architect and engineer. And me. I am there to agree to final plans so we can be done with this part of the process. I hate the process and processors. It’s bullshit. I believe there are people in the background of this putting pressure on decision makers. Small town, old boys, usual shit. I am not giving up.

This will not even rise to level of ruining my day.

After the meeting, a better outing. RE agent Kary and I are going on “2nd dates” with four properties. Em and I viewed them last week, this is the second look or date. And you all know that second dates are a little more personal than the first dates. More up close touching and feeling. A much closer look to know if the big third date is warranted. And we all know what the third date is, either full acceptance or permanent rejection. I say consummate. But, there are two sides. Today is a step forward.

I have to be ready to get the hell out of here by 9am. And it’s 825. I am on the way to the shower. It’s time to move.

Side note, anyone want a couple bags of Halloween candy? It’s the good stuff. We did overbuy.

Well I got packed up and headed out by 905. No stops. Direct to the county offices in Auburn. Very nice building but why so nice? Shouldn’t these government offices full of bureaucrats be built inexpensively since our tax dollars pay for it? I think granite in the bathrooms is excessive. And the building dept no less. They deserve Quonset huts and pit toilets.

So, the meeting. Here we go. We had planner Bennett, fireman Ryan, two gals from other planning depts, and the good guys on my team.

Mike, my architect, tried to run his strategy but it did not work. Mostly because fireman Ryan is a complete asshole. He was complete, not part way. For two hours we argued back and forth about code and what’s allowed and grade and all sorts of pointless things. I just want a variance. And these fucking idiots want to discuss end product and all sorts of things that come later in the process. I can’t get there without the variance. What a waste of time. It took an hour and a half to get somewhere where they stated out loud what we need to do to get back to a meeting where we can get the variance approved. I hate these morons.

Finally done at one. Two hours of my life wasted.

I called Kary and let her know I was on the way. We have four houses to see, in detail, by days end. Same four as last weekend. 2nd dates for each. The second time you see a place is different. It’s a different time of day so all looks different. You notice things that were missed the first time around. Probably because you are really looking more earnestly. Walking around in a different direction helps to show things at a different angle. Still not able to see all flaws at this point but you can start to imagine yourself in this new place.

First up is a house that has received an offer today.not pending yet though. After walking through it a second time I know I could live here. But, I have thought on this one for four days. And what I thought on, like the low production well and large lot to take care of and then seeing all the dried up areas on the parcel, all say don’t buy it. Would end up too much work.

Number two is a mini mansion. A vanilla house. Though it is very pretty. I discovered new found parts of the parcel we did not see first time around. That alone makes a very compelling argument to pick it. And I might. It fulfills all that I need, with added out building, though I still find it boring. Too much a tract home.

House the third. My initial favorite. This place has improved in the last four days. It actually looks better inside and out. Last Sunday I felt the yard looked barren. I see now it really isn’t. I like it more. Also, discovered more space on the parcel for additional buildings to store cars and camper. There is road access close by too. A plus. The house is unique inside and in back. They have a beautiful natural swimming hole pool. A big plus. This is still my favorite. Although it is too large.

Last, not least, number four. Emily’s favorite. Like the last house this is very well maintained. I have met the owner twice and she is also meticulous in what she does. The house is well decorated and shows very well too. Owner has a beautiful eye for things. We walked the house and property not missing anything. Strangely, I had failed to notice the outdoor stairs that travel from the garage that is down the hill behind the house, back up to the house. A huge miss. Emily missed it too. Did not ask Kary. This is why the second date. That had been a big problem. The hill is a steep grade. As with the other properties I need another outbuilding. I think. With this one I may not. A positive. We will see. This one is much smaller than number three but may be equal in useable space. Size may not be important.

We finally left. Drove by another place Emily had seen online. Waste of time.

We got back to Kary’s office. Said our goodbyes and I headed for home. Called Emily and have her a quick synopsis. Saved best for home. Had a slow drive to Vacaville. Had to stop at the hardware store for toilet parts. Mine is not flushing. Then to Boudin to get some dinner. Emily was not at home making it. We need to work on that. Got home and ate.

While eating Emily wanted to hear all. I had prepared a grid that had each site and all attributes so I could make notes and the like. I really wanted to just eat dinner. I was outvoted, 1-1. So I explained. Went through all I mentioned above in the same order as I saw them and laid it all out. In the end it was 3rd vs 4th. They both seemed equal. One had an extra thousand sf. It got down to just a couple things. Big house had a pool. Otherwise somewhat equal. Number four was over $100k less than three. One more thing, number four got pulled from the market today and the owner said she would hold it for us. She likes us, esp Emily.
We chose number four. Offer in tomorrow.

That’s my day folks. I never did call the office to tell them I’d be gone. They did not call me. Well trained.

Either way, bedtime is upon us.

Hey, it’s Halloween!! We have not had Halloween in over 15 years. We just moved to the city, you know, suburbia with its tightly packed houses and densely packed people. On the farm, with 5 houses in the surrounding 10 sq miles, we got zero trick or treaters. We are thinking that here we will get a thousand kids asking for candy. So, we get to hand out candy again. Both of us are looking forward to this. We feel like rookies in our first game.

Weighin. Today. Two scales: old 151.7 and new 153.4. Not sure which to trust. New scale is consistent but higher. Old scale is a little all over. Both are a 1.5 loss, that is consistent.

I am still trying to unlock phones. ATT makes it very difficult. They seem to know what’s up and are trying to stop me. Fuckers. I am working on the last one and have now sent in another request. I hope they send their “special response email” this time. They tend to skip that part and just respond with a try again email. I hate them.

Ok. I am gonna skip a bunch. It’s really late and I never got back to the blog.

Spent time at work on the phone unlock. Also set up my comparison sheet for the 3 houses. Was 4 but one went to offer pending. So now 3.

Can’t remember what else I was doing. Don’t care.

This morning I drove the convertible to work. I am dropping off at auto storage later. Emily is in Sacramento so she can give me a ride home. So I drove over there and arrived at 545 which was when Emily should be there. She wasn’t. My drive was 25 mins for 9 miles. Hers prob similar. She showed by 620.

We raced home because we need to hand out candy and are expecting a good crowd. We got home later than we wanted and missed some trick or treaters. I think we got maybe twelve kids. Which is 12 more that the last 15 years. A resounding success.

After the kids stopped the trouble started. Latte, the 16 year old poodle. Started having issues, quite suddenly. Unable to walk. Unwilling to stand. Trouble breathing. Fast heartbeat. She is 16 so she has one paw in the grave and the other is on a banana peel. Emily mothered her for awhile. Took her out to pee. Sorta worked. After a while she was able to start walking and we noticed it was really her back end that was the issue. Her back legs. And had issues pooping. She does suffer from anal sac disease and this could be a flare up. Vet finally texted back and he said same thing. I am a wise man. May need antibiotics for her. She is sleeping soundly now. Damn dog.

I finished up the home comparison sheet. Got input from Emily. So I have that for tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, I hope the last meeting with the county over our variance. Private sit down with planning and fire and all the good guys from my team. I believe the county guys are corrupt. That’s why I’m so far into this crap. I need a good nights sleep.

Tuesday and there’s a red flag warning. Good news, I don’t live out in the middle of nowhere so who cares about wind. Go ahead and blow, tear the roof off wind. Which has happened in the past. But not now. Because I live in civilization and the houses that surround me tightly break the wind (like my old dog) and make the weather better. Last years red flag weather created the fire storms you may have heard about. We hope for better this year.

I have a haircut and etc in an hour. That’s a big morning. And it’s taco Tuesday too. Big day. Also, I have had about 20 texts from a client since last night into this morning. He received 19 IRS notices in the mail yesterday. That qualifies as a lot. So I need to see him this afternoon, with his notices, and talk him off the ledge. He is a little fragile. Another personal counseling session.

Right now off to prepare for my day.

After the shower etc I am off to my first meeting. With the esthetician, Rachel. Always a nice visit and she doesn’t charge enough. Bonus. Rachel was born same day as my son. I met her when she was in kindergarten, which is strange. She is feisty so we get along well. I know full well she would haul off and whack me if I go to far. The fun is being on that edge.

Next up Becky. She cuts my hair and has been for so many years I forget. At least twenty. I appreciate longevity in barbers. We never talk about what I want (a haircut) she just does it. And we spend the time passing gossip about the people in our town. It’s fun. When I get home tonite I know Emily will ask what I heard. She likes gossip too.

Finally driving to work. Violated the vehicle code again by talking on my phone while driving. I am such the scofflaw. My associate Hal has requested time to discuss clients. Especially the one whose partners lawyer had called me yesterday. Twenty minute call regarding what we need to do with his plan. The opposing counsel has suggested her clients buy out my client and I agreed that would be on the table. I am to touch base with my client and call her back. But not soon. I don’t want to appear anxious.

I have managed to finish a couple things. I went through all emails and cleared them. I finished a tax return and just received efile forms so it’s done. Now we can do his 2017 return. It never ends.

Onward. Time for correspondence which is my absolute favorite thing to not do. I had a couple of client notices from the IRS. Both the same type, late filing penalties. These are no small thing. The penalties can be obnoxious. I responded to one last week and the penalty was $8400. Yikes. And they are complete crap. I do have to respond to each notice with a letter to the IRS the explaining why the return was late and begging forgiveness in colorful and interesting language. Almost all of my abatement requests are granted so I presume I am good at it.

I finished the last two letters and drove away from the office at a good clip. The best way to go. Traffic was kinda heavy for the first four miles or so and a cruise after that. I drove to the grocers in Safeway and purchased some suede cleaner for my shoes. A friend had suggested K2r, a spot remover but they had none. This crap is expensive. Four oz can is $9. Ouch

Across the street to Lupitas for tacos de Tuesday. I ordered no tacos. Combonacione de adobada y de Chile verde com tortillas. I love Tuesdays.

Next stop home. And I finally get to eat. Open some mail. Read a magazine. Usual. Pet the dog. Cutting edge stuff going on here. I am going to clean my shoes, unlock my cell phone and make up a comparison chart in our 4 hopefuls in the home search. Busy evening.

Ok. It’s end of evening. Strangely, I had not enough time to do everything I had planned. I did all save the comparison chart. It’s tough to get anything done. Or so it seems. Or maybe I should plan to do less, then I have matched the plan to what I did which would be a success. Right?

Btw, the shoes look fantastic.

It’s just another Monday. But, special in one great way. Baseball season is over, the World Series just ended yesterday. Good news, the Dodgers are still the losers. Two in a row. That leaves a mark. Even for an LA fan. I have no sympathy for LA, they suck and I hate them. Seeing them lose is fantastic and I like Boston so it’s a double. I hope LA is still the big loser tomorrow morning. My week could go really well.

Hey, did I mention, the LA Dodgers lost the 2018 World Series. Never gets old.

This morning was a regular Monday. And not really exciting. Sorry. All the usual things went down in the regular order. It was fun. Wait, no it wasn’t, it was more like work. And not fun.

I went to work. About 1030. The drive was a Monday drive, kinda boring but not slow. Or fast. Sounds like the porridge, just right. Only it wasn’t. I do enjoy the driving at least so I did get that much out of it.

You know, I don’t get a Monday paper. I think today would have been fantastic if I could have read the sports page and read all the opinions on why LA lost. Makes me feel really good. LA sucks. If I failed to mention.

Ok. Let’s talk about work. I would tell you all activity today was washed from my brain. I say that because I can’t or don’t want to remember what I did. Normal work, which can be boring and obtuse, nothing exciting at all. Too bad. So I have nothing to share with you. I may need to press reset.

I had a short and unpleasant call from an attorney. Glad that does not happen often.

I remember one thing, I got a call late. It lasted over an hour. My brother in law called to get help with his online application for his son’s private school application for private high school. The application was immense and annoying. And, he is absolutely unable to get it done on his own. Because he is lame. And ugly, guy has no chin. He does not read this. Anyway, I did the whole app over the phone. It’s done. That kid better thank his Uncle Bill.

But it gets better. I needed to write a letter to another online financial aid company for his other sons college applications. Seems the financial aid folks need to understand more about his personal finances. They can’t get to where they need to be. Which is why I write a letter that explains all in concise wording so idiots can understand and it makes their jobs easier. Easy peasy.

Now I’m driving home. An hour plus on the phone puts me in my unhappy place. I have to leave. That’s why I’m driving. Not much traffic. Kinda quick. Emily called and said pick up chicken cuz I forgot to defrost it. Oops. I told her there was a lot in the fridge. She said, chicken. Got it. Ten minutes later a text. From Emily. Forget the chicken, lots of food in fridge. Wow, she has a really great idea.

Got home. Dogs fed. Emily reheated steak and chicken which we put in a large salad. Yum. Dinner was excellent.

Time now for bad TV. Some competition sing show. Lousy. On for two hours straight. I went to the store. I need syrup. And I hate TV.

Back from store, blog a little and now time for bed.

FORGOT TO POST THIS COUPLE WEEKS AGO

I am watching GMA. Why? Emily left TV on and I did not turn it off. I’m an idiot. So far 20 minutes of hurricane news. I don’t really care for hurricane news. Must be a slow news day.

Ten minutes. Still on hurricane news. Storm is now a tropical storm but that does not sound exciting so they keep pushing hurricane. Fortunately, the next story is up. It’s about Montel Williams!! Shoot me now. I am going to turn the crap off and go clean up leaves. And poop. Both of which are better than morning TV. Especially the poo. It’s about the same.

I took a call during the show. Lasted twenty minutes and I missed the Montel story. But, good news, they are back on hurricane coverage. Never enough of that. I am turning it off. Time to hit the yard.

I worked in the yard till I realized I have an appointment with clients this morning. So I did not finish all the leaves. Maybe tomorrow.

I raced through getting ready and dashed off to work. In the convertible. It’s here so I drive it.

I made it within one minute of my appointment which is fine. My client expected me to be about 15 minutes late. You know what I say to that? He knows me well.

Spent the day pretending I was a tax accountant and preparing tax returns. I play the role well. 7 hours worth of it. 5 curtain calls. Ok, not that.

Got home about 7, which is kinda late. Emily had to go buy some such thing she could not live without. For her class. Since it was seven we went out to dinner to. Nothing special really, we got Asian salads with chicken. We live large.

The balance of the evening was bad TV. Again. It’s semi entertaining because it entertains Emily but not me.

So end of evening and off to bed. Tomorrow is Friday so I have something to look forward too.

Today we have a 930am appointment to go on home tours in Auburn. It’s very important to us. So we slept to late and got out so late we will be lucky if we are only twenty minutes late. Lucky.

So we got all set here. I did not brew coffee to save time. Bad idea. I needed coffee and we couldn’t stop for it since we were so late. I gotta remember this next time. We zoomed up the hill to Auburn. Texted our agent. She texted back – she was thrilled because she was at least 15 minutes late. We did something right.

We drove straight to the real estate office. Agent Kary already there. And they had coffee. Love this place. We sat with Kary and did an online preview of all the places we wanted to look at. Took quite awhile but we did drop a couple homes off the day so the review had value. At about 1030 we were out the door, in her car, for our tour.

The weather today is beautiful. Though a little cold. A nice day for a long drive. We went house to house as you might expect. So many stops we forgot what we had seen. Kary said this was a first date. You don’t get anything on a first date. We will need a second or even third date. Those are the money dates.

So our day was over five hours of home viewing. Our agent even brought food so we could keep going with full energy. Good stuff too – jalapeño meat sticks, fancy crackers, packets of nuts with dried fruits. Good stuff.

So we ended our day at the office, again. A few quick discussions about what we saw and it was time to go. We are having dinner with Roma tonight. Out, somewhere, so we gotta get moving.

Em and I discussed the houses on our way home. We narrowed the choice down to two places. Both very unlike while having many of the same features as well. Different in price. Location different. I like one and Emily likes the other. Both are a difficult choice for various reasons. Every home has its challenges. Every home has its good points. We also have a third home on the list. When we get down to a comparison, it could win.

There was a lot traffic on the road. Took a long time to get back. We forgot we were out of dog food so had a quick detour to the pet store for Jaxons over priced prescription dog food. Then to home to feed the animals then off to Roma’s place.

At Roma’s I got to watch a little of the World Series. Boston up 2-1 over the suck ass dodgers. Love to see them lose. We decided to eat at the bowling alley. Don’t be afraid, the bowling alley has great food and bev, it’s a great place to eat. And they have lots of TVs so we could watch the World Series. So we went there for dinner. And I got to watch the Sox pad the lead up to 5-1. That’s four off Kerahaw and a homer off Jansen (3rd one. Lol). It’s looking like the dodgers are gonna lose!

We left dinner for Roma’s toward the end of the game. Roma still likes to go out once in awhile even though she is 85. Hell, we just took my dad out twice and he is 88. At Roma’s we watch Ed little more baseball but Emily wanted to head home at bottom of the 8th.

So we zipped home. I got to watch the final three outs. I love seeing LA lose!!! It was fun looking at the players on the verge of tears. And fans in the stands in tears. LA sucks!!! LA stands for Losers Always.

Not much else for the evening, change the bedsheets, do some laundry, blog. Nice stuff. Emily is already in bed. I am going to read the Sunday paper. Then go to bed.

I slept well. Unfortunately, while sleeping, the pus crusted asshole LA Dodgers won the series game. I hate them. Though I am watching game four right now. And not enjoying it.

I finally got out of bed this morning at eight. I had been awake for an hour. Might as well see what’s going on. I timed it well. Only Dad was up and he had already made coffee. That’s nice. He even had milk. He never has milk.

We sat and drank coffee and read the paper. No one else was moving at all. Michael showed himself about 20 minutes later. Carly still asleep. Everything this morning moved really slow. Dad had thought we were gonna go out to breakfast. Think again. Michael and I decided to go get our cars cleaned since no one was moving.

We headed out to a well rated hand wash place close by. And, I must say, they did a fantastic job. The gal working the line apologized for the cost, 46$ for in and out and tires and wheels. I told her that’s 160$ in Sacramento. And I appreciate the low price. We took a comfortable seat in their patio and waited. He cars were washed out of our line of sight so I can’t comment on that. But the drying area was right in front of us. The best thing was how they dried. Each person drying had a rag in one hand and a compressed air hose in the other. They blasted all the water out of the cracks as they went around the car. They got them DRY. Nice to see. No water spots. They used the air hose on the mats to dry them. When I got my car back it was clean. Really clean. Michaels same way. And all dog hair gone too. Which is a real test.

Michael drove home. I drove around a bit. Just to entertain myself. And look around. I went home after.

Since Dad did not get his brunch or breakfast out, we decided to go out to lunch. Michael identified some deli or other for lunch. Dad was familiar with the place and agreed it was good.

Head em out. Move em on. To deli. Place was kinda small and the tables were way to close to each other. Did not appear anyone was complaining. Well, I had a Caesar salad with chicken. Ok. Everyone else had a sandwich of some sort. All good but not great. We still enjoyed our lunch together. We always have fun together.

We went to the meat shop on the way home. Quality Meats is an awesome meat market and I frequent the place when I am here. Today, we each got meat for dinner to drive home. That way I can have a nice steak for dinner. I chose an overlarge top sirloin and Michael picked three beautiful bone in ribeyes. Kinda rich for me.

Back home. The kids were anxious to head back south. I can’t say I was anxious to go home but I have a 930 appointment in Auburn tomorrow. Would like to be rested for that. At home. So, we all took off at the same time. Them to the badlands and me to home. All glad to be out of Visalia.

My drive was uneventful. Traffic was off and on and it took a long time to get home. Only one pee pee stop. Gas was good, needed none. I got home by just after six. Emily has locked the house down so I was locked out. Nice. I had to wait for her to get home in order to get in. Lovely. She did finally show up, ten minutes later.

I unloaded the car. Emily was on the phone. Fed the dogs. Fed the cats. Got the BBQ burning. Spiced the steak which after a long ride was at room temp. Perfect. Emily stillnon phone. I got some asparagus in the steamer to go along. And a bourbon cocktail to make the old lady happy. Et voila, dinner is served.

We watched game 4 of the series while we ate. That was six innings of pain followed by the Red Sox kicking LAs ass for 3. I hate LA and this was a wonderful game for us Giants fans. If I can’t watch the Giants win, I want to watch LA lose. Cuz they suck. And I hate them. Death to LA. 9-6 Red Sox. Lead series 3-1.

We are going to bed now. Only 930. Emily is tired. I could go a couple more innings. But I gotta go with he woman. She leads. Bedtime.

Today is a big day. I get my car back. Of course, I have to drive to Visalia to do it. Michael and I picked Visalia since it’s semi half way and we can visit the old man. My dad. I would like to drive my car. The Crosstour is nice but I’m ready to have mine.

I am leaving for Visalia at 1 to 130. So I tried to hurry through my morning which, as I expected, did not work. After all was done, I got to work at 11. Not early. I was not expecting much at work, which shows I should probably curb my expectations. By that I mean have none. I had an associate, Hal Brown, show up for an unscheduled meeting. Now I am glad he shows up and we can discuss our ongoing cases. Today is not the day. I had to multi task while we talked. I only have two hours to work. I had to have him repeat himself a few times. I don’t really multitask. Our meeting lasted over an hour, till I left actually. Hal is also getting me cheap phones through a friend. Half price Apple XRs. Works for me. As a matter of fact later today he did call and the phones have shipped. Hallelujah.

Time has come to say sayonara. To Sacramento. I popped into hwy 99, 1/4 mile from the office. Now my mobile home for the next 210 miles. 99 is ugly and boring. Over the last couple years it’s been widened. That means more traffic. This trip was no exception. It’s a 3 1/2 hour drive most Fats. Today, 4 3/4 hours. The traffic was horrendous. Awful. Egregious. Several times grinding to a halt. Where the hell does anyone have to go in the Central Valley of CA. The Valley is referred to as the New Appalachia. For good reasons – poverty, substance abuse, teen pregnancy. I can get you a brochure if you wish to visit. So why traffic? I am thinking these folks have nothing to do except annoy the hell out of us carpetbaggers. So they make traffic. I hate them. The valley is past the edge of civilization. Way past. It is in actuality a cesspool. With emphasis on the cess. People that live get excited cuz that means they got a swimming hole. At least, having the valley, gives California a place for poor white trash to live. If you call this living. I don’t.

Pulled in at Dads house at about 615. The traffic had cleared just south of Fresno so the last 35 miles were nice. That stretch of road does smell like the inside of a cow but at least the drive was fast.

My car, with the kids in it, showed up about 630. They had zero traffic. Pricks. They got the nice drive.

We have a dinner reservation at 730 in a fancy Italian place. We are taking Dad of course. He always pays. I have on my finest plaid shorts and a t shirt. With my slippers cuz I forgot shoes when I left. Well, if you guessed I am over dressed for a fancy place in Tulare on a Friday night, you would be correct. If you don’t understand, read prior description of valley. I mean, I have all my original teeth. I just don’t fit in.

Dinner was very good. Even though location says no. Who knew Tulare could support this. No one. I had a red snapper in marinara with capers. Excellent. Yes, I know seafood this far from the coast means it was frozen. But, it was excellent. The kids split an 18oz rib eye. Dad wanted the rack of lamb but it was 49.95. He said, too pricey. So he got a $42 ribeye. That makes sense. Even the waitress joked. Dad was oblivious.

We zipped home from there. Dad missed his turn but he has only lived here 48 years. Michael helped him naivigate a new route.

We watched the World Series game when we returned. I went to bed at inning 14. I am tired.