Mosh Glass

I didn’t. Day is setting itself up to be like every other work day. Again, is excitement or habit the better path? Most days I think that habit is the winner. In an evolutionary sense, habit leads us to safety and less burning of calories and energy. That way when excitement hits, think saber tooth tiger attack, we have what it takes to jump and outrun most people. So we are safe and they get eaten. Good analogy for life.

I am sitting at the kitchen/dining table (if only have one, which is it?) ruminating, not unlike a cow in a field of clover. Less gas I think. I hope. I know I need to entertain the masses with pithy remarks on mundane everyday things. That gets tiring, though I am trying to make it habit. Habit is good. The Habit Burgers are very good. So far, no great theme for the day or week. I could use my birthday as the weeks theme. It is next Monday but that seems self serving. I talk about the tax deadline coming up but I find work, mine or others, to be boring, in general. Mine gives me a lot of social interaction, which does keep me engaged. Other than that, feh. It’s yiddish, like all fun words. Look it up.

Ok. Where is the day going? I think most everyone can recite my morning up to the point Emily leaves for work. Almost always the same. Ok, always the same.

So, what to do? Just got a task added to my day. Have to go to Tremont to take Emily her Invisalign. It’s a “dental appliance.” She forgets more stuff than I do. So THATS what we have in common. Old age is gonna be fun.

Well, I guess this morning, a Tuesday, will be work and drive and nothing else. Maybe I will look for something to add a little spice. There are things I could do. Currently unnamed. For now, off to SSS. It’s my duty. Does that qualify as double entendre? Hope so.

Out the door, why give you details of getting ready? It’s same as always and may be boring. I could tell you how I carefully choose my wardrobe for the day. Or,how in the shower I gently scrub my muscled torso. Or how I go on poopy patrol. Or how I get the house ready for my exit. But I’m not going to. I washed, dressed and left. I drove to work. With the aforementioned stop in Dixon.

Work. So wonderful. I’m there. I still have returns to do for 9/15. But not many. Actually, I will spill the beans, by 3 pm I had one left. Which I finished. Done before deadline. Did not know that could happen. We are going out Saturday night for dinner. We are partying down on Sunday for my birthday. So being done this early is totally awesome. I took a leisurely drive to the bank and made a deposit. I did not need to race in a tick before five like usual. It was relaxed.

I had time at the end of the day to do other things. Not normal but I can get used to it.

Today three boxes were delivered to the office. One had a couple bottles of vintage champagne, and a nice cab. The next had two bottles of really nice bourbon. Yay. The last a mixed case of different reds and a couple whites. I use a company that curates wine and liquor for me. My birthday party is Sunday. These will be handy. Not opening any till Sunday. But, open in am for the champagne.

So, I have time, I loaded the car. Got all my crap together. It’s Tuesday so I headed to mi carniceria favorita. But, I thought, let’s take a detour. I went to the Auto Vault in West Sacramento. I have my S2000 stored there and I have wanted to trade out for the last couple weeks. I tried calling ahead, no answer. When I got there, no one at the front desk. I rang the bell. No one. I went around to the back of the building and found the guys working on a Porsche. And I joyfully gave them a ration of shit for not answering anything. Phone, door, etc.

Turns out they could really help me out. In addition to storing cars they provide concierge service. They detail cars, drive your car to you, perform many repairs. So they let me park my Honda Fit here while I took out the S2000. And will change the oil and rotate the tires on it. And detail it. And it is not expensive. Mostly because they have days till I come back. I win.

So now all I have to do is load three large boxes in an S2000. Have you seen one? The trunk took one box, the case of wine. The other two actually did fit into the passenger foot well and seat. It was full. There is no back seat. It’s a two seat sports car folks. I had just enough room for the two to go containers in my future. Well all done. And off.

I have not had the car out on the road since early June what with all the vacation. And been so damn busy since I got back. Think I will keep it a week. That should make me happy for awhile. The drive home was a pleasure. Top down and well above the speed limit. Did I mention it’s a convertible? Pure joy.

The drive was quicker than usual. Surprise. I drive fast. Duh. Had to be quick to get to the carniceria before closing. Which I managed. Costillas de Puerco and pollo de asada con arroz y frijoles. Yum. I drove quickly home, spilled nothing, surprisingly.

We ate dinner. Both quite hungry. After dinner I brought in each box from the car one at a time. Opening each before the next came in. Emily had no idea I had got all the booze and wine. She is excited. I am sure we won’t drink it all in one day. But the champagne for sure.

After dinner just a little light entertainment. No dessert. I have been blogging for awhile. Emily hit the hay before I was ready. Maybe no champagne for her as punishment. I am ready for bed, after all I am in bed.

This post should have been published on 9/2. Sorry

We actually slept in past eight this morning. Here in Bodega there is no noise, no neighbors, no phone, no nothing. We closed the blinds last night and out. That’s nice. Of course, House is freezing and there is no coffee. We have to go find coffee. Not as easy as it sounds because there are no services here. Like zero. Whatever, someone will have coffee somewhere.

The shower, at least there is one, only gets warm. Yes I know, better than cold. Pressure is fine. I am dressed and doing what I usually do in these situations: wait for Emily to get ready. She is slow. Very slow. Always the last one. Since it’s just me and her, and I’m ready in 15 mins (unless I hurry) she will be last one ready. Sometimes it can bother me but I am generally ok with it.

If she ever shows up, we are off for coffee.

I fed the dogs this morning. Forgot to put Jaxon out right away and he shit all over the house. By all over I mean that. He walks and shits. It’s lovely.

We invited Mary from next door to coffee with us. Mary is an old family friend as was her Father before her. Marika is living in her house in Petaluma right now.

So the three of us are headed out to coffee. There is a spot about ten minutes down he coast road in the town of Bodega Bay. We got our coffees (overpriced and not hat good) and sat and chatted for quite awhile. Not much else to do on a relaxing Saturday morning. Read the paper. Afterward went in the junk shop next door. Emily can’t resist a shop selling junk.

Back to the cottage. We all sat in he sun on the back porch and chatted for another couple hours. Very relaxing day so far. And to think, I could be home mowing the lawn. Bodega is relaxing because you have no choice. There is really nothing to do here. Nothing except relax.

Mary left a few minutes ago. She has to tend to her rather extensive garden. By rather extensive I mean the biggest most well tended in he tri county area. But I am being modest. She is a master gardener and also really enjoys it.

I am sitting waiting for Emily. She is finishing up. I have packed the car and am ready to leave. Not sure where we are going. But I need her. She has the keys.

I am trying to entertain myself while Emily sits. But this is crazy. I feel like I have been waiting forever. Probably has been. Sitting and doing nothing is not a whole lot of fun. I was cruising the internet looking for things to do. Found nothingbof real interest. And, it’s already 2pm. We are an hours drive from anything here. So, unlikely we could do anything anyway. Maybe Emily can finish this century at least.

Ok. Finally she is done. We are loaded. And off. I was thinking we could go somewhere and have some fun. Do something. But I have he dogs with me. So that’s out. Instead, drive home. Stopped to feed Emily. Then off again. We stopped in Vacaville to wash the car. That’s a fun thing, right?

Off with clean car to home. Got our mail. Newspaper. Unloaded car. Started laundry. Mowed lawn. Stop me when the fun starts. Fed dogs. Now sitting and blogging. Emily is snoozing in the chair next to me. I have got to find something to do tonight.

It’s Monday. Again. Of course, I worked Saturday and Sunday so this is just the 3rd workday of my weekend. In a way. A screwed up way but a way nonetheless.

So what to do today? I need to think omit. After all it is a weekend, right? I just made that rather ridiculous claim in the last paragraph.

Well, as a special treat, I fed all the dogs and cats this morning. And made Emily’s breakfast too. Eggs and sausage. And of coirse her lunch too. Nice and different than usual. Helps keep my brain active. Believe me, I need that.

I thought I had very little to do on my way to work. But that changed. Emily called and there is an emergency. She forgot mascara!! OMG!!! So she asked me to bring some to school for her. She helped me find a tube, over the phone, which is not easy. I don’t wear mascara so not sure what I am looking for. But we were able to decide together what it looks like. And I took that.

So, on my drive to work I first went to Tremont Elementary, Emily’s school. And dropped off the mascara which turned out to be concealer, whatever that is. Then she asked me to go to her bank and make a deposit. I am beginning to see where my mornings go.

I headed off to work. Slowly. No, not really, I have a ton of work to do today, not unlike every day in front of a deadline.

Bad news for thrill seekers, my entire day consisted of quietly preparing tax returns. Ya, I’m excited too. Though not as excited as when I get paid. Then I do the money dance.

I took one mid afternoon break. To go to the bank to make my own deposit. One mile there and one mile back. Wow. Be still my beating heart.

Back to work till 6. Off to home. Used the car time for calls to Nobby, good news;to Hal, no news; to Marika 40 minute conversation. This part of the day is the best part of my day.

Got home. Emily had already fed the worthless pets. So I don’t have too. Yay. And dinner was ready because she made it. Isn’t that nice. We had garden salad with refried pork in it. Also made some sliced sweet potatoes spiced and baked.

After dinner, the thrills never end, we went to the pet store for the food I forgot on my Saturday trip. And we found some of the Rx dry dog food 40% off!! What a find. I like saving money.

Back home to watch my favorite show. Soon it’s bedtime. Sorry for the light blog. I’m tired. The cbd oil did notnwork

For the second day in a row I woke up early and tried to go back to sleep. I had little success. I may need another weekend on Monday and Tuesday. Or maybe I will take a pill. I have some courtesy of my nice doctor. I seldom take one. Tonight could be one of those nights.

It is Sunday so I had the big paper to read. Instead of reading, I went to Starbucks and got coffee. A pot of coffee for one seemed like overkill. Back at home I settled in with breakfast and coffee and the paper. That was good for at least 20 minutes. The coffee helped cuz I am not quitting on the paper till coffee is done.

After ritual read and coffee I had a nice shower. With Emily gone I have very little to do. She is so good at finding mundane tasks for me. Must make her happy. I don’t know. Done with shower. What now? Well it is getting close to 9/15 Corp tax deadline. So I sat down and went to work on the half dozen tax returns I brought home. I got through 5 of them by noon. At noon I had a date.

So my friends Barb (same one) and Kirk grow grapes. They live about a mile from our old house. With grapes they make wine. Some of it is quite good. Some is scary. Whatever. And they make a lot of it. A lot. It’s quite an operation.

Today is the day they were pressing some of the fermented grapes. Only those that were ready. They measure residual sugar to determine readiness. Turns out enough was ready to get 120 gallons of wine. And that’s about 20% of what they will be pressing.

They have a wine press, quite large, into which we dump loads of the slurry, fermented grapes, and then use the hydraulic press to squeeze out every drop. Messy operation. What’s leftover is a dry cake of fermented grape which he can give to the pigs. And yes it does get them drunk. Which is also funny.

From the press, the juice is strained into five gallon jugs. These are labeled, corked with a bung in the top and placed on a shelf until they decide to barrel them up. Simple process. Of course, it’s simple to do, but making great wine is difficult.

We were at this from noon to 4. We did work at a relaxed pace. Which is about all I had in me for a Sunday.

I drive back home. I still had two returns to do. Maybe there were seven? Who cares. I knocked out the two. I had something to eat. I am going to the pet store and grocery store in a minute. Emily is not due back till 9pm.

THe pet store was awesome. Because I enjoy paying $105 for a bag of cat food and a bag of dog food. Both prescription. Both cost too god damn much. I hope someone pays for fancy food for me when my kidneys give out. I am not so sure about my kids.

At Winco, worlds best grocery store, I saw Mike Goetz. And I immediately knew I was going to be here awhile. He is a talker. World class champion of the verbal arts. Always a pleasure to see him and always a long conversation. No matter. Turns out he got a great deal on a 30 foot sailboat and had lots of pictures. And stories. And related items. Sounds like loads of fun. Makes me want a boat. Until I remember all the negatives of boat ownership. Then I know better. Anyway, had a nice, long talk. About 45 minutes. Then we parted. I got my groceries and got out in under 5 minutes. Wow.

I am home. Time to feed animals and me. Day has slowed a lot. That’s fine. I can sit and wait for Emily.

Leftover bbq pork chops tonight. With green beans in a spicy sauce. I am really hungry, not sure why. I am watching the green beans cook. I have a strange yet familiar feeling the food won’t last long. I eat quickly. I know what I’m doing.

I have been tracking Emily’s location on the internet. One good use for technology. She decided I should make her dinner tonight for when she arrives. I had thought 9pm is too late for dinner. Wrong again. So I had dinner waiting for her when she arrived. I am such a good wife. And she even noticed how good the pork chops were. Nice.

We got her unpacked and settled. She ate dinner. Complained about a few things. Told me a little about her trip while I concentrated in case it comes up again. Better to pay attention. She also made a few purchases while there. Stuff we can all do without. But I don’t tell her that because she wants us to like everything as much as she does. She really tries very hard.

It’s getting late. She is still up and moving around doing stuff. I need her to relax. Maybe I will give her some of that cbd oil she just bought. If it works I will give it to her several times a day. She wants me to try it as well. That sounds like a bad idea. Will see. Time for bed.

The alarm went off at 445 this morning. Emily is leaving for Seaside at 530. She got up quick. I tried to go back to sleep. It didn’t work. I find it very difficult to sleep while someone is moving around the house getting themselves ready. She did try to be quiet but it’s quiet in ten minute segments. Then she switches rooms or turns on a light and another off. You get the idea.

I am now out of bed. Put the doggies out. Fed the cats. Fed the dogs. Made coffee and got a disposable cup and lid for Emily. I will wait to pour it when she is leaving, that way it will be hot when she drinks it.

Not much else to do. I did not make her breakfast mostly because I forgot. She really does not like to eat in the morning anyway.

She grabbed her luggage and went out to the curb to wait for her ride, which would be Barb Garlick. Barb is not known to be timely so heading to the curb is optimistic. We said our goodbyes inside and I booted her out.

Now is the time to go back to bed. I did not have any coffee so I thought maybe it would be possible to sleep. It’s 540. Good time for sleep. Right? Well I tried. I would say I failed but it’s possible there was some sleep. I think I dreamed a bit which indicates sleep. But, by 8 am I was tired of trying and just tired. I got up.

I had the coffee now. Had to nuke it since the pot went auto off. No problem. I had my coffee and brekkies.

This morning is Saturday so I went out before the shower to mow the lawn and do my yard work. Lawn looks like hell. As I mentioned, the gal watching our house while we went to Europe let the lawn die. Half is dead. Half is green. I will reseed in the fall. Too hot now for seed. After lawn I showered and dressed. Cleaned up dishes. Put dogs out. Grabbed my crap (I thought) and headed to the tire shop with Emily’s car.

I am working today and figured I could drive to work from the shop. Emily was at the car dealer getting service back in June. They said get new tires. I said Jim will get me a better deal (free) when I return from Europe. Today is that day. And, as I half suspected, Jim said I got 5 to 10k more in my tires. But he said I could use a rotation. So I did.

I was getting ready to head out to Sacramento and I noticed I did not have my glasses with me. Bummer. But I got readers in the office for just this situation. Then I noted my phone was not with me. Farq.

Now I’m on my way back to Vacaville, the opposite direction of travel to Sacramento. Glasses are one thing, but phone I gotta have. So now I will get both. And I can switch to my car which I prefer to the Mercedes.

I got home in about 15 minutes which means my bad memory cost me 30 minutes of work time. I swear, I should never use her car. It just throws off the routine. I did have a pleasant drive to work at least. If you love to drive, you want my life.

I finally arrived at work at about 115. No one else was in the parking lot. I am the only fool around. I loaded up my stuff, and forgot papers I got later, and headed in.

Weekend work is very intense. No one is calling or texting and there are no co workers in the office. So I can intently stay on task and prepare tax returns. Which is what I am trying to do. The corporation and LLC taxes on extension are due by 9/15. That’s next weekend. Good news, everyone is motivated so I can get them done and get paid. I managed to finish 8 returns and bill out a lot of money. I also finished 75% of four others. Not to bad. I also brought several home to work on tonight. Not so good.

Well, after 7 hours in the office, I left for home. Another nice drive and it was still light outside.

The dogs and cats were thrilled to see me, me not so much them. I fed them right away since it’s well past their usual mealtime. I even fed them before I fed myself.

I did plan ahead on dinner. I had taken some pork chops from the freezer this morning for my dinner. They were nicely defrosted. I started up the coals, made a salad, and waited till the BBQ was hot. Seasoned the chops and tossed them on. I finally got to read my morning paper while the meat grilled. It’s a Saturday paper so less than satisfying but the read timed well with the cooking so both were done about the same time.

I decided to cut up a chop and put it in the salad. One dish meal, tastes great, I like it.

Dinner is now done. I have decided to skip work tonite and prep the taxes tomorrow. Don’t matter because I have time. I am going to have a snack now and go to bed. I am tired. And no one will be waking me. I hope.

Ok. So my dumb ass dog “asked” to go out. Why? I noticed he just took a dump inside. Maybe he wanted to get away from the smell. I hate that dog most of the time. But he is Marika’s dog. So I can’t punch him in the face. But I could leave him out all night. Haha

I wish, and no, I spelled it correctly. Yesterday, the youngest called, she had her car in the shop for minor maintenance issues. She also said it was driving funny, steering bumpy and hard to control at freeway speeds. Sounds like shop is needed. Well, turns out fronts are delaminating. Good news is I have a tire warranty covering defects and there ain’t that many miles on them. But, car is in Petaluma and new tires in Dixon. Wait, you say, tires are everywhere. Yes, true, 415$ in Petaluma and free in Dixon. Yes it’s true, I get free tires. Going on 25 years. Be jealous. But today I have to pick up two and go to Petaluma with them and get them installed. A drive for me. Oh well. Kid has class and work. Dad has to cover. (Mighty Mouse music 🎵) Here I Come to Save the Day! On my way!

First stop is Jim’s tire shop in Dixon. That’s 10 miles in the direction opposite Petaluma. Oh well. Jim was in good spirits and he had two tires for me. We chatted awhile, just the usual BS. Always nice to chat with a friend.

Off to Petaluma. Should be a little over an hour, lord and traffic willing. The drive was not so bad but I had to get to central Petaluma which takes a while. It was 90 minutes. Yikes.

At Petaluma Honda. Seems nice. I asked for Brandyn in the service department. She is Marika’s service advisor. One of the tires had tread seperating and the other was completely out of round and spun off center in the balancer to the point it looked like a tumor (her words). And, she said, quite unsafe to drive. Duh. The real question for me, is why didn’t the guys at Santa Rosa Honda notice this 3 days ago when they rotted the tires? I recommend avoiding them. So we put the tires in the service bay and took off.

The drive back was different. Same route, completely different traffic. Itb as weird, seem d as though as soon as I got a good head of steam the traffic slowed down. A back and forth motion of sorts. Not that speed up/slow down is uncommon but it was on 4 different roads over 60 miles. I got to I 80, and it was just slow as hell for another 30 miles. Oh boy! Then it broke free finally and I got to the office at 130. A little more than four hours on the road. I am worlds best Dad.

Arriving that late it’s hard to get into work the same as if I had arrived at 9. I did manage to finish a couple of tasks. Like weeks payroll and monthly reconciliation of the operating account. But not much else. At least not much of substance.

Drive home was blessedly smooth and easy. I got home in time for Jeopardy at 7. That’s a win. I pet the dogs, kisses the wife (her first) and usual tasks. We watched the show, I like to answer the questions as do most of us I think. During the show we decided to go out to dinner. We left just as Wheel got started. I’m not so good at Wheel.

We got over a mile down the road before Emily said “where am I going?” We talked in that for a bit. I said Filipino food, that’s Roline’s. But they close at 8 and we probably wouldn’t make it. So, Thai food again. Emily wins!! She loves Thai food. Off to Rose Garden Thai.

We ordered boring tonight. No drinks, no appetizers, no Thai ice coffee. Just two entrees. Not even family style. Food was excellent, just enough to fill us up.

Back to home. Emily called her friend Barb from the car. The two of them are leaving at 530am tomorrow for Seaside. Some conference on teaching kids yoga. Back late Sunday night. Day off for Bill!!! I am going to work.

Right now at home Emily is packing. I am sitting and watching. This is something I can’t help with. Yay. I can sit and blog and she can’t complain. The dogs are very nervous and circling her while she packs. They seem to understand suitcases and packing. I wish she could take them cuz that would be a REAL day off for me.

I am sure we will get to bed early since Emily has to be up at 430. That won’t be fun. I have to get up and make coffee.

Packing is done. Emily is getting ready for bed and it’s not even 10 o’clock. Early to bed, early to rise, makes us unhappy. Oh well.

The weekend is closing in. Not that it matters. The next tax return deadline is 9/15 so I will be working the weekend. Hopefully only Saturday. I have to see how that works out. Lots to do. I have at least 15 returns sitting in the office ready to start.

Today is pre Friday. Nothing special. I have little new to do here at the house. Already through the morning chores. Nothing going on.

So I left for work. Turns out I forgot I had promised Emily a few things. Like emptying the two cat boxes. Which were nasty. She had to empty them when she got home. Sorry. Also, I was working in the office on the computer. Locked the cat in when I left. Stupid cat. Emily let her out when she got home. Cat should be more careful.

Moving on. Yesterday I mentioned I got my coin collection out of the safe deposit box. Well, today I took it to a coin dealer near my office. Now, I had about 20lbs of coin. Which is a lot. I plopped the bag down on the counter. And basically just took out all I had handful by handful. The coin guys just stacked them up by how they paid. For instance, all wheat pennies together, all silver coins with coin value in a couple piles, all silver with silver value only in another, stacks of proof coin sets in another. One guy sorted and weighed and assayed (electronically) while the other recorded the purchase price. Quite the system. I had only one coin worth much, an 1895 quarter worth $40. The coin guy said condition is everything. Age doesn’t mean much. So, you are dying to know how much they paid me. Right? Just a hair over $600. Ok. I started collecting those coins when I was a kid. It’s like not getting paid. $600 will be gone in a flash.

Left the coin guys. Fuel light is on. Went to the Shell station by my office. Spent $30 coin dollars. While pumping a guy walked up and asked if I had any Rick chips to fix. I was about to blow him off when I realized, I DO have rock hits to fix. So I finished fueling and left my car at his pop up for repair. I walked to the office. 20 mins later, call from glas guy. He’s done quick. Back to the Shell station for my car. $60 coin money for the windshield. Told you, gone quick. Interesting thing, the glass guy has a second job up in Colfax which is next to Auburn where I am moving. A bartender. I have a feeling I will meet him again.

Back to the office. Not much doing. I have to reti now to finish. Due to proximity of the deadline, it’s about all I do all day. So I did it. All day. Fun.

Spoke to Emily near end of day. I am going to pick up dinner on the way home. It’s about all the excitement I had today at work.

I had a nice drive home as I always do. Light traffic moving fast. Just my style. I made Vacaville in record time. I decided to go to the Buckhorn to pick up to go dinner. We like the mother shop location in Winters. The one here is a much smaller franchise version but usually fine. I ordered two garden salads with tri tip. I upgraded to double meat. 34$. I just about shit. When did this ever become worth $34. It didn’t. That’s like two steaks expensive. I bought them anyway but not going back anytime soon. $34 coin money. Going..going…

We did enjoy a nice dinner though not $17 worth. More like $10 of salad and meat. I get better value elsewhere. That’s the next place I go.

We are back to our favorite post dinner activity. TV. I did at least find a very old episode of the original CSI. Back before it went all over the country and started to suck. It was pleasant. Watching Last Man Standing now. Also an old episode and also quite good. For a change, I got to watch decent TV. That’s a goodnight kiss.

The best part about a three day weekend just might be the following work week. For instance, yesterday felt like Monday all day. But it wasn’t. It was Tuesday. So things actually are better than they feel. Today is the second day of the week and week is half over. Can I get an Amen?
I think a four day work week would be awesome. In American style of course, we work four 10’s. Because in America, it’s no pain no gain. You four 8er’s can go back to whatever country you came from.

Today I have to go to the bank. They want me present when they drill out the lock on my safe deposit box. I lost the keys. I pay the $300 to get drilled. Without lube. No thank you’s. Just shove that drill in. I think the analogy has sunk in. 930am. All that to get the contents free. I have mby ancient coin collection in the box. I am selling all of it. I hope to get face value for the coins and paper. I am keeping the gold coin, it’s fun to own good. And my small silver ingot too. If things go really bad maybe I can buy bread with that.

The building I own in Sacramento is almost sold. A few more pieces of paper and we will be done. It is a hassle. I have to provide calculations on gain so I can justify to the bank the need for state taxes withheld. I guess in Missouri, bank home is there, you don’t pay taxes on gain. Or most probably, there is no appreciation in property value. I certainly have no appreciation for either Missouri or the bank. It’s just who I am.

I got to work late morning. Cara is finally back from jury duty and Labor Day. That helps. My only reason for being here rescheduled his appointment to next Wednesday. Nice. I like wasting time. Instead of that I was able to finish up the gain calcs on the building. All we need now is title to finish and sell the building. I would like that.

I worked on a few tax returns as well. Made the usual calls and texts. Mailed out money for the bill collectors. Not much else going on at the office. So I worked till about 3:00 and went home. It is Wednesday.

Since nothing was doing at home I decided to wash the car. Always fun. I learned something valuable. Dry the car in the garage, no water spots. Why did it take near 60 years to figure that out? Car is beautiful.

Next up sprayed the weeds. That took all of five minutes. You know, I always dreamed of living in a house with no yard work. Now I do. But I am tremendously bored on the weekends and have nothing to do. I still don’t want lawn and yard work. I accept the boredom.

Emily got home about five. I had prepped a T bone for dinner. She added some veggies and a salad. A fruit and veggie salad and that’s dinner.

That’s the whole day. Not very exciting but over till I try again tomorrow. I say over cuz all we have been doing is watching TV. Which I imagine is my whole evening. Not loving the TV. Though Emily does like to have it on. I like to have it off. I always lose. Maybe I will read a book.

First day back at work from the last weekend of summer. It really was a joy going back to work because we both had been quite bored over the weekend. At the very least, work gives us tasks to perform. Much less boring than the no task days over the weekend.

This morning was the usual. Nothing amazing. Feed ‘en all and throw em out. Emily left for work on time, with the very tasty lunch I made for her.

I got ready rather quickly. All ready to go in under 45 minutes. Before I left I had one new task. I had to put a diaper on the stupid cocker. The little shit got up last night and pissed all over the front room. Love the dog. So today I diapered the shithead.

Off to work. I did make a few calls on the way. All illegal non hands free operation of my cell phone. I do it everyday. No exceptions because it’s Tuesday.

I had only one appointment today. Old client, 20 years, came in to get his two tax returns done. Always nice to see old friends and catch up on things. And do some work. And then get paid for it. That’s best.

The rest of the workday was a pile of the usual accounting excrement. Piled high. Tomorrow I will do it again. The damesdline is coming, 9/15, so I gotta get my work done quick so I can have all done in ten days. Then get paid which helps pay the bills. I just love deadline time.

Tonite is taco Tuesday. I almost forgot because it feels so much like Monday. So after a nice, boring, task oriented day I left for the carniceria. Gotta get there by 630 or possible no food or even closed. But it wasn’t. So one serving of Chile verde and one of carnitas. Good for me.

Emily wasn’t home when I got there. I fed the dogs and cats. And waited for her. She was back from working out a few minutes after I got home. Time for Mexican food. Dinner was sadly quite quick.

I had one errand to run after dinner. I went to the phone company. I had to find out how I got a $2000 phone bill. The nice guy at the store explained it well enough – I was fucked. He said I could call the international department and cry a river and they might give me a credit. Maybe.

Back to home and now watching TV. Too early for bedtime. Maybe in 30. I am hoping tomorrow will be a little more exciting.

End of summer today. Always a very sad day but especially melancholy if the summer has been Big. Mine was big. We traveled all over the known world for 50 days and we saw and did so many things I need my travel mates to remind me about half of them. So many things so easily forgotten. So today is a day for reflection on my summer. But not here so much. I already reported daily on all and will wait for written reflection in the future.

So, right now it’s oretty much a normal Monday. Except we are moving slower. And watching bad TV. Good news, it’s a holiday so I get a newspaper. But since it’s a holiday the newspaper is thin all has no news in it. But the 10 minutes I spend with it are good.

We are all showered and ready to go. But have nowhere to go till noon. Lunch with Roma. We actually see her far less now that we are two block over neighbors. Kinda funny. I would have thought the opposite would happen. Before lunch we have two hours to kill. Hard to say what I am going to do. Watching bad daytime TV. Is there another kind? Also watching Roomba work. She gets stuck a lot and I would like to figure out why. So far, nothing. Yes, I am aware how lame this all sounds. Oh well. Most days are slightly more exciting. This is not one of them.

Shopping killed a bunch of time before lunch. Lame shopping. Not enjoyable or interesting at all. Sounds fun doesn’t it? Stopped at three stores including the fabric store just so Em could look at fabric she wasn’t going to buy. I told you, lame shopping. The rest of shopping was even less interesting.

Finally lunch time. We drove to Roma’s to pick her up. No one else was home so we saved a lot of the time we usually waste chatting with whoever else is there. It’s a positive.

Next hurdle: getting anyone in the car to commit to where we would have lunch. Roma will never pick a place. Damn her. Though she will say no to other choices. Lovely. We ended up at a local Mexican place that Emily picked and I quickly said ok to. That worked. I don’t even like the place.

Lunch was really nice. We had not seen Roma since before the grand tour so all of us had lots to talk about. We got to share all our pictures too. That’s fun. Of course, I would prefer a slide show but no projector and no slides. I am not sure anyone makes slides anymore. Does anyone out there remember slides? I do. When I was a kid my favorite aunt, Iva Henningsen, was a world traveler. She came back with hundreds of pictures which she always developed into slides. Then there would be a gathering with food and snacks and we would have a slide show with her narration. Always a highlight of my year. She did an annual trip. I miss her. Nowadays, no one does that as far as I know. Too bad.

We sat at lunch for a good hour after we finished eating. Just blabbing on about all important topics and solving all problems. As if anyone can. We finally broke up and took Roma home which is two blocks from our house. So close, we seldom see her.

So middle of afternoon and not a thing to do. Nothing. I ended up trimming the bushes out back and some in front just for something to keep me moving.

Around 5 o’clock I suggested, and Emily concurred that we could go to the movies or go to our wine club pick up in Winters which is every day this week. So we jumped in the car and Emily headed to Winters. I thought we were headed to the movies. No worries, there isn’t anything showing that is worth a damn. And by the time you get out of the movies you are into it for $40. So probably better to do wine. Free tastes and some cheese and cracker like hors douvres, nice stuff, and we get to walk away with 3 bottles. Of course, I don’t really like Turkovich wines, they are just our local guys so we support them. So it’s like the bad move really except FREE wine tasting and 3 bottles.

The tasting room was packed when we arrived. Less than no place to sit. Sucks. Emily nicely accosted two people at a 4 top table, et voila, we sat with them. I don’t recall their names but they were very nice people. From Sacramento. So we had our tastes and food and chatted with them for a time and we chatted amongst ourselves as well. Actually, we closed the place down. Go figure.

The siren song of the Buckhorn steakhouse screamed loudly to Emily. I was ready for home. She said don’t you wanna go? I know the answer – NO. But the correct answer is yes when you know your wife wants a yes. Don’t ever make that mistake. And act like you enjoy it. We got a table immediately, out side cafe, while those waiting for inside were at an hour wait. Same service outside as in. I know the menu by heart, not only are we here once a month, we both used to work here in the 80’s. Crazy. We shared a Caesar/Sirloin tip combo, the Caesar Pleaser, which is a favorite. We make it at home. Ours is better. When the dish arrived we both noted it had shrunk noticeably since our last visit. Price had not. It is usually too much food but now not. Though I feel ripped off a little. Their prices are creeping. Emily also ordered a glass of Sauv blanc which tasted and smelled like grapefruit. I looked online and it seems that’s not uncommon. But it was like grapefruit juice really. Of course we also got a bread basket which Emily put a huge dent in. She does love bread.

We hung at Buckhorn for awhile. We get lots of people watching there from the outside tables. Invariably we see someone we know, which we did. Having lived in this area 40 years it would be weird to not see someone we know.

Once done with food and all we headed home. We are still very close distance-wise to here even since the move. I think it’s probably a couple minutes more at best. Which means home fast.

We watched a little TV and off to bed. By 930. We live excitement.

In the middle of the night the cat, Pepto, got spooked by lord knows what, and streaked across the bed. She cutbopen Emily’s neck and nicked my upper lip. And she is still alive. Jaxon got up in the middle of the night and pissed all over one of the rugs. I did not wake up for that. Though, when I did, I noted he was wearing a diaper.