Mosh Glass

Today is the day I load my Ford tractor on a flat bed to go to shop. Unfortunately, it is cold as hell. Foggy and wet so it feels extra cold. And miserable.

I had a quick breakfast and shower. Got dressed and about then the driver showed up with his teenage daughter. Which is fine. She was here to help.

We headed across the road to where barn I store my tractor in. Turns out someone has parked a forklift and a couple very large produce bins behind the tractor. I called Paul, he owns the barn, he says he moved everything out of the way. One of his workers put stuff back. So we attempted to get the forklift going which was easy. Started up quick but could not make it move. Which is tough when all we are trying to do is move it. Called Paul again and he tells me I have to warm up the hydraulics for five or ten minutes. Lovely. We managed to get all the crap out of the way eventually. After that no real problem, hooked the winch cable from the trailer to the tractor and dragged it onto the trailer. Tied it down and they were off. I am frozen to the bone. That’s a problem. They claim ready next week but I have a hard time believing them.

I have an appointment here at the house at 930. I got back from trailer duty at 915. Wes, my 930, called about 935. Lost. I directed him to my house and had to wonder about his sense of direction. But no matter, he got here. I have not seen Wes in a couple years. He is five years behind on his taxes. But he is here to catch up. So we spent an hour and a half yakking. Takes awhile to catch up. And Wes is a talker extraordinaire. Either way I have to prep 5 returns for him. That’s cool.

While sitting and talking to Wes, the most remarkable things happened. First a truck pulled into the driveway. I am expecting no one. I went out to greet home and turns out he was there to take pictures for the buyer of our house. Ok. No problem. Ten minutes later the termite guy came to inspect. WTH? I don’t recall this. Then an agent who works for my broker showed up. Getting a little crowded. Then the broker showed up. Then some other guy. Gettin crowded. All of a sudden, all were gone. Crazy.

So done with Wes and all inspectors, I went to work. Got there around 12 in time for my noon appt. My 12 had called, he was running late. Which worked perfectly, I arrived on time and had coffee. My client owns a deli and does catering. He brought deli sandwiches for the office. He is a sweetheart. The appointment took only 15 minutes. But all done. And we got food.

Next appointment found me on the internet. Interesting guy. Does not own a cell phone. Retired. Rich. Wants someone to do his taxes. I am the right guy but he has three appointments to pick out one cpa. He has been doing his own return for 40 years. Does them by hand. Reads the instructions even. Crazy. He may be back next week if I am the winner.

After he left I worked for a few hours. Managed to finish the five returns from client Wes. And the sandwich clients return too. After that, usual work I don’t like much. But that work seems to show up with the tax returns. Also had a visit from a vendor who is also a client. He came by for money. I slow pay when I don’t have much money. He showed up to get paid which is tough to slow pay when they are in front of you.

Headed home around 6. It’s raining tonight and the commute was not fast. It was slow. Took quite awhile to get home without too much slamming of brakes and swerving. People don’t know how to drive in the rain. Morons.

So managed to get home in spite of the storm. Tonight we are having burgers. Emily made a whole bunch of cauliflower buns a couple days ago. Don’t laugh, they are way better than bread buns. Way better. First time I tried them I was ready to switch forever. And they are carb free so good for your diet. Yay. We also make pizza crusts out of cauliflower which is better than regular pizza crust. I kid you not. Delicious. Just to make the meal complete we had tots which are carb rich and not good for you. Yay to that too. It balances out.

We are on to TV now. Watching great TV, Last Man Standing. I find most TV to be not worth watching. So I don’t. Last Man Standing is the exception. I really like that. Soon will be bedtime.

Managed to get up 15 minutes early today. I should be able to get to my workout started before 8. That helps me get moving.

I did something today, out of necessity, that I have never done before. I poured four single shot espressos instead of two doubles. I know, does not sound earth shattering, but when I say never I mean I have never done that. Since I got the espresso machine 23 years ago. And I use it every day. As mentioned yesterday, the filter basket blew out on the double. So I was forced into this. It’s a real pain. New amounts of ground coffee, new amount of water, hope it’s perfect as always. Lately with grounds in it not so good. Well, turns out I’m just good at it. I managed to coax very good coffee out of it. So we each got two singles in our morning addiction. Tastes fantastic when the basket keeps the grounds out of the cup. I still want my double back, it’s easier by far.

I have to go back to the bank today, old one, and get the money they are holding. Then need still to get the balance of the entities accounts open. I am limping along here with only parts open and working. What a pain. I hate my old bank. Hate them. Truly no love.

Still need to call my espresso machine repair guy. He never returned my call. Valued, and long time customer that I am, he did not call. I hope he has a good excuse. Just one more little thing I need to fix so that the next thing can come along to fix. Don’t want this crap to build up.

Ok, turns out he did call. And brought a double basket to my office. He does still love me!! All the love back buddy.

I made it to my old bank and got a check from them. Which I took to my new bank. I am still working on getting all the accounts open. Soon I hope. Still a major pain. Have I mentioned how much I hate my old bank? Prob not often enough.

I had to go downtown to drop off some docs. It is as really an easy trip. Found parking quickly. Even close to where I was going. And people say traffic sucks downtown. I went to the 25th floor of he Union Bank building. It’s a clear sunny day so I could see for miles. All over Sacramento. It was a little treat in a boring day. I remember back when I worked just up the street, 30 years ago. The building across he street was being torn down 28 stories. Sometimes I would stand in the window for half an hour just to watch pieces fall off. Tremendous fun. Way more fun than work.

Back to the office. I realize when I got there I was missing something important. My 1/2 gallon water bottle. I was sitting and realized I was very thirsty. Then no bottle. I am an idiot. Of course, you can find water everywhere. But the office sink water is really sketch. So I figured I would go dry and just soak it up when I get home.

Sadly the rest of the day was all work. Still trying to clean off my desk. I did manage to clear a little of the detritus. The flotsam and jetsam of big city accounting. All crap. But its my crap.

Before I left for the night I decided to return my messages. I called all 5 and scheduled all 5 for tax appointments. Surprising how early these people show up. I doubt any of these people are completely ready to go. But I will meet with them.

Headed home next. It is Tuesday so I headed to the carniceria for the usual. And I was not disappointed. I arrived and was greeted by one of the workers with a friendly “we’re out of Chile verde”. She was just screwing with me. But the other gal says “we’re out of Chile replenish”. She was not kidding. She knew I would order it. Last week she had eaten the last one right before I got there. I can’t catch a break.

Dinner was still awesome. Taco Tuesday is the best night of the week.

Next up take out the garbage. For a change, it was two half full cans. Easy peasy. With the move coming up we usually have three full cans.

Now back to semi bad TV. Emily likes the show, I don’t. Hence the semi bad. But its her turn to watch this fine show.

Now time for bed. I hope. We are still sitting downstairs. If lucky, at commercial break, we can go to bed. Please.

So, I slept very well last night. Only woke once which is not the norm for me. The alarm went off at 630 as usual. What? It’s Saturday. Well the bad news is that Emily is teaching Saturday school today. Something she almost never does. It really throws you for a loop to have to get up early and go to work on a day r we bed for leisure and other work. She took the job because another teacher who needs the extra money couldn’t make it. Emily really is not one who would ever work Saturday. Of course, I would have preferred to stay in bed and sleep another hour or so. It’s all about me. She will be done at 1230 so at least no lunch to pack. I wonder why all these kids have to go to school on Saturday? I should ask.

The nice thing about being alone in the house like this is I am self directed. I can choose what I want to do and when. I am not saying Emily makes me do other things, but when she is home it’s more of a team type thing. We do lots together and I do things she would like to get done instead of doing “my” chores. And when she is here we end up going shopping. She is better at that and I get to tag along.

Today, I can finally get rid of the leaves in the front drive.
That’s a chore.

So Dennis, my mechanic just showed up. He was sposed to be here yesterday. I need to get the tractors running, three. I want to send them to a new home and will sell them at the estate sale. So Dennis and I went across the road where I store my big tractor in a barn. We worked for an hour today on the beast but the battery is 16 years old. And truly dead. It charges but won’t hold a charge. Not good. The battery is big, 2 foot long, 1 foot wide 18 inches tall. No saying how much it’s gonna cost. At the end of the hour Dennis headed out for a new battery, starter fluid and tools. Back later. I am going to go rake leaves.

I was supposed to meet the estate sale guy at 11. He called around ten, left a message and a stream of excuses said he would try to get here in the next few days. Bullshit. I called him and told him we had an appointment at 11. His tune changed, he is coming later today. Nice guy, never wrote down the appointment in his book.

Btw, turns out when the kids are absent they go to Saturday school. And do art. And yoga and a little PE. And they have to get up early to do it. Seems unfair.

So I finished up the leaves, tossed the entire pile into the back of my truck and drive it to the burn pile. It’s the biggest wheel barrow I have.

Dennis returned about the time I finished the leaf pile. So we went back across the road to work on the tractor. We got the new battery installed. Did not help with the starting issue. But it does crank like a son of a bitch.

We went back through all systems and found that the injector pump is not pumping. This is a problem. I now have to call the tractor dealer and discuss the problem with him. I hope they have an idea of how to fix it vs replacing the pump. Either way, tractor no run. I want to sell it soon so this is an issue. Maybe I can solve quick next week.

Dennis left to attend his grandsons basketball game. I went to Vacaville and grocery shopping with Emily. We got food for next week. We got back home and Tim the estate sale guy was already there. Dennis was there too to fix the other two tractors. Dennis and Tim were chatting about things. Those two really hit it off.

Emily went back to Vacaville for Jaxons special dog food.

Dennis went to fix tractors and Tim and I walked the property and looked at all the things I want to sell. We discussed all items, he took lots of pictures, we tentatively scheduled the sale. He is going to try and sell all three tractors as well as my pickup. Could be a fantastic day. Real money to be had.

When we were done Tim and Dennis had a long conversation about their respective Ram trucks. Those two were made for each other. Even had to exchange phone numbers. I am sure Dennis will be working on Tims truck soon.

Everybody left. I went in and cleaned up a few things around the house. Did the dishes. Finally put away the groceries that we unloaded and Emily didn’t put away. Emptied the dishwasher. Usual stuff.

Emily finally got home. Turns out she ran into her friend Melissa and they had coffee. Emily told me later she wanted to avoid the sale talk from Tim. Seems she gets emotional about this. It’s strange because nothing else seems to bother her. So I made Mai Tais. That helped.

We made dinner. I BBQd New York steaks. Perfectly, I might add. Add salad to that and veg. A very good dinner for Saturday night.

Here after dinner we are watching bad TV. Almost all TV is bad but what can you do? At least Jeopardy just came on. Jeopardy is quality TV. Sadly not on 24 hours a day. After jeopardy is Wheel. Not good TV but not bad either. And the half a carton of coffee Haagen Dazs was great. Now bedtime. Also great.

Again, I got up early. Emily even asked why. It’s mostly because I have been waking early and not going back to sleep. A good reason to get up and do something. So I get out of bed, make coffee and breakfast. Feed the animals. And go workout. Seems a good idea.

My gym was packed. There was at least ten people there when I arrived. Usually no more than three or four on most days. There was no one in the back room I warm up in. So I managed a twenty minute warm up in privacy. When I came out to do weights, there was only one other person in the gym. So I had a peaceful few sets.

Back home to cleanup. SSS is the usual. It’s a really beautiful sunny day today. Since it’s such a nice day, I took the convertible to work. Top down. No stops for a change.

Had an audit client stop by. Went through his paperwork to figure out what was missing. Something is always missing. Got it straight. Need info back by late January so I can submit to IRS. Hope it works out.

Hal stopped by. We went through some tax strategies he has put into written format. I can use these materials to show clients how these strategies can help eliminate income taxes. Some of it is old news but it’s nice to have all written in one place.

Had to go to my old bank. The account got hit with more fees, which should not have happened. I was in yesterday to get them reversed, which did not happen. They doubled up today. My friend Joyce, at the bank, said she would reverse the fees. I hope so.

Went back to the office. Spent some time updating my debit card info on all the websites I have auto pay on. This is quite a chore. You have to remember all your passwords, which is near impossible, and of course remember all the places you use auto pay. I think I have 25 auto pays. Two or three of them I could not access. I can just wait for the NSF notice when it bounces but I might get hit with fees.

I headed for home around 615. Again, a peaceful ride home. A nice start to the weekend. Emily and I decided to go downtown and have dinner. Dawson’s Bar and Grill has reopened under new ownership. We went there. Friday night in downtown Dixon, not shocking to know everyone. It was tough to get through the crowd because everyone wanted to chat. We did finally get a table, the hostess was one of a Marika’s classmates. Mention no name but she is dumb as a post. She has new boobs too. But she is nice. Emily ordered a margarita, which was horrible. I had a glass of Zin, which was good. The rest of the meal was very good. We will need to come back to get farther into the menu. And be more careful about what cocktail we order.

Home by 915 and watched some good TV for a change. Emily is already asleep cuz she is teaching Saturday school. Has to be up early. I am going to sleep soon too.

It’s Thursday. Yay. Nothing special today. Woke up early so I got out of bed early. Got all done by 730, kissed Emily and off to workout. Standard workout, a little cardio and weights. Like a day off cuz I don’t push it. Nice and relaxing. I made sure to wipe down the machines before I used them. It’s flu season and I want to avoid that. Saw a bit of the news before I went to gym and the reporter was talking about where the germs are. So now I will wipe down after AND before.

Went to a local clients office right after, at 9 am. Turns out I have an appointment tomorrow at 10. Oops. We had a nice chat.

Home to shower and dress. I need to order a birthday cake for Michael. Will need to call it in. He turns 27 on the 20th. How did he get so old?

Went to work after all the above. Have a client stopping by this afternoon and another has called to see me. Not sure why.

First order of business on way to work, I stopped at new bank and they issued me an ATM card. Nice. Last bank it had to be mailed, took a couple weeks. I need to get this input into all the sites I have auto pay. That’s really important, I don’t like fees.

The rest of the day is lost history. That’s cuz I can’t remember. It’s 10pm Friday. And I’m way done with Thursday.

So, it’s 8pm. And I am just beginning today’s post. It’s because I have too much to do during the day. And I forget.

This morning was slow. I had three appointments starting at ten. And 11 and 12. Saw Rachel at 10 for my hair. At 11 I had an appointment with a new client. At 12 it was Karstin but she rescheduled to Friday. Rachel was quick, maybe ten minutes. My appointment with the new client was an easy hour and a half. She has lots going on tax wise and I have to amend last years taxes as well. I like someone who shows up and needs 4 tax returns prepared. Helps pay the bills.

Raced off to work around 1230. Kind of a late start but at least I have work as an excuse.

I called the bank when I got to work. Still no answer on whether they can open an account for me. I hate them. By three o’clock I decided to give a different bank a chance. And lo and behold they opened an account for me. So one down and six more to go. They only got one open but I need more paperwork on the business entity accounts. Tomorrow I hope.

Opening the accounts took till 5pm. So I got back to the office for only 20 minutes. I got started on the changeover of accounts. I updated a couple websites and started the verification process for others. New accounts are a pain.

Then off to home. The workday was cut up and not too productive. I didn’t get anywhere near enough work done. Not even a workout. Boring drive home.

Emilys lay had dinner going when I got home. We had salad with sliced steak on it with sweet potato on the side. Turned out very good. I never complain about her cooking.

After dinner, what happened, bad TV. What else? Nothing on till 9. So I blogged a little and watched lousy entertainment. Well it’s 930 and I’m going to bed. I promise to write more and better tomorrow.

Even though MLK day is not a celebratory holiday, here is still enough holiday in it to make today, Tuesday, into a Monday. I feel Monday. I woke up at 5am and knew I would not be going back to sleep. So I lay in bed awake for an hour. Kind of a waste. Got going at 615. I’m done at 7. Going to workout. Emily just got up.

I have an idea. Let’s make the official end of the “holiday season” MLK day. That gives the holiday a little more meaning and, more importantly, gives us two more weeks of holiday thinking. Nice idea, isn’t it? After a couple years we push the end to Presidents Day. See where I’m going? That’s right, a year long “holiday season”. Sure, we would have less work, more parties, more holiday pay (stop me when it sounds bad), more trips, dinners out, visiting the in laws. OK, stop. But mostly fantastic, I think. Let’s take a National 3 day weekend to think it over. Not sure what government office would be in charge of this. They would be the ones working while the rest of us sat on our fat heinies.

I did get to my workout much earlier than usual. So early, I worked out with a different group of people. Saw Jimmy Mayoral, a guy I go hunting with. I did not go this year due to “bad” weather. It was warm and sunny. But, anyway, I had no idea he and I were in the same gym. What a difference 2 hours make. I also had to share facilities because there must have been at least ten people there. That’s a crowd.

Got home way earlier than usual. Turns out I had a ten am appt with an IRS agent at my office. For a change, I got there on time. I should get up early more often. Usual audit process, nothing crazy. Collect and collate data for her and answer a lot of questions. Nice gal.

Client Jeff came in around noon. He brought a check. I like that. Right after him was client Frank. He had docs to sign. Last couple times he was here he had admired my sandals. Huaraches. So I bought him a pair and they had arrived in todays mail. He is not a sandals in the winter kind of guy but he did try them on for fit. He seemed happy with his gift.

After he left I went to the bank. Not my bank, yet. Trying to open an account since those jerk offs at Cal Bank & Trust shut mine down. This bank was my old bank and they are trying to get one open for me. My last bank also shut all my accounts because one of my clients was in the Cannabis biz. Guilt by association. Still, we are not sure if it will work. I won’t know till tomorrow.

Not much going in the afternoon. Just usual work, phone calls and emails. The things that make life fun. Not. I did manage to get all my electronic organizers sent out. Yesterday the server was down and I couldnt send anything. When I want to get everything done Fast I truly hate it when technology gets in my way. Analog systems I can fix. Digital not.

I had a visit from client Malik and his friend whose name I did not catch. His friend nodded off while we were talking. Funny. Malik came in to pick up his year end tax forms. I used the time to discuss all the money he owes me. I would like to get paid. Malik is Pakistani so he wants to pay a lot less than whatever the price happens to be. He is a jerk. Always.

I went home after seeing him. It’s Tuesday so I gotta pick up mexican food for dinner. After a blah drive I hit the Mexican place. Carnitas combo for Em and Costillos de Puerco con Nopales for me. Yum yum.

After dinner was bad TV. Right now I am going with my Tuesday night tradition, garbage to the curb. Fun fun. Going now.
That was cold. And gross. Love it.

It’s MLK day, party time!!

We went to see a rental that is available. Emily rejected it. So no rental. Marika was home for the night and she hated it too. I did not care.

I left for work right after the viewing. Not much else going on. I tried to get done with two things today. Only two. I did not finish either. I tried to send out electronic organizers for taxes. There was a break down at the server level so that failed. No organizers sent.

Had a looong talk with the contractor on our Auburn house. His estimate came in way to high. We discussed all aspects of the job trying to figure out how to make it less expensive. When it got down to it we decided we need to get the architect, Mike, to come up with an estimatable plan for a much cheaper version of our house. Smaller setback, more rectangular box like house, shorter drive, the things that cheap it out. Then maybe we can get a lower price estimate.

I must admit, I am having a really difficult time remembering my day. It’s amazing. My work day ended 3 hours ago and it’s as if I never went to work, hey theres an idea.

Wait, I do remember one thing. I received an email from an old friend. Dan, a college classmate. He had searched me out on the internet. I guess there have been some dorm floor reunions and some people have wondered where I was. Thank god someone misses me. Dan and I traded a few emails. Who knows, maybe I will be included in the next outing. Could be fun.

Head d home around 6. Nothing to report on the drive. Usual boring trip.

Emily made chicken and dumplings for dinner which was awesome. She has never made it before. She is good at first attempts.

Dinner was great. Emily has been on the couch sleeping on and off for the past hour or so. I am blogging. I did the dishes. Usual evening. Bad TV. Always the same. Soon it’s bedtime and I get to start it all over again.

We got up extra early today, for a Sunday. We are going to my Dads house in Visalia. That’s the middle of the Central Valley of California. All the charms of Appalachia without the beauty. You get the idea. Anyhow, 4 hour drive, miserable, boring, drive. Always hate it. I wish Dad could live somewhere nice and not some American shithole far worse than Haiti or Africa (thanks Mr Trump!).

Anyhow, we left the house about 840 headed for Starbucks. The dogs are in the back, we can’t leave them cause hey are still a bit wiggy with Taffy’s passing. Will take awhile.

It’s an ugly, foggy, cold, gray day. Perfect for the valley. The Central Valley is like that from November through March. And in my memory, like that 24/7 six months a year. I truly hate the Valley. Hate is a strong word. I am only using it till I find a stronger word.

Drive was uneventful. Not many cars and I was unfettered in my choice of which part of the speedometer to occupy. Only saw one cop. But, other than gas stop it was very boring.

Got to dads around one. Dads normal day is sit around and watch TV. Talk on he phone. Eat a little. Repeat. Go to bed. We interjected ourselves. We give him someone new to talk to, we bring better food (usually) and keep him awake too long. Probably good for him to change it up.

Todays trip is a quickie. Emily does not want to spend the night. So we are gonna visit, have an early dinner and head home. I would rather sleep over. But Emily is in charge.

So we sat around, watched football and talked about whatever. The usual visit. Just a check in on everyone. Nothing new down here, like anything ever is.

Watched tv and yacked for three hours. Then we made dinner. I was going to go to my favorite meat market for some prime steaks, but Dad insisted on serving his lasagne. Well, that turns out to be a frozen lasagne, and not anywhere near as good as u expect a frozen lasagne to be. If you know what I mean.

No big. We also had a box of wines, splits, from Santa Barbara. Doriene got them for Dad. I opened the first bottle, took a sip then checked the bottle to make sure it was wine and not vinegar. Very awful. Putrid even. We dumped it out. Next bottle, a Rose. Same fate. Then we switched to a nice Pinot form a decent winery, in Windsor, and it was excellent. That bottle was from my daughter. She knows wine. My sister will drink anything.

Well, we still had a nice dinner. And for dessert, Emily had made a bread pudding earlier, after we had arrived. That was a high point. We used a loaf of cinnamon swirl bread as the base. That was sweet. Not bad for her first try.

After dinner we cleaned up, said our goodbyes and 3.5 hours later arrived home. Basically straight to bed. What a day. Almost 8 hours in the car is surprisingly tiring. Emilys idea is to do this once a month to visit. Dad goes nowhere so it’s gotta be that way. Hope my kids treat me this well.

I have written about how all of us are driven by habit. We don’t make choices in our behavior so much as we continue with behavior driven by a choice we made long ago. Or a choice made by our parents or ancestors. We do the same thing over and over again. Every other action taken outside our habits disrupts us. We don’t handle new actions well. Until they become new habit.

With Taffy’s passing, Emily and I and the kids must all form new habits. She was part of my daily routine. Yes, I know I have two other dogs, but her absence is a disruption in my daily habits. At the first meal time without her, I tried to set out three dishes. Habit. Marika had taken her bowl and set it aside. I got out the food and meds. Too much food and an extra pill. Habit. Put that away. Made their meal, went to set dishes on the floor and the dogs were confused. They always had a pattern, habit, to where the dishes went. And weirdly Jackson could not figure out where to stand. They are out of sorts. Dogs have habits too and it makes it easier for us.

I had a new habit, I am an old dog but learn new tricks. Since Taffy received her death sentence I have been giving her extra food and treats from the table. Bad habit I know but under the circumstances ok.

I do remember the day we went to pick out a dog for Michael. And ended up with Taffy. Michaels first pet was a Cat. Katy. She was killed by my mothers dog in our back yard. He got another cat, Patches. She was attacked by two dogs on our front porch. Michael said he never wanted another cat. I can’t blame him after those experiences. But, after a couple years he thought getting a dog might be ok. We knew someone with a couple of puppies. We went to visit, long drive out into the country. There were two pups and one obviously liked him. And there you go. Michael named her, he came up with the name Taffy on his own.

We brought her home and it was as if she was born here. Moved in and fit in. Never had a potty training problem. Every night she slept with Michael. He would call her in and she slept under the covers with him. Seems gross to me considering how flatulent the boy is but Taffy did not mind.

I always had a particular soft spot for Taffy. She actually liked me and would seek me out when she needed attention. When Michael left for college I kind of got his dog for myself. She slept with me every night and I rubbed her tummy every night before sleeping. I already miss that. When Michael was home she always slept under the covers with him. I’m number two.

It’s difficult to measure a dogs contribution to your life. They are important in so many ways. You always have a companion who likes you and wants to hang with you. I am not sure I need more. My dog made me feel good, no matter what. There isn’t anyone or anything that can do that for you on any consistent basis. I miss that. I have two other dogs here. A Poodle that loves Emily and puts up with me. And the Cocker, Jaxon, he is an idiot. But he loves Marika and misses her and is thrilled when she comes for a visit. Oh yeah, two cats. They couldn’t give two poops for anyone. Don’t be late with the kibble, buddy.

There are no more new dogs in our future. I don’t need my heart ripped out again. And I don’t want to have to care for a pet in my old age. I have the aforementioned other pets, all old, and closer to the end than the beginning. That’s enough. It’s a change of life I guess. I will have to play with granddoggies and grandkitties I guess.

So, enough about the dog in my head. For now.

Today my nephew, Dennis, came by with his girlfriend Devon and friend Danny. Dennis was here at Christmas and we mentioned we were moving and needed to get rid of furniture. He and Devon (future Mrs Johnston?I think) jumped at the chance. Dennis got a tape measure and started measuring furniture for fit. Today they got a kitchen table, eight chairs and stools, an armoire, dresser, bookcase, and assorted items. Sectional couch and comfy chair to pick up later. He did good.

Quite a haul. Don’t ya think?

I also had to rake leaves. Today. A lot of god damn leaves. You have seen the truck, I will fill it twice and dump into burn pile. I know I have said before that he last time I raked would be the last time. Well, I raked for the last time. The tree has no more leaves in it. And we have accepted the offer we received on the house. And we have a place to go. It has no trees. It does have a lawn, but I leave that to Emily. Two hours of raking leaves. Fun.

Our agent Linda came by to do our sale disclosures. That was a job. She walked the property and did her own. Then sat with us while we did ours. Took at least two hours. What fun!

After all that we sat and watched TV. We? Emily was asleep in the chair Dennis is taking. I sat by the fireplace and blogged. While the TV droned on for no one. Emily likes the noise.

Dennis just called. He is coming back with the truck and getting at least the chair. And giving me the truck.

Emily and I are going to run an errand to Vacaville and get dinner.

So I got some socks for workout. Then we hit the Hawaiian Poke bowl place. New spot in Vacaville. They serve some pretty exciting looking desserts. Although I think I will probably be too full after the Poke. So its like a buffet and you build your own Poke, with help. I chose Ahi and spicy tuna on top of salad instead of rice. Then a couple spicy toppings, some extra veg, hot peppers, and crab. Et voila, c’est finis! Mine was tremendously spicy. Two cups cold water spicy. Emilys was miso shrimp and not so spicy. Served on rice. All this for only $30. It was fine. Not shockingly good, probably to expensive, but it is not standard fare for Vacaville. That’s a good thing.

We sat and watched bad TV till 915. At that point, nephew Dennis returned with the truck. And took several pieces of furniture with him back to Santa Rosa in my truck. My house is getting empty. Feels weird. But I won’t have to move the shit.

Dennis and Danny left. It’s 10pm. We are going to bed. We are getting up early and going to Visalia for the day. Visit the old man. Should be a blast.