Happy BD Mitzi!

Some of you didn’t know me when I was a lot of fun. Mitzi did. This is Mitzi on her horse, Oakwood’s Lady Thelma (aka Elmer). In 1976 we were riding a lot in competitive trail rides all over California. I have known Mitzi since we were very young. We started riding stick horses together. And we are still friends.

It seems like every 10 years or so our lives take a different turn and we find ourselves going in a new direction. I think it’s important, though, to always keep a place in our hearts for our old friends.

Mitzi’s birthday is this week. Happy Birthday, old friend. (Eeeek! That means I’m old too! How did that happen?)

Uncle in a Suit

I used to have a lot of uncles, and I loved them all. Big, huggy uncles, some of them world-class grumps (at first glance, but not at heart). Now I have only 3 uncles. Uncle Ray, Uncle Bud, and Uncle Jim.

Uncle Ray and Brother Jerry


You’ll hardly ever see one of the uncles wearing a suit. Or even a tie. So here is a picture of Uncle Ray wearing a suit at Libby’s wedding a few years ago. It was one of those rare occasions. I’m not sure, did he even wear a suit to his own wedding? The point is, the uncles may not wear suits very often, but when they do, they’re awesome.

Brother Jerry was wearing the more traditional family garb - clean shirt, no tie.

Fashion Don't

Tonight I answered the door to 3 young ladies who were looking for Bob. They were the typical healthy-looking girls I see around here. One, however, had a perfectly round face with a short little nose, and there was a ring through the nose.

Maybe I’ve been around farm animals too much, but that girl just doesn’t have the right face to have a ring through her nose. Poor choice of jewelry.

Sometimes I feel like Vicki Lawrence playing “Mama.”

Lazy, Hazy Days

The two kids next door have been coming over and brushing the horses and taking them for walks (leading them) in the field. These pictures were taken at 6:00 in the full sun, or what would be full sun if the skies weren’t full of smoke.

Shane and Blue Top

Dusty and Brianna


The horses look ready for a nap. Blue Top loses interest in anything that doesn’t involve food. Dusty is thinking up new tricks. The thing he tried today was to just plant his feet and “forget” how to lead. It doesn’t take much to help him recall, but usually involves popping him on the butt with something.

I FINALLY heard from DMV. My driving test is on July 8 in Folsom. That’s a relief, I just don’t drive downtown often enough to know where I’m going or how to get there. I can actually find my way around Fresno or Bakersfield easier, having attended many chicken shows there. I know Folsom fairly well. Wish me luck.

There is a test for the car as well as for me. Two of the things they will check for are: glove compartment door is secured so that it will not come open during the test; has a passenger seat permanently attached to the vehicle. Maybe they think I’m from Rio Linda.

Summer Solstice

This is a scene from my new, almost spotless (for Sloughhouse) bathroom. Plus cat. It was taken last week.

This morning the house was still pretty clean, but the bathroom was a little shabby. Someone never taught their son not to use the decoration towels. Someone never taught their son not to leave towels and dirty clothes on the floor. So I had to do that. I have a tried-and-true method. First I dump a little water on the clothes. Then I announce, “I’m sorry, I should have told you guys not to leave clothes on the floor. The cats will pee on them.”

The BD party last night was also a celebration of the summer solstice. The revelers were out until dawn, trekking down the farm roads. Wallowing in irrigation ditches. Howling at the moon.

I didn’t hear a peep out of Rudy, not even when he made his morning rounds and found campers on his lawn. I guess he figured the raccoons would stay away without his screaming at them.

I had low blood pressure when I got up (75/45) and it stuck with me for a while. It makes me have to sit down to do things, and I don’t think exactly straight. So when I made some banana muffins it was entertaining. I couldn’t find the blender. It’s right on the counter, where it always is, but I couldn’t see it. Then I creamed the melted butter and flour instead of butter and sugar, and wondered why the dough was lumpy. No problem, I threw in some cinnamon chips (like chocolate chips, only cinnamon flavored) and it all worked out. I’ll put the recipe at the end of this post. It’s obviously foolproof.

Sure, Dr. C - sign me up for that hypertension class.

The house got cleaned before the gang left. The chickens got fed and watered, I was brought a sack of ice from the Corn Stand and I have a new pitcher of sun tea. I’m set for the day. Nap time.

Banana Muffins
Bake at 400 for 25 minutes

In a blender, combine
5 bananas
1 peeled orange or apple
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
Smoosh it all together and let it sit.

While this sits, put
1 cup margarine or butter (or a combination) in a mixing bowl. Put it in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften. Then cream in
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Add the banana mixture and blend. Add all at once
3 cups flour
1 cup walnuts

Mix together. Dough should be solid enough so you can overload paper lined muffin cups. Dump in another half cup of flour, if necessary.

If you can find cinnamon chips, mix in half the package. Chocolate chips would also work. Or leave the muffins naked. That's another way to celebrate the Summer Solstice.

Don't Make Plans

This is another of my life lessons: Don’t make plans. I have already learned this, but sometimes I forget.

Last night I stayed up until midnight reading the new Stephanie Plum book. It’s the fourteenth in the series, the author - Janet Evanovich - writes only one new book in the series every year. It’s a long-awaited event and the ritual is to rush out and buy the book and then sit down and read it all at once. Well, my ritual anyway.

So when I woke up at 5 a.m. after reading until late, my PLAN was to go to work early, get home early, and take a nap,

My office mate, Mellie, snapped this pic of me at my desk, hard at work. Please note a few things: I have an Apple Cinema display, nothing but the best for my tired old eyes. I have my own keyboard so if I get mad and beat on it, it’s OK if I break it. I have an original Lobenberg painting on the wall behind me, and an original Plumer tile drawing on the shelf. (This means I have good taste.) Oh yes, and my ficus tree is thriving.

Anyway, I got my work done and got home early. Even though it was over 100 today, the house with it’s extra insulation was fairly cool. I got a big glass of iced tea and settled in my favorite chair with a cat on my lap, both of us heading for nap time.

There was a little knock on the door. The girl from across the street had come over to brush the horses. I had to get up and go find halters for her, help with the goat, and show her how to keep the gate secure. I didn’t mind, the horses really needed brushing, and horse-crazy girls are dear to my heart.

Back to the chair. I managed half a snore before Bob came in from working at the Corn Stand. He started rattling off his plans for the weekend, which pretty much involved partying from tonight through Sunday night. A lot of it would be at our house. So much for napping. Ever.

If I hadn’t made a plan, I would have had no company all weekend. As usual, though, life is better without my plans. Cindy and Scott stopped by. He’s practicing driving. Eeek.

The first party started an hour later. A 21st birthday party for Julie, who we’ve known since her birth. The kids all went to Folsom for dinner, then came back here for a river party. I’m sort of dizzy trying to sort them out. There are ‘Dorfers, 4-H camp staff, the World of Warcraft team, including the guy from Toronto. And they all know each other. And I love seeing them.

I’m going to bed and hope the house is reasonably clean in the a.m.

No Hair Day

I was having such a good day, it seemed like the right time to call DMV and see what’s up with my driver’s license this week. I had received their forms 5-15, taken them to the Dr. 5-16, the doctor’s office said they were mailed 5-30.

DMV says it “processed” the forms 6-5 and sent them to a reviewer 6-10. It may be another 3-4 weeks before he gets to them.

That’s 4 months without a renewed driver’s license.

I told the DMV person I wasn’t pleased with their service. She got on her high horse and said, “WELL, if you had returned the forms in May like you were SUPPOSED to, this wouldn’t be a problem!”

“Oh yes,” I said. “Those would be the forms I NEVER GOT.”

“I’m not authorized to discuss this with you,” she replied.

“By the way,” I added. “I never got an official letter telling me my license was suspended, either.”

She said. “That was attached to your file. You were already told you could be suspended in the May letter.”

“Oh yes,” I said. “That would be the letter I just told you I NEVER GOT.”

So I googled “DMV lawyers.” I haven’t called the law firm yet. They are set up to deal with truckers who have too many speeding tickets and drunk drivers who have lost their licenses. And, frankly, I hate the idea of spending a lot of money just because the Federal Government didn’t deliver the State Government’s mail. Assuming it was ever sent.

I always wonder, when presented with a challenging situation, what the lesson is that I’m supposed to learn. Of course, the situation is ongoing and the lesson at this point may not be obvious. But here is a possibility: I will learn how to deal with a new hairdo after I’ve pulled all my hair out in frustration.

Cheers!
Baldo

Zonked With the Hose

Aunt Bea used to claim that Jack would stand out in the yard with a hose, watering for hours. He’d turn their clay soil to gumbo. Luckily the trees in the yard were mostly willows. “His brains just leave him when he has a hose in his hand,” she said.

It’s true, your brains do leave. All week I’ve come home from work, changed my clothes, and gone back out to sit and hand water the flower garden until dark. I’ve found an excuse for this, if someone catches me. I’ll say I’m freeing myself from my ego, as Eckhard Tolle recommends. Creating a moment of mental silence.

The garden is looking great. I spent a week trying to pull weeds. Susie showed up and finished the other 7/8ths in about an hour, and spread mulch over the whole area as well. The lady is a hard worker.

Trudy is still on her nest. I have to apologize to her for saying she didn't have enough patience to hatch an egg. Bob climbed up and took a look while she was off the nest for a few minutes yesterday and said there’s nothing there. I found an empty egg shell in the yard, peafowl size. It had no remnant of veins in it, it looked like an unfertilized egg that maybe she stepped on after the shell wore thin. As long as she’s on a nest, though, the Patoodeh family isn’t wandering.

Bob has an interesting evening lined up. The people in his World of Warcraft group are going to the airport to meet one of their fellow players who is flying in from Toronto to stay a few days. Some other folks I know have met new friends on the internet. It’s today’s version of pen pals.

Yesterday evening as I was watering, the fellow from across the street (a newcomer) dropped by with his two boys. They were riding bikes around the field. The youngest boy was riding behind his dad in a kid seat. It seems like only yesterday I used to put Bob in one of those and rode around the field every evening. Because he spoke very well at a very young age, I had to listen to him complain that he couldn’t see because my butt was too big.

As I type, the boy is cooking his dinner. Tonight it’s hot dogs and flour tortillas. Mitzi and I first discovered this culinary delight on trail rides 30 years ago. It was a step up from triscuits and tuna right out of the can.

Stress at Kaiser

This morning I planned 3 things at the Rancho Cordova Kaiser. See the physical therapist, have a blood test, and try the blood pressure thing again.

Blood pressure and blood test in the same morning was asking for trouble. It has taken me 60 years to be able to appear mature in the face of a blood test, and it takes a lot of self control and mental preparation. This a.m. was no different.

I got to the lab, signed in, and took a seat in the waiting room. Almost immediately we could hear wailing at the far end of the building. It got louder and louder. Finally the source of the noise was dragged, literally, into the lab waiting room.

It was a little boy, maybe 8 years old. His mom had him in a death grip, carrying him kicking and screaming “noooooooo, they can’t have my blood!” The dad was riding point and looked like he was ready to chase the boy down and tackle him if he got away. A sister who looked a couple of years older trailed behind, her arms pulled inside her T-shirt, as if that would keep evil, needle-bearing nurses away from them.

The waiting room was full of old farts. Half of us were indignant at having our magazine-reading time interrupted. Half of us (my hand is raised) wanted to shriek “me too!!” grab the kid, and make a run for it.

His parents might have thanked us. But all us old kids controlled ourselves and made it through. For some reason, the nurse at the desk did not take the little boy out of sequence. Did she really think the rest of us would protest if he was allowed to cut in line?

PT was good. My BP was lower than ever in a doctor’s office - 145/72. Maybe I had actually died in terror in the lab? My new best friend at the BP station has a name - Natalie.

Home Decorator

What a deal! I not only got my house cleaned, I got the services of a home decorator. When I got home today, it was so wonderful to walk in and see everything bright and shiny. You know how, when you live in a place for a while, you get accustomed to seeing things one way? You know, the keys go in this drawer, the throw rug always stays over there...or maybe you’re more creative than I am.

Well, the ladies arranged all the pillows on the couch before they left.


As you can see, they don’t match. I have 2 sets of pillows. One set is sort of western and is black and russet, the other is tan and green, lighter and airier. They don't match. I only put out one set at a time and keep the darker set out most of the time so it won’t get stained from hair goop if Bob has friends who stay over and sleep on the couch. And the red pillow doesn’t go with either set, it’s a miscellaneous Valentine present. Come to think of it, the chicken pillow doesn’t match either.

There were a couple of other things that were rearranged and it was pretty neat. I thought wow! I never would have thought to do that! I don’t think I’ll leave all the pillows out, though.

Rudy is getting friendlier. He’s been coming around and plopping down 5 or 6 feet away while I’m pulling weeds. This afternoon he was in the front yard when I came home and when I went back out to work in the yard he was waiting for me.

Getting the House Cleaned

I finally gave up trying to clean house from the walker. Yes, I CAN do it. It just takes forever and is frustrating. And I don’t even get 1 room under control before I have to start all over again. So I’m having Merry Maids come and muck this joint out. We’ll see if they’re still smiling after a good dose of country dirt and cat hair. (I hope so, I want them to come back.)

Anyway, Bob and I have been putting things away to get ready for them. He is bewildered about why we’re doing this - “Aren’t you paying THEM to clean?” he asks as he lovingly stores his beloved Legos out of harm’s way.

His bedroom is not on the cleaning schedule. Once again, no one can get to the floor through the boxes of books on tape and dirty clothes. The den still looks nice, though. He’s been keeping it tidy. Sort of.

I forgot to add yesterday that the house wren family has moved out of their bird house. One afternoon as I was sitting at the computer, I timed their food deliveries. The parents came to the nest every 65 seconds with food for the babies. Wrens are very hard workers. I’ve read, though, that they can also be aggressive and nasty to other birds if there are too many of them in one area and there is competition for nesting space.

This morning on the way to work I observed another family of birds. Some Canadian geese were walking single-file through the dry cow pasture on the east side of Grantline Road. They might have been heading to Waegell’s pond, but they all looked mature enough to fly. They weren’t just wandering around grazing, they were on a mission. Maybe George equipped them with cameras and had them spying on the operations at Kiefer Landfill.

Keeping Busy

As a blog reader, I like it when the writer contributes something almost every day. As a writer, I’ve found that’s not easy. Some days are just blah and there’s nothing I want to write about.

I left you hanging on several stories. Trudy is still on her nest. What I thought was a chick a week ago was actually a feather that had got stuck to a piece of wood. Rudy still misses her, but I think he knows where she is now. If she does hatch babies and they survive, I have already found homes for them. I’m gonna toss them over your back fence like someone did with Rudy and Trudy. (Not really - but I had you going, didn’t I?)

I still haven’t heard from DMV. I called them. They claim not to have received any of the medical forms. Not from Kaiser. Not from me. The one form I sent has been sent 3 times now. I faxed it twice and mailed a copy once. The last person I talked to at DMV said, “Well, we have 5 fax machines here!” I asked if she wanted me to fax a copy to each of the machines. She thought I was kidding.

I’m still working on the BP report to my doctor. Bev, who just retired from working in a hospital, asked, “you don’t really think anyone’s going to read that, do you?” I’ve been thinking about a way to make it more readable. Write it like a mystery story? Use illustrations? Make a video, with music perhaps?

I stopped by the BP station this week to visit my new best friend. She wasn’t there, the station was closed.

I haven’t seen Susie since she finished the flower garden over a month ago. That little heat wave we had stopped all the blooming. The plants are starting to perk back up, though. And the weeds are doing great. So I’ve been attempting to do some garden work on my own. I’m slow and pathetic, but am actually making some headway. Just this week a gopher moved in. I’ve been chasing it with a hose. I have a home lined up for the gopher also. One of Bob’s friends has a pet gopher snake. Or maybe I’ll throw it over your back fence.

The guys at the corn stand have been busy with new projects. They have put in two long sections of high fence to grow gourds and other climbing things. I’m going to suggest sweet peas this fall. Can you imagine being able to pick a huge bouquet of them in the spring? Big enough to moosh your nose in them?

The fence could actually turn out to be handy for other things, too. To hang clothes on if the electricity goes out or the dryer breaks. If there’s a flood, debris from my house might collect there instead of floating clear to Lodi. That’s flood insurance, Rio Linda-style.

I’m hoping something fun will come along soon and I’ll have more to write about. In the meantime, I’ll be out in front pulling weeds from my walker.

DMV Stories

Others have shared their DMV nightmares with me. These are not stories from the internet, they're things that happened to people I know.

A 14 year old girl was riding in the back seat of a car driven by an adult. She was going to be dropped off at an ATM machine. As the car neared the drop off point, the girl undid her seat belt. Admittedly, she should have waited until the car stopped. A cop saw the car in motion, the seat belt unsnapped, and pulled it over. The girl - not the driver - got a ticket for not wearing a seat belt. Now it's a couple of years later and she is denied a learner's permit because of the ticket.

A young man was attending college in another state. He was out drinking one night (legally) and decided he needed to take a cab home. He was loudly hailing a cab when he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly. When DMV in California got this report, they suspended his driver's license. (For trying to do the right thing? For NOT driving?} This was contested in court and DMV lost.

A young man was pulled over while driving a friend's car. The car, it turned out, had no insurance. The young man, who had his own car and his own insurance, was ticketed and fined for driving a car with no insurance.

The recurring theme here is that you may think you're doing the right thing, or have no idea you're doing the wrong thing, but once DMV is involved you can unwittingly get sucked into a bureaucratic cesspool.

Still haven't heard from them myself.