12 Oakdale

Three days before I was to fly to California, a Florida judge vacated  the CDC’s nationwide mask requirement on public transportation. Immediately, all the airlines and TSA said they wouldn’t enforce it while the Biden administration decided whether to appeal (they did, updates to follow). I was so happy. The New York Times readership was aghast. The couple sitting next to me on the plane wore their masks periodically, I guess to cut their odds of catching something, without actually having to wear their masks all the time. Didn’t seem rational to me, so absolutely appropriate to these crazy times. In any case, off to see Mary and grandbabies. I am still hobbling, considered getting a wheelchair at the airport, and would definitely used one at the zoo, but we decided to skip that this trip. We did go to Bella’s dance class, then picnic at Balboa Park and a short walk through the rose garden. A medium sized hawk with a striped tail landed in a tree there, perhaps a red shouldered. M...

It was the mosquito bite that was the one last pain that put me to weeping as I leaned against our bed, barely able to shuffle off to the bathroom. I was back to what I call T. Rex arms because I have to keep my elbows next to my sides to avoid sharp, stabbing pains. This is from having to lift myself up, rather than using my legs to stand. I tried using my walker, but my shoulders ache too much. I hadn’t found a place I can sit, and sleeping is impossible: I couldn’t lie on my back and turning from one side to the other was agonizing. I was a mess. And we have another damn set of screens out in the pool screen house. After more than 5 weeks of aching legs and a sore, but slightly better, upper back, I gave in and made an appointment with Kirsten at physical therapy and another one with my doctor. Thank goodness. I now have small exercises that relieve some of the pain in my legs, and which Kirsten says will strengthen my muscles and realign my pelvis. Don’t care how they work, I feel ...

I went out to get the paper this morning, and when I turned to go back to the house, Gracie was standing on the front porch. I scooped her up and tossed her inside. Wait, Gracie was inside. This is another cat, obviously from the same litter. A little bigger, perhaps because he’s a male, but just as friendly as Gracie. Is someone throwing  them out one at a time? Annie is disgusted. We are absolutely not keeping 2 new cats. The no-kill shelters aren’t taking new cats, so I guess he’s going to the Orange County Animal Shelter. Why won’t people take care of their pets? In the meantime, all three cats are roaming the house having trouble getting settled. First it was the lawn guys with their mowers and leaf blowers. Now it’s Terry replacing the 5, yes, 5 panels of screens that blew in during a windstorm a couple of weeks ago. He also reattached a piece of frame that had come unscrewed which he hopes will keep the whole huge screen house from being so wobbly. Dang, I hope so. I shudder...

I have reached my weight goal of 165# (down to, not up to). Now to try on the pants that were way too tight and see if they are worth hemming or should go to the thrift store. I used for Noom, a fairly pricey app that includes lots of reading about approaches to more than just food. Meals are recorded, encouragement given. Through the app’s social media platform, one could share thoughts with other Noomers if one were so inclined. I’m not. In a week, I have to decide where to pay for another two months. On the one hand, I got the results I wanted and think I’m good. On the other hand, perhaps I should continue recording what I eat and reading their helpful lessons, to be sure the philosophy has really taken hold. The renewal is automatic unless I cancel. Good planning on their part. Five weeks later, and I still haven’t recovered from wrestling that heavy kayak out of the car and carrying it to the porch, having to turn it sideways to get through the door. My upper back, between my sho...

As soon as the pounding started, Annie went to ground under the guest bed and hasn’t been seen since. Gracie (yes, the new kitten now has a name) roamed around, finally going to sleep under one of the rattan swivel chairs I retrieved when my stepmom Marcella died. They were Mom’s, and Betsy would like to have them. Since it’s extremely unlikely anyone is going to ship them to her in New Zealand, they are my living room chairs.  Our roofer had warned us all the scrapping and hammering would be loud, but I didn’t understand it would be relentless until the workers finished. I escaped to a Tree Board meeting, where we voted to buy the services of a company who will use LiDAR (3-D laser scanning) to inventory every tree in the Town of Windermere. I had suggested we do this, but previous inventories had been on foot and extremely expensive. Tonya, head of town maintenance, found a European company that wants to get a toehold in the US market and would give us such a deal. Well done! We ...

Except for one clue, I finished this cryptic puzzle from the Wall Street Journal. My first ever! I started trying cryptics about a year ago, and usually figured the answers to 3 or 4 clues. The rest were mysterious. At first, even when I had the answers and tried matching them to their clues, I couldn’t understand how cryptics work. This was galling. I do the New York Times crossword puzzle and Spelling Bee every day and always finish. I play Wordl, the new word game of 6-chances to figure out the day’s 5-letter word, and usually get it in 3 to 4 tries. Cryptics just stumped me.  Perhaps this one was particularly easy, but I’d like to think my brain now understands the approach I need to take for this kind of game. Since the WSJ rotates the type of Saturday word puzzle, it will be a few weeks before I get another one to try. 

  I’ve always said I can’t afford a free cat, or even a free dog, for that matter. But what were we to do when we got home from camping, and a young cat began entwining itself around our legs as we tried to offload our truck? Purring, friendly, and almost tripping us, it scooted in the house every time we opened the door. Annie was not impressed. Plus, the temperature was predicted to drop to freezing that night. I took its picture and posted a “found” notice on NextDoor. We decided to let it sleep in the garage, with the door just barely open so it could leave and find its way home. Just in case it were hungry, I gave it a scoop of cat food and a bowl of water. The next morning, my NextDoor notice had several “likes” (?), but no one was missing a cat. This is not a feral kitty. It loves people and expects to be petted and picked up. Annie is still not impressed, even when the kitten hisses at her. We decided to buy flea medicine for both cats and move the wool cat bed which Annie ...