ROAD TRIP.
to Fairfield. 80 miles Northwest of here. Home of the Jelly Belly Factory, the Budweiser Bottling Plant and SePay Groves Olive Oil. Unfortunately the factories were not in production. So we sampled beer, participated in a taste test for "bad beer", bought Belly Flops and heard how Olive Oil can cure almost everything but cancer. It was a nice diversion from real life for awhile. The picture with Mr Jelly Belly will up as soon as Vicki gets it scanned.
"Made in a factory that manufactures peanut butter". The pretzels they gave us at Bud had that on the bag. I didn't think much of it. On Sunday I woke up with a swollen throat. Took a benadryl (as in one capsule only), ate Breakfast ala Lark (cinnamon rolls and bacon), read one section of the paper and crashed until 6:00 that night. Potent stuff. I do have an EpiPen, but the swelling wasn't that bad. So, I add pretzels made in a factory that prodces peanut butter to the list of don't eats.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Nuts to Allergies
Nice test grid, huh?
Mystery solved. 57 pin pricks later and I appear to be allergic to nuts. Tested positive for almonds and peanuts. Who'd a thought? 51 years old and suddenly developing food allergies. I have to abstain from any kind of nut for 3 weeks, and since I'm on vacation in less than 3 weeks, I might as well extend it through Spain. This would be no big deal, BUT.....the allergist decides I should also abstain from chocolate and Diet Pepsi. How the Hell am I supposed to go 5 weeks without chocolate or Diet Pepsi. Especially when I'm trying to put together a budget? This will be torture. At least I wasn't allergic to cats.
Updates
Doesn't seem like the last time I posted was Feb 18th. Things have either been hectic or deadly dull.
To catch up:
**17 days until VACATION! One of our group checked into getting us a round-trip limo to the Sac airport so we didn't have to drive at o'dark thirty in the morning (our flight leaves at 6:30 AM). The initial estimate was $50 each, but has now gone up to $87 each because the limo can't accomodate luggage for 9-10 ladies. Personally, I'm taking one small/medium suitcase, but I've traveled with these ladies before and they pack the house. So we're getting a 10-passenger bus. Doesn't matter to me...I just don't want to have to drive.
**Ceil's retirement party is today. She actually leaves next Wednesday.
**Lark retires "this month" as he likes to tell me.
**No more excitement in the neighborhood since the 9 patrol car/shotgun possible stolen car.
**Vicki's going to be a grandma again. Her oldest son this time.
**Vicki's hubby Jason is on mandatory every other week furloughs since he works for Arnold.
**Allergies. I've been having weird allergic reactions to something lately. The first time, my throat swelled. Not the point of being scary, but more like there's something there I want to swallow but can't. The next day, I'm sitting in IHop with Kathy having breakfast and my right eye swells up. A couple of Benadryls and I'm good. But it keeps happening at random times to assorted parts of my body, mostly upper torso, but also on my feet.
Monday, I'm in a meeting at work and my chest starts itching like crazy. Yep, there's a welt. Later the same day, I'm in my boss' office and I notice she's staring at me. My right eye had swelled again, plus my back was itching. By the time I bullied, or agressively requested to get in to see my doctor that day...
Receptionist: "How about tomorrow at 9:15"
Puffy Patient: "How about today?"
I had welts on my back, chest, behind my ear and my eye was looking pretty bad. My doc takes one look at me and says "you're allergic to something". Well, duh!
She also says "there's a lot of crap out there right now," Love those technical terms. Anyway, she prescribed Prednasone (no random drug tests for me), continue the Benadryl, have blood tests and see an Allergist (today at 10:30). I haven't puffed up since then, but it's been hit and miss anyway. I can just see it, she'll tell me I'm allergic to cats. if so, I guess I'll become a benadryl junkie.
**Lark is also having his annual coughing, stuffed up allergy problems. His are more normal and are due to pollen. He'll drain then cough for weeks. Last night he went to bed at 6:30 and coughed for an hour, only he didn't know it. I woke him up to give him a shot of cough syrup and he didn't even realize he'd been coughing. But it worked, he got to sleep and so did I...eventually.
The Culprit>>>>>>>>>>>
They're pretty, but deadly.
*While Lark snoozed, I was on my little pc and watching back to back to back episodes of NCIS. My pusher Kathy has finally gotten me hooked and I now have to have my daily DiNozzo fix.
Guess I've yammered on long enough that now I have to go to work. Can't miss those daily budget meetings.
Hasta la vista, Baby! ( a shout out to our gov and the current bane of my existence)
To catch up:
**17 days until VACATION! One of our group checked into getting us a round-trip limo to the Sac airport so we didn't have to drive at o'dark thirty in the morning (our flight leaves at 6:30 AM). The initial estimate was $50 each, but has now gone up to $87 each because the limo can't accomodate luggage for 9-10 ladies. Personally, I'm taking one small/medium suitcase, but I've traveled with these ladies before and they pack the house. So we're getting a 10-passenger bus. Doesn't matter to me...I just don't want to have to drive.
**Ceil's retirement party is today. She actually leaves next Wednesday.
**Lark retires "this month" as he likes to tell me.
**No more excitement in the neighborhood since the 9 patrol car/shotgun possible stolen car.
**Vicki's going to be a grandma again. Her oldest son this time.
**Vicki's hubby Jason is on mandatory every other week furloughs since he works for Arnold.
**Allergies. I've been having weird allergic reactions to something lately. The first time, my throat swelled. Not the point of being scary, but more like there's something there I want to swallow but can't. The next day, I'm sitting in IHop with Kathy having breakfast and my right eye swells up. A couple of Benadryls and I'm good. But it keeps happening at random times to assorted parts of my body, mostly upper torso, but also on my feet.
Monday, I'm in a meeting at work and my chest starts itching like crazy. Yep, there's a welt. Later the same day, I'm in my boss' office and I notice she's staring at me. My right eye had swelled again, plus my back was itching. By the time I bullied, or agressively requested to get in to see my doctor that day...
Receptionist: "How about tomorrow at 9:15"
Puffy Patient: "How about today?"
I had welts on my back, chest, behind my ear and my eye was looking pretty bad. My doc takes one look at me and says "you're allergic to something". Well, duh!
She also says "there's a lot of crap out there right now," Love those technical terms. Anyway, she prescribed Prednasone (no random drug tests for me), continue the Benadryl, have blood tests and see an Allergist (today at 10:30). I haven't puffed up since then, but it's been hit and miss anyway. I can just see it, she'll tell me I'm allergic to cats. if so, I guess I'll become a benadryl junkie.
**Lark is also having his annual coughing, stuffed up allergy problems. His are more normal and are due to pollen. He'll drain then cough for weeks. Last night he went to bed at 6:30 and coughed for an hour, only he didn't know it. I woke him up to give him a shot of cough syrup and he didn't even realize he'd been coughing. But it worked, he got to sleep and so did I...eventually.
The Culprit>>>>>>>>>>>
They're pretty, but deadly.
*While Lark snoozed, I was on my little pc and watching back to back to back episodes of NCIS. My pusher Kathy has finally gotten me hooked and I now have to have my daily DiNozzo fix.
Guess I've yammered on long enough that now I have to go to work. Can't miss those daily budget meetings.
Hasta la vista, Baby! ( a shout out to our gov and the current bane of my existence)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
SWAT UPDATE
Rumor has it that my neighbors were told by the police (see post below)that a white car had been stolen so they were checking checking hers. Yeah right. 8 patrol cars responding "Stealth" with shotguns for a possible stolen car? Uh huh. There is definitely more to this story.
On a positive note, here's a shot from the excitement on Tuesday:
On a positive note, here's a shot from the excitement on Tuesday:
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
WEDDINGS, RAINBOWS AND POLICE WITH SHOTGUNS
OH MY.............
Weddings:
Ever wonder where wedding traditions come from - like throwing the garter, tossing the bouquet, veils, etc? Lark & I went to a wedding on Saturday and on the way home he started talking about this, so I challenged him to look it up. There are lots of theories on the internet, but here are a couple of my favorites.
1. In ancient (whatever that describes) times, it was thought to be good luck if you had a piece of the brides dress. To avoid having her dress ripped off, it is believed that the garter and bouquet became a substitute. Something to throw at the guests who were grabbing for the dress.
2. Some believe the garter is the symbol of the chastity belt and by removing it from the bride, the groom is signifying that she will lose her virginity to him. At one time bride's wore two garters. One for the groom to remove at the reception and one for "later".
3. My favorite, which must have been before anyone invented locks...guests would sneak in the bed chamber while the couple were consumating their marriage and throw their discarded clothes on them. The person who could hang a stocking off of either of the couple's nose would be granted great luck. I'm assuming this is because other protruding parts would be otherwise occupied.
Rainbows:
Cloudy, windy and rainy for the last leg of the Amgen Tour of California. Everyone is all a dither over Lance Armstrong coming to town. He didn't win, but there was GODD excitement in Modesto for a change. And when I got home from work there was a rainbow over my house. All together now - Ahhhhh. Too bad I have to leave in a few minutes for the Board of Supervisors meeting and spoil that happy glow.
Shotguns:
Last night about 9:30 I went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. My neighbor had a UHaul in front of her house on Sunday and Monday, but she always has one relative or another moving in or out, so I thought nothing of it. As I'm drinking my water I notice there are a lot of cars around the UHaul. I'm thinking they are having a moving party. Then I noticed they had light bars on them!. When I turned off my kitchen light to get a better view, I found that there were 8 Police Cars at various angles in my street. None had the lights flashing, none arrived with sirens. Makes you wonder what kind of call generates 8 Stealth responses. Anyway, Lark & I watched for quite sometime. At one point 4 of the officers approached my neighbors car and popped the trunk. I didn't see anyone turn away and puke so I'm relatively certain there was no body inside. But they searched that car several times. The UHaul was blocking most of my view of the house, but my next door neighbor had the misfortune of trying to come home after work and get into her garage thru the maze of patrol cars. She reported several officers in the front yard with shotguns. I did see one shotgun (with officer) leave. Then all of a sudden 6 of the police officers returned to their vehicles and took off in the same direction in a hurry. The remaining 2 stuck around for awhile and then searched the UHaul and left. Lots of potential excitement, but in the end...boring.
Weddings:
Ever wonder where wedding traditions come from - like throwing the garter, tossing the bouquet, veils, etc? Lark & I went to a wedding on Saturday and on the way home he started talking about this, so I challenged him to look it up. There are lots of theories on the internet, but here are a couple of my favorites.
1. In ancient (whatever that describes) times, it was thought to be good luck if you had a piece of the brides dress. To avoid having her dress ripped off, it is believed that the garter and bouquet became a substitute. Something to throw at the guests who were grabbing for the dress.
2. Some believe the garter is the symbol of the chastity belt and by removing it from the bride, the groom is signifying that she will lose her virginity to him. At one time bride's wore two garters. One for the groom to remove at the reception and one for "later".
3. My favorite, which must have been before anyone invented locks...guests would sneak in the bed chamber while the couple were consumating their marriage and throw their discarded clothes on them. The person who could hang a stocking off of either of the couple's nose would be granted great luck. I'm assuming this is because other protruding parts would be otherwise occupied.
Rainbows:
Cloudy, windy and rainy for the last leg of the Amgen Tour of California. Everyone is all a dither over Lance Armstrong coming to town. He didn't win, but there was GODD excitement in Modesto for a change. And when I got home from work there was a rainbow over my house. All together now - Ahhhhh. Too bad I have to leave in a few minutes for the Board of Supervisors meeting and spoil that happy glow.
Shotguns:
Last night about 9:30 I went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. My neighbor had a UHaul in front of her house on Sunday and Monday, but she always has one relative or another moving in or out, so I thought nothing of it. As I'm drinking my water I notice there are a lot of cars around the UHaul. I'm thinking they are having a moving party. Then I noticed they had light bars on them!. When I turned off my kitchen light to get a better view, I found that there were 8 Police Cars at various angles in my street. None had the lights flashing, none arrived with sirens. Makes you wonder what kind of call generates 8 Stealth responses. Anyway, Lark & I watched for quite sometime. At one point 4 of the officers approached my neighbors car and popped the trunk. I didn't see anyone turn away and puke so I'm relatively certain there was no body inside. But they searched that car several times. The UHaul was blocking most of my view of the house, but my next door neighbor had the misfortune of trying to come home after work and get into her garage thru the maze of patrol cars. She reported several officers in the front yard with shotguns. I did see one shotgun (with officer) leave. Then all of a sudden 6 of the police officers returned to their vehicles and took off in the same direction in a hurry. The remaining 2 stuck around for awhile and then searched the UHaul and left. Lots of potential excitement, but in the end...boring.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Saturday - THE RIDE HOME
Was actually smooth sailing...bad pun. At breakfast a local from Orange County told us a more direct method of hitting I-5, only it took us through downtown LA. Luckily, it was 10:30 in the morning and traffic was light. The worse thing that happened was the battery in my iPhone blew out. Luckily I had a cigarette lighter charger. Got home about 3:30. The house was all in one piece, with only 1 broken cat bowl. They had broke another just before we left. I guess they thought it was fun. I think it was Baxter trying to clean up after Scooby, who eats on the counter, and got a little aggressive. Kathy even cleaned our stove. Good deal. Now if she'd just do the laundry.
Day 7 - WILL THIS SPINNING EVER STOP?
The ride home was bumpier than the ride down. Day 7 was at sea and somewhat choppy. I spent the day in a horizontal position. Lark went up to the Golf simulator with Mark at 10:00. They were supposed to play 2 hours, but only did one because every time the bent down to tee-up the ball, the room would spin. Dinner was had at the buffet so we could eat at our pace. I crashed about 7:00. Lark wasn't far behind.
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