Week 25

Happy Tuesday! Summer is plugging right along as we near the end of June. At least with things opening back up and mask requirements lifted for those vaccinated we actually have places to go and people to see so it will be a much different summer which is a happy thing.  It's so crazy to think the 4th of July is right around the corner. We're just hoping people keep it safe and sane so our super dry state does not burn up. We want everyone to be able to enjoy a fun and drama free holiday.

Until then here are last week's pictures:

Day 172- Monday, 6/21/21

I started the work week off with some good coffee and a mask-free work space. Yay!  It's been over a year that we've been required to wear masks everywhere on campus, but this weekend the requirement and the need to for weekly testing was lifted if vaccinated. All our masking signs were replaced with these new ones.  There are still a few places on campus like the health center or the teaching hospital where masks are still required for all, but our research lab spaces have been freed of them.  It feels so liberating! 

Day 173- Tuesday, 6/22/21

This cat--he likes to put himself in kitty jail whether it's behind bars on the stairs or in between the legs of chairs or under tables.  He's also not a fan of Justin's long work hours and must have some attention from him as soon as he walks in the door. Most nights he's not home until almost 9pm after working double shifts which we are all hoping will change soon as it's a bit much especially for 6 days/wk. Apparently the rec center is understaffed.

Day 174- Wednesday, 6/23/21

I picked our first couple tomatoes today. They are pretty small though, and I don't think we'll have a great crop because of the extreme heat and lack of water recently due to a failed drip system.  The plants seem to have recovered some but they just aren't producing much fruit.  *sigh*

Day 175- Thursday, 6/24/21

I hate to go to the store on Fridays after work so Thursdays while I'm home working remotely I usually make a quick run between meetings to stock up for the weekend.  I also get to have a nice refreshing lunch at home on these days.  I rarely have time to eat at work when I'm there so I take advantage of it when I'm working at home.  Sadly as things ramp up for summer research my remote days will soon be few and far between.

Day 176- Friday, 6/25/21

This is what Brandon's work station looks like for his summer architecture course.  He's wrapping up his first week and has 2 more weeks to go.  It's pretty low key with no grading so he can feel free to just have fun with it.  Outside in the backyard this is the only plant I currently have flowering.  My roses keep trying but the buds fry to a crisp in the heat before they have a chance to really open.  It's so sad out there and if this trend continues we'll need to replace a lot of our landscape with more drought tolerant plants.

Day 177- Saturday, 6/26/21

Time for a fun day out with friends.  We started at a winery with the Wongs and then met up the larger group in midtown for dinner and drinks.  It's been about 4 years since we've all been together like this so it was super fun.

Day 178- Sunday, 6/27/21

The bugs lately have been insane and my car especially is covered with them so it was time for a quick wash.  Back at home Bella was chilling in her favorite spot by the couch and deals with the heat by mostly sleeping the day away under the fan in the house.  She loves weekends where see can be inside and stay cooler most of the day plus she gets more attention from her peeps.  The heat has also quickly over-ripened our green bananas I just bought so time for more make more banana bread--no one is complaining and at least their not going to waste. Brandon asked if he could help this time around.

That's it for now.  Have a great holiday weekend and we'll see you on the flip side. 

 

Week 24

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  I hope everyone had a good Father's Day.  Aside from that, we also survived a heatwave, but only with the help of air conditioning and a pool.  The poor dog even had to sleep in the house at night because it was still too hot out after dark.  Those are the worst nights when there is no cool down.  This week will start off cooler but heat up again to those crazy 100's.  The break is nice but not enough. We might need to go camping or something to escape this valley heat.

Take a look at how we managed it all last week:

Day 165- Monday, 6/14/21

Most of the plants and flowers around here look tired and scorched but there are a few that can handle the heat like this pink one I spied in the morning light.  This afternoon we started a series of annual dr. appointments Justin needs to get through before heading back to school in early August.  Thankfully he has Mondays off to help us get through them all.

Day 166- Tuesday, 6/15/21

Life lessons right here--a car battery does not do well if you're sitting in the car with the ac running full blast while listening to music during your cool down time after tennis practice when the engine is not running.  The battery was already probably on it's last leg and this just pushed it over the edge.  Now he knows and has also learned how to replace a dead one.

Day 167- Wednesday, 6/16/21

I'm spending more and more time in the new lab and feeling more at home here. I'm also eagerly awaiting the day when I don't need to split my time between two buildings.  Hopefully only a couple more weeks of that.  Also this is the last week we'll need to wear masks in the lab and get weekly testing since we're all vaccinated and our state is relaxing mandates.  Yay!  Of course now that things are opening up and getting more back to normal I'm itching to travel and not just locally which is why this is my new favorite Netflix show--so many amazing places to visit and stay even on a budget. Sign me up!

Day 168- Thursday, 6/17/21

Today was miserably hot and won't be cooling down even overnight which is why some are practically living in the pool.  It's the go-to place for after work.  Even Tyler stopped by a couple times to cool off here since his place has sub-optimal cooling at best.

Day 169- Friday, 6/18/21

What is it with this kid and electronics lately?  Just days before Brandon starts an on-line summer class his laptop checks out.  To be fair it is an old hand-me down that we were thinking of replacing soon just not right now.  I guess the new one will be an early b-day present, and he couldn't be happier about that--way more fun than a new car battery.  In other news the heatwave continues with even warmer temps.  Poor Justin is having to work in that heat.  He tries to find inside jobs to do while there, like pictured above, but for the most part spends his days outside at work.  Here at home, we are once again retreating to the pool in an effort to stay cool.

Day 170- Saturday, 6/19/21

Speaking of retreating to the pool, after doing chores while binge watching more vacation home episodes, I hit the pool to cool off.  It's not something I do often because the boys are so rowdy in there but it was empty and inviting and just what I needed all to myself--for a few minutes anyway.

Day 171- Sunday, 6/20/21

Happy Father's Day!  We made John a nice brunch, swam in the pool some more, and then ordered in a nice dinner since we didn't want to turn the oven on adding unwanted heat to the house.  There was also a yummy ice-cream cake to be had.  It's great to have everyone home to celebrate and have another good family day.

That's it!  Hope to see you back next week.

Week 23

Welcome back and happy Tuesday! It's going to start to get super hot here again and we're not looking forward to that.  It's already way too dry out.  I guess that just means more time in the pool and of course a bigger PG&E bill.  Last week was pretty chill and pleasant out.  Otherwise we're just going through the motions for now but do have some fun plans coming up in the next few weeks.

Until then, here are last week's pictures:

Day 158- Monday, 6/7/21

I was out back watering tomatoes since our drip system is currently out of commission and Bella was hanging out keeping me company.  She loves to lay outside in the grass even though it's not looking so great these days. Later we went for a walk in the park and enjoyed the shade of these super green and lush trees.

Day 159- Tuesday, 6/8/21

I'm working from home today enjoying our new office chair that we got over the weekend.  Thanks John for putting it together. The last one had been used so much over the past year that it was in really bad shape and had terrible back support.  This one is WAY better and not shedding leather pieces all over the floor.  Outside it's actually very breezy and colder today so much so that Rusty decided he needed to nap on my lap after I finished up in the office and moved to the couch to watch some TV under a blanket.  It's been awhile since he's done that and hard to believe I won over the office tent he usually spend his day in.

Day 160- Wednesday, 6/9/21

Someone brought in some beautiful summer flowers to brighten up the breakroom at work.  They have great cheery colors and fun interesting shapes.  Back at home Justin parked himself on the floor after work to be closer to Rusty.  We're currently watching The Kominsky Method on Netflix with Michael Douglas and a whole bunch of other great actors.  It's pretty funny which is how Justin got roped in.

Day 161- Thursday, 6/10/21

Speaking of Justin, with him back home we sure are running the dishwasher a lot more these day.  Seems like I'm always needing to empty it so I can fill it up again.  This week he's working double shifts all week at the rec center to prep for opening day Saturday and gets there and back on his bike which he's missed while at school.  Humboldt State is not exactly bike friendly with all the hills, stairs and rain. 

Day 162- Friday, 6/11/21

We have these trees blooming yellow flowers in the neighborhood right now and they are buzzing with bees which is great to see and hear.  I was lucky enough to catch a shot of one that was not buzzing around too quickly.  By the way--TGIF!  My wine choice for tonight just so happens to have the same colors as in that tree.  Cheers to the weekend!

Day 163- Saturday, 6/12/21

Looks like it's a donut kind of day.  The sweet shop owner always gives John way more donuts than he asks for without any extra charge.  I think it's because John buys them a lot for his work crew so he's keeping the guy in business and that guy appreciates it.  In other news, true-to-form, the cat is ready to head back into his office tent.  It's right around 10 am and once he goes in we won't see him again until dinner or maybe lunchtime if meat is involved.

Day 164- Sunday, 6/13/21

Time for Sunday fun and dinner with the whole family.  Lupe joined us again and had fun playing in the pool with the boys.  She's a good sport.  Then after dinner we lit a fire, made some s'mores and watched the darkness fall upon us.  Yawn!  I'm so ready for bed.

That's it!  Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you next week.

Week 22

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  Last week was mostly about food and drinks or at least that's what I took the most pictures of as you would expect when the social scene starts to open back up again. It's been great getting back out there cautiously to meet and spend time with friends we haven't seen in way too long, and we look forward to continuing that trend.

Here's a look at how the week went:

Day 151- Monday, 5/31/21

We had a great Memorial Day kicking off summer and thinking of those who have lost their lives fighting for this country.  It was also super hot (104 degrees) so more time was spent in the pool and for dessert we cooled off with root beer floats.

 

Day 152- Tuesday, 6/1/21

Welcome to June! It most certainly feels like summer and with this heat a great deal of time this month will be spent by or in this pool.  It's almost a must have in this area to help manage the summer months.  Later I headed to Davis for dinner and drinks with the girls from work.  It was all so good--the drinks, the food, and the wonderful company.  Hopefully we can make this happen monthly now and start to rebuild those connections we crave and have missed for so long.

Day 153- Wednesday, 6/2/21

Poor kitty boy is not a fan of the new tub because the edge is too narrow for him to use as a jumping point for getting on the bathroom counter where he would normally drink from the sink.  He has no front claws which makes it harder to jump to high places without different levels to help him out. Eventually someone will take pity on him and give him a lift.  Right behind us is the view into the bedroom where he does like the new bench at the foot of the bed.  It's his favorite thing to use as a scratching post even though he has not claws to scratch with.

Day 154- Thursday, 6/3/21

Brandon asked me to make penne pasta today so that's what we had for dinner.  Now that tennis is over dinner planning and making will be so much easier.  After dinner Justin geared up to walk Bella.

Day 155- Friday, 6/4/21

John is away today for a track day with his bike while we are at Whitey's celebrating Brandon's last day of 11th grade with milkshakes.  It's kind of humid and really hot out so we baked in the car waiting for curbside delivery (hence my deflated look), but it was worth it. My baby boy is officially now a high school senior!

Day 156- Saturday, 6/5/21

This was a fun day with a great wine tasting experience at Bogle winery near us.  We met up with Deb and Doug there.  She's a college friend of over 30 years now so it was great to catch up and enjoy this beautiful day outside together.  Not too windy or too hot and the place was recently remodeled accepting reservations only so it wasn't crowed either.  

Day 157- Sunday, 6/6/21

Rusty is so cute using the banister edge as an arm rest.  This is one of his go-to resting spots. Later, after a trip to the store for supplies, Justin and I decided to use the over-ripe bananas (turned way too quickly from the excess heat) to make bread.  Yum!

That's it!  Hope to see you back next week.