Week 27

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  I hope everyone is staying cool.  We're shaking and baking here in California with earthquakes and extreme heat. It's hard to get motivated to do anything when it's so hot out, but of course it was a full week so we did what we had to do.  At least there was some fun thrown in there and a pool to retreat to.

This is how the week went for us:

Day 186- Monday, 7/5/21

We were all off for the 4th of July work holiday so today was about family time and good food.  It's rare we get a big breakfast together so we started the day with pancakes, sausage, and bacon.  There were blueberry, chocolate chip, and plain pancakes for all. Then later we enjoyed a nice summer BBQ dinner with tri-tip, corn on the cob, potato salad, baked beans, watermelon and biscuits or baguette slices--all so good and even better shared with family.

Day 187- Tuesday, 7/6/21

Today on our walk we spotted many yellow butterflies in the park and also pretty yellow weed flowers in the dying grass.  LOL!  At least the weeds are pretty and thriving in the heat even if the grass is not.  It kills me to have long pants on, but I have to wear them for work and hate having to change after so there it is.  Thankfully it's easy to swap out the shoes for something cooler.

Day 188- Wednesday, 7/7/21

It's his turn to walk Bella, and see that look.  It's a running joke between us.  We give each other the same look all the time when I'm reminding him to do things he knows he should be doing.  At least it keeps the mood light and fun because we always smile after.  Meanwhile, out back, I noticed how the evening sun was shining through the sprinkler water in a cool and refreshing way.  Say good-bye to the old fence in the background because tomorrow it will be replaced.  At least it lasted 20+ years.

 

Day 189- Thursday, 7/8/21

John sent me the first picture in the morning while I was at work when multiple crews showed up with the new wood to replace the fence. I took the second picture in the afternoon when the old wood was loaded up to be hauled out just as I got home from work.  It's all pretty much done except for a small section needing a gate.  They worked fast for such a big job.  Having multiple crews for the many sections was key.  Then not long after they left a big earthquake hit and we for sure felt it here.  Luckily there was very little damage because of where the epicenter was with this one and it's many aftershocks.  We live just north of Stockton on that map so directly west of the epicenter.  On the USGS image the one marked in red is the quake and all those above except the one at the top from Chile are after shocks.  What a day!

Day 190- Friday, 7/9/21

The fence was officially completed today. Unfortunately, they also accidently cut a sprinkler line but quickly fixed it before leaving.  It looks great but now the rest of my yard must recover as it took a beating.  We had to trim all the vegetation way back for them and then even still a lot got trampled in the process plus got less water in the extreme heat so we have some replanting to do once it cools for the season.  Our pool also needs a good cleaning before we can enjoy it, but that was all expected.  We're just happy to finally have the fence done and TGIF!  Next house project will be new exterior paint. The blazing sun really does a lot of damage to our paint here.  It's always something!

Day 191- Saturday, 7/10/21

Yesterday Brandon wrapped up his summer architecture class, and they had a showcase at the end for parents that I was able to catch but didn't get any pictures until today.  The cool part was how they used pictures of the different models the kids created to pull together an entire city at the end.  The kids were divided in different studio groups for the class and each group was in charge of designing and planning a different section of the city.  It's hard to see in the screen shot because the images are so small, but it's really cool to see on the computer when you can zoom into different areas and see all the different views. I had much more time today to play around with exploring that and all the galleries of the work done.  Not sure if this motivated him to choose this career path or not.  He's still pretty undecided, but I'm glad he tried it out and had this experience.  In other news, this afternoon made for a super busy day.  I visited and dropped off a gift for a friend recovering from a really bad bike accident on my way to attending a baby shower for my new boss.  At the end of that shower I gifted my newly retired boss with a memory book that I pulled together with contributions from all her current and past grad students and colleagues for a small in-person retirement celebration.  Thankfully it was all good fun being able to visit and celebrate with people in person regardless of the extreme triple digit temps.

Day 192- Sunday, 7/11/21

Best places to beat the heat--movie theater and the pool.  John and I went to our first actual movie in a theater today in over 18 months!  So crazy it's been that long, and we didn't even need masks.  Great flick too--suspenseful for sure.  It was so cool in the theater that I need a sweater which was immediately pulled off as soon as we stepped foot back outside. Later, after Sunday dinner, thankfully a nice cool breeze picked up so I could enjoy sitting outside watching my 3 boys play together in the pool while the sun was setting--perfect summer evening right there.

That's it!  See you next week although I might be a bit late since we're traveling to visit may parents in Texas on Tuesday.  It's almost time for our summer vacation.