Lloyd Journey: August 2021

We started the month off celebrating Max’s completion of the Tahoe Rim Trail. Michelle had a special T-shirt made for his homecoming and it didn’t take him long to get back into the swing of everyday living. He had a unique homecoming present from his orthodontist as well. Two days after he got back, he got his braces off. Just before Max got home, we had our special July date with Karissa, a little late. We had breakfast at Huckleberry’s, then went to Petroglyph to paint a ceramic. Unfortunately, Petroglyph is closed on Mondays so we headed over to Handel’s for ice cream. The next day was our trip with her to South Shore to pick up Max, so we didn’t get back to Petroglyph until Wednesday. She picked out a bank of 3 stacked owls. We picked it up a week later with her. It turned out great!!

School started on August 11. Michelle started her student teaching at Rocklin High School as well, so Rog and I will be helping out with school transportation. We take both kids to school every other day. So fun to be able to see them so often!! Karissa auditioned for the next play with her theater group and will be in Moana. She is busy with rehearsals many evenings. Michelle gave me a couple of bolts of cloth months ago and I finally put them to use. I recovered the window shades in the living room and made a new cover for the futon in the office. I had planned to do this sewing project when Rog was on the trail since I usually take over the house and don’t clean up until I’m done. With Rog home, I had to be a little bit neater.

Meanwhile, Rog finished up the entertainment center. He completed the drawers and mounted the sound bar. Looking great! And I have already filled it up. All of our electronic gadgets are now together in one place. This freed up a lot of cabinet space in the project room. I helped Rog organize his train stuff and we now have our project table back.

The Tahoe Rim Hike caused postponement of birthday celebrations. Ryan and Beth took us to Jake’s at Tahoe for our annual lunch, complete with hula pie. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed a meal out on the lower deck. It wasn’t even too smoky.

The rest of the month in Rocklin was unbearably smoky. We have the Dixie Fire up north that has been burning for over a month and is less than 50% contained. Then another fire started up near Placerville, the Calgon Fire. In between them, there was the River Fire off the Bear River in Colfax and several small brush fires. The air quality stinks and by the end of the month, it was unhealthy and hard to breathe. I feel lucky that I am safe in my home and feel so much compassion for those endangered, evacuated, or who lost everything. My throat may be sore, but my heart aches. Rog gave me a special day off to celebrate my birthday that we really didn’t celebrate last month. He made eggs in a frame for breakfast, and BBQ’d chicken for dinner. We took a trip to the mall to see what has changed since we were last there 2 years ago and I ended up buying a new swimsuit at Macy’s. After dinner, we went to Handel’s for ice cream. LOVE that place!! It was a great day. Max came over after school to do some yard work. He and Rog got the pond cleared of excess reeds and he found a leak in the waterfall. Thought that was the one, but the water level continued to drop so we will still have to work on that. He and Rog were able to help me get the new slipcover on the futon. So a good workout for him! Karissa’s birthday was celebrated by the family with dinner at the Blooms’. Karissa asked us to follow a rainbow theme so Rog and I went out and bought some bright colored shirts and then I clipped silver tinsel to my hat to look like rain and Rog wore a big red bow ….rain / bow. Karissa couldn’t figure it out at first either! But we had scrumptious Asian food with rainbow cupcakes for dessert. Karissa got what she asked for...a hover board. She was so excited. Max refinished his old skateboard for her as well so now she has plenty of opportunities to hurt herself.