NEOS LOG July 2023

We started the month with cards at our place with the Nordstroms. Then the next day was Rog’s birthday. He had a leisurely day with both F1 and Indy races. I BBQ’d a tri-tip for dinner and even made him a cake. His present from me was a year subscription to F1TV so he doesn’t have to watch F1 in the early morning hours…he can watch on demand. Easier on both of us. The following weekend, Rog headed to San Jose with 3 other karate nerds to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Northern CA SKA. Beth and Ryan had everyone over to their place for the July birthdays. Weather was absolutely perfect. After a week of temps over 100, it was a refreshing 86. Almost cold!!! We will remember the day as a little nerve wracking with helicopters flying overhead and streets full of cops. An inmate had escaped from Sutter Roseville Hospital and was sighted between our place and theirs. They found him 2 days after the escape hiding near a creek in Rocklin, tired and hungry.

With Max on summer break, we were able to spend a little time with him. Lunch at Don Quixote’s and then down to El Dorado Hills to see Guardians of the Galaxy. Great film and nice to catch up on the life of Max. Rog’s project this month was the playhouse roof. It is wood shake and had a major leak. Since it is hard to find new shake, Rog took all of the shake off of the backside of the playhouse (which nobody ever sees) and used all of the shakes that were still in decent condition to replace the broken shake on the front half. Then he put on a new roof with asphalt shingles. Then make a new ridge. It looks great.

At the end of the month Karissa recruited the whole family to help her try to win tickets to the Taylor Swift Concert. Mix 96 was playing a word scramble game 4 times a day for 3 days. We each submitted answers to the puzzles via text and the winner was supposed to be drawn from those submissions. We all sat by the phone to claim the prize but nobody called. Never heard who won the contest but we can’t say we didn’t try. We thought we had clinched the deer problem but I guess our yard is just too tempting. We chased away a doe who was eyeing our new PVC addition and 3 hours later, she figured it out and got in the yard. This time Rog moved the van before we chased her out. Then we bought fake ivy fence covering and covered about 2 ⁄ 3 of the fence. If that doesn’t work, we’ll cover the remaining third.

We took Karissa to Doran Beach in Bodega Bay for 3 nights of camping. We drove out of days of 110 degree weather to 68….and a horrendous amount of wind. Karissa slept in her tent and got very little rest the first night but did better the rest of the trip. Even though she had to be exhausted, she was a delight to be with. Always smiling and eager to help. We took a side trip up to Goat Rock Beach and then stopped at Captain Davey’s for ice cream on the way back. In the afternoons, we relaxed on the beach while Karissa played on her boogie board, dug holes in the sand and built a sand castle. In the evenings, we played cards and word games. We had such a good time with her!!!