October, 2020

Another month of lockdown, masks and social distancing. Fun stuff. The kids came for their craft day and we made mummy hands. Michelle and Rog sat patiently while Karissa and Max wrapped their hands with masking tape. The first layer went on backwards so it wouldn’t stick to their skin, then the second layer went on sticky side down. They had put a straw against the palm at the beginning. When done, they cut up alongside the straw and peeled off the “glove” they had made. I gave them glow sticks to put inside so they would light up at night. They put them in the front lawn on Halloween.

Mid month, we spent a fantastic weekend in a house up at Tahoe. We celebrated our 50th anniversary with the family a little early so that we wouldn’t have to hassle any snowy roads. It was a gorgeous weekend….perfect weather, fabulous food, and lots and lots of fun. The kids did all of the arranging and cooking. Ryan found a place where I didn’t have to worry about stairs and Rog could admire some great woodwork. We had a HUGE master bedroom suite and bathroom with a view of the lake. Max made fires in the living room fireplace each night and Karissa tried out our jacuzzi tub and the outdoor hot tub. Beth and Ryan drove us up and whipped up a BBQ steak dinner with all of the trimmings and cheesecake for dessert. Karissa gave us a blanket that took her months...she used her finger knitting to make it. It was warm and cozy and full of love. We played Clue together and the family was gracious enough to let Rog and I win. The next day, we drove to Nevada to look at property with Beth and Ryan and then met up with the Blooms for lunch at NorthShore. We ate outside at California Burger and then spent an eventful afternoon; Blooms’ car got towed for parking in the Raley’s lot and they retrieved it for a few pennies, and our cabin gave us a close view of a mama bear and her cubs as they sauntered down the fence line and then put on a show playing and relaxing in the trees. That evening, Blooms did dinner with 3 enchilada choices served with corn bread and salad followed by a dutch oven cobbler made by Max. Entertainment after dinner was provided with some interesting Twister competitors. End of the evening, Michelle was the champ. Sunday morning, we cleaned and packed and headed home, all of us agreeing that it was a great weekend. For me, it was the perfect way to celebrate our 50th. Couldn’t have been any nicer.

Due to the lockdown, Rog’s karate group had to cancel their annual Karatefest. They have been able to retain most of their members through all of this though. Rog got one bench done for the new table he made. I bought some red cushions for it and it is perfect.

Our other project this month was making a solar water heater for the tilapia tank. As the weather gets cooler at night, it has become obvious they are going to need a lot of heat. We bought a glass top table at ReStore for $15 and designed a frame based on that size. I rolled Pex tubing and spray painted everything black. We hooked up a pump and we were in business. We even bought a solar panel to power it, but I want to make sure it works as is for a while.

Some of our mornings are starting to get chilly and we discovered that our klunker (2010 Chevy Aveo) was not putting out any heat. We took it into the shop and our trusty mechanic hinted that we might want to think about getting a new car. The very next day it started rough so I started researching reliability of cars and narrowing in on what we wanted. We decided it would be a Toyota or a Honda and maybe a crossover. We decided to work through a dealership; we didn’t want to sell the Aveo to anyone. After a couple of hours with the salesman and doing a few test drives, we decided on a used Rav4. Heading into the dealership to sign papers, the salesman stopped at the display of Mirai hydrogen fuel cell cars at the front door. For just a few grand more, we could have a newer, sportier car with all the bells and whistles and free fuel for 3 years. Bottom line: they really want to sell these critters and they are a bit inconvenient right now. There are only 3 stations in the Sacramento area that have hydrogen and they aren’t always “online”. And there aren’t ANY stations outside of California. For our needs, it works fine. If we travel outside of CA, we use the van. We can schedule our fuel stops and it is only 10 miles away. Hopefully, there will be more stations in the future and the price of hydrogen will come down a bit. But I do like having zero emissions and the car is a jewel. Hard to compare with the Aveo, but what can I say?? Anything would have been an improvement.

We continue to help Michelle with getting the kids to school and home a couple of days a week. In fact, the car salesman didn’t want to let us out of his clutches and came with us to pick up Karissa while we were doing the paperwork. The grandkids got their first haircuts since the start of the lockdown. Karissa surprised us all with a drastic new style. It is so cute on her...a perfect style for her.

Our date this month was with Karissa. We went to a local Alpaca Farm. Becky showed us around her small herd, explaining all about them. They have some interesting quirks. She then showed us the yarn and showed how she spins the wool and makes alpaca products. Karissa got to feed them and even pet one; most of them don’t take kindly to being petted, but the sole male of the group was much more domesticated so tolerated it. We ordered a scarf for Karissa and will go back to get it when Becky gets it done. Then we headed to Panda Express for a chow mein dinner.

Halloween was a slow one this year. The Blooms celebrated at home. But Karissa went all out making her own outfit. Her dad let her use an old welding helmet and she attached the planets to it. She had the sun on her head...volila! A portable solar system. We headed over to see it and brought them each a sockful of treats.