(re=run from 2019) 102 degrees outside. Fires are burning in both Northern and Southern California. The once late-summer fire season is now happening in June. California heat is dry heat, low humidity, good for your hair, bad for fire. Four weeks ago we had rain. Then an explosion of pollen. Then a slow start to… Continue reading Hot, Hot, Hot
Month: August 2025
The Red-tailed Hawk and the Toddler Fence
(re-run) I’m a bird lover. I feed the song birds and the finches. I have an ongoing water supply in the form of a fountain in my back yard. I’ve planted native plants for the hummingbirds. When I hike, I am thrilled to find a hawk feather to add to my hat. Twenty-odd years ago,… Continue reading The Red-tailed Hawk and the Toddler Fence
Fix Your Past Mistakes, or Get a Million Dollars?
(re-run) A recent Facebook post asked if you’d rather go back in time and fix all of your mistakes or don’t do that and get $1,000,000 instead. That’s easy. People will take the money. What if the choice were, go back in time and fix all your mistakes or don’t (no money)? I’d say no… Continue reading Fix Your Past Mistakes, or Get a Million Dollars?
Skipping Work for Woodstock, 1969
(re-run) In 1969 Max Yasgur’s pig farm in upstate New York sounded like the place to be for three days and three nights. Frank had been delivering the Woodstock tickets for weeks on Long Island at his job as a summer letter carrier for the U.S. Post Office. He and the other summer carriers knew… Continue reading Skipping Work for Woodstock, 1969
Loneliest Study Abroad Ever
(re-run) After three months in South America and six weeks of student teaching Catholic high school girls, I headed to Burgos, Spain, with 30 students and a handful of professors from Iowa State and the University of Iowa. It would be my way of earning the final credits of my dual degree. Linda, a high… Continue reading Loneliest Study Abroad Ever
Today I Played the Old Lady Card
(re-run) When your rescue dog needs her teeth cleaned because no one has brushed them for six years, you can bet it will be expensive. As in $650.00. Ouch! I’d put it off long enough. She’d even broken off an incisor at the gum line and didn’t want to eat. I knew it was time… Continue reading Today I Played the Old Lady Card
Home Alone in the Shower
(re-run) If you’ve never seen Alfred Hitchcock’s horror movie, Psycho, Janet Leigh gets killed while taking a shower. It’s a creep fest, and she won awards for her convincing screams. Flash back to the 70s, when I was a teenager and home alone, taking a shower in the new basement bathroom. It was a crude… Continue reading Home Alone in the Shower
The Busted Nut
(re-run) A decade ago, my boyfriend (at the time) and I took a driving vacation from my mom’s place in Iowa, up to Sioux Falls, and across South Dakota to Rapid City, Mount Rushmore, and Crazy Horse. I’d never seen the Badlands or the Black Hills. First we heard the story of Mount Rushmore, USA… Continue reading The Busted Nut
Car Shows, Men, and Elvis
(re-run) It’s funny how memories of one thing lead to memories of other things happening in the same time period. Like the Twin Towers falling, or JFK getting assassinated. Or Elvis dying. Today is the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death (August 16th). Forty-five years ago, I was stepping off an airplane from Spain (by way… Continue reading Car Shows, Men, and Elvis
Car Week in Monterey County
(re-run) For 17 years, I’ve owned a house in Monterey County, California. For sixteen years I’ve participated in some of the car events during Car Week, always in August, with events happening In Pacific Grove, Carmel, Monterey, Seaside, and of course, Pebble Beach. Only this year I’m mom-sitting while my sis and her hubby take… Continue reading Car Week in Monterey County
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 