Woman in the Middle

I have mentioned to you previously that, even though I live in So Cal, inland So Cal isn’t the same as the coast. In many ways we live in a backwater, Hicksville, or  the boonies, whatever you want to call it. Just watch a native of inland so call laugh when someone asks where is our good Italian deli, or where do we get good (name an ethnicity) food. We don’t.

However, Amazon must think we do not live quite so much in the middle of no where. They announced that they are trying same day service in several areas of the country and, surprise of the century, my zip code is one of these areas where one day service will be offered.

We have three Amazon fulfillment centers in nearby cities. (In other words, giant warehouses.) That surely helps. It was also based on the number of Amazon Prime members there are in a particular area. We must have a lot of those, although Hubby and I do not order enough things off of Amazon to make a prime member ship worth our while.

We tend to only order what we can’t find around here or if the price difference is so great it just doesn’t make sense to do anything but order something. Those things rarely happen. Also, much of what we order isn’t found on Amazon. For example, just this week several boxes of car parts for a 1962 t-bird have arrived at our door from specialty parts places. Not something that can be found on Amazon.   Hubby also ordered two pairs of the only tennis shoes in this world that he wears. They happen to be a specific style of Reebok tennis shoes in white leather in wide. Again, not an item that can easily be found on Amazon. He ordered them after spilling lots of gasoline on his only pair. This reminded him that having a spare pair is a good thing and he ordered two new pair that night.

So, while I am excited that Amazon is acknowledging my city for this new experiment of theirs, it won’t do a darn thing for my household. I look forward to hearing from my neighbors about their experiences with same day delivery. Next thing you know the packages will be dropped off by drones. I would order something just to see that!

Today was the annual 5K Walk/Run in my fair city. For the third year in a row I walked it. No running involved, believe you me!

My friend Tracy kindly walked with me again while Hubby ran on ahead. I crossed the line with Tracy and one other lady. There were two more people behind us so once again I missed being dead last by a whisker. Last year I desperately did not want to be dead last. This year I was over that and didn’t care. If my friend with the recent hip replacement was able to walk faster than me, so be it. And she did! I am happy for her! Isn’t modern medicine amazing?

I figure it was the getting out of bed at 5:45 on a Saturday morning, pulling on  my workout clothes, slipping on my tennis shoes, and being at the starting line at 7 a.m. that mattered. For the third year in a row the horrible hill that is such a beast was a little easier (although not at all easy) than it was the year before. But I hefted this 53 year old body over three miles this morning. Last or first, I am pretty happy with myself!

This winter Blackie, in his old age, decided he liked to curl up on the couch in the family room on a pile of blankets.   One is this brown one you see here, a little cheap one I got during the Christmas sales.

There is usually a small rug by the back door that Blackie also likes to lay on when the morning sun comes in. One morning recently the sun moved over and wasn’t on the rug anymore and Blackie was having to lay on the hard floor. We felt so sorry for his old bones that we put the folded up blanket next to the rug to give him a soft place in the sun. It became a favorite spot for him.

A few days later I was out running errands and Eldest Daughter was outside on the patio painting her nails. Honey didn’t like that one bit and was running around by the sliding glass door, barking her fool head off. In her old age this running and barking sometimes causes her to do what we call “panic pooping.” Yep, Honey pooped on the rug by the door. Sigh.

Eldest came in and discovered the poop just as Blackie strolled over to lay down on the blanket next to the rug. But, when he caught a whiff of Honey’s poop, the look on his face was quite comical and caused Eldest to laugh and laugh! Blackie was so upset by what that awful dog had done right next to his comfy spot in the sun!

The poop was cleaned up and the rug was sent off to the garage to be washed. The blanket migrated over to where the rug usually is and you can see what happens now most mornings. Blackie and Honey “share” the blanket. It is more like they both lay down on it and try to pretend that the other one isn’t there. Of course, I had to take a photo.

My friend Jeanette posted on Facebook yesterday that her cat Suzie was missing. Suzie is an indoor cat and after Jeanette and her daughter searched their small house they had to conclude that Suzie had escaped outside. They were so worried, Jeanette’s daughter was crying, and it was all a big concern. Then, in the afternoon, Jeanette’s daughter caught Suzie “wandering out of the sitting room with a look of nonchalance on her face” as Jeanette later posted on Facebook. ”I think this cat must teleport,” she concluded. The funny thing is, Jeanette was getting new carpet yesterday and the sitting room had been cleared of everything – it was an empty room! Who knows where Suzie had been all that time while her frantic family feared the worst. By the way, Jeanette lives in the UK, which is why she has a sitting room and not a living room!

Jeanette’s story reminded me of our cat Cheeks and the time he had us frantic because of his hiding. Cheeks was Blackie’s bother. They were both from the same litter born to a stray cat in our front planter. Cheeks was always the more skittish of the two and he always knew when we were getting ready to take him to the vet.

One spring break we planned a week’s vacation to Hawaii and made arrangements to board Cheeks, Blackie, and Honey with our vet. When it came time to take the animals down to the vet Cheeks was nowhere to be found. We knew he was in the house, or at least we thought he was, but he had hidden and we couldn’t find him.

Since he was last seen in the computer room, we tore that room apart. We moved furniture, we crawled around on our hands and knees with a flashlight, we did everything we could think of to find him, with no luck. We finally had to give in and take Honey and Blackie to the vet. A friend offered to come by while we were gone to put out fresh food and water for Cheeks. We were resigned to leaving without knowing where the cat was.

Eldest Daughter was a freshman in high school and had a “boyfriend.” Is someone your boyfriend when neither of you drive, you never go on dates, and you only see each other at school? That is a question we shall leave for another day. But Eldest felt a need to send this “boyfriend” one more email before we left for the airport.

As Eldest sat at the computer desk, composing her good-bye message, she heard a rustling sound. The computer desk was a cheap particle board number that Hubby had since his college days. On one side, for storage, it had a rectangular open box hanging from the desk top. Inside this box we kept our computer paper. We had a lot of computer paper because I like colored paper, what can I say. To make it easy to see and access, I had placed the computer paper standing upright instead of laying flat.   We had a lot of paper and there was only a very small V-shaped opening in the middle of the paper where one half of the paper leaned one way and one half of the paper leaned the other way.

When she heard the rustling, Eldest leaned down and looked into the paper storage area. There, behind the paper, she saw two glowing eyes. Cheeks had been found! The amazing thing was, if you looked at the paper, there was no evidence that it had ever been disturbed by Cheeks. There was no flattened paper, no wisp of cat hair, no paper pushed aside, nothing, even though this had been his secret hiding spot for quite a while. He had occasionally gone missing before, never to be found, until he was spotted hours later casually strolling out of the computer room. I have to agree with Jeanette – I think cats must teleport!

Now that he was spotted, I put Eldest on cat watch and Hubby and I grabbed the cat carrier, moved the paper, and grabbed Cheeks. We got him to the vet with just an hour to spare. I also had more appreciation for the “boyfriend” since it was that last email to him that helped us find our cat!

This is Cheeks, Blackie’s far sneakier brother. Cheeks passed away years ago from a congenital heart condition, but left us with many stories, as sneaky cats tend to do! 

I never knew my Great Uncle John Sampley. He passed away long before I was born. Because he never had any children, I made it my job to collect information about him so he would never be forgotten. I think it is fitting this Memorial Day to remember him.

John was born in 1893 in Alabama, the youngest of five children. By the time he was six years old both his parents had passed away.  Records show that he lived first with an uncle, and then later with an older brother. By the time he was 16 he was out of school and farming with his brother Charlie.

The first draft registration for World War I occurred June 5, 1917 when all men ages 21 to 31 had to register. John fell into that group. His registration card says that he was of medium height and build, had blue eyes and dark hair. He wasn’t married and was “engaged in farming.”

Family history says he served overseas during the war. His headstone says he was a private. Family members told me he was exposed to the toxic gas used by the Germans during that war but recovered and returned home.

When he returned from the war he married his wife Virgie. I asked my Aunt Ada about her Uncle John a few years before she passed away. She said  he would come in from town with a stalk of bananas and a big bag of candy. The nieces and nephews were allowed to eat all they wanted. “We just loved him,” said Ada. Ada remembers leaving a little ring at his house once, the kind that came in Cracker Jack. Uncle John always teased her that he was going to wear it on his big toe.

John turned 34 on March 5^th, 1927. Within a few days of his birthday he came down with influenza. The “flu” turned into bronchial pneumonia. John died at three am March 18^th at his home.  According to family stories, John’s lungs were weakened by his exposure to gas during the war and this contributed to his death at such an early age.

This Memorial Day I remember my Great Uncle John and all the men and women who sacraficed their health and their lives for the freedom we enjoy here in the United States and to help bring freedom to the many far flung parts of this world. The lives of all Americans are touched by their sacrifices.

Graduating is very expensive, especially if you want to actually participate in graduation. Youngest Daughter presented me with the options a couple of weeks ago. For approximately $258 she could get the cap, the gown, and the tassel as well as the special frame for her diploma. It is the one with the pretty green mat (school color) and it has the name of the school printed in gold. We spent good money on that piece of paper and I wanted to get her the nice frame for it as a graduation gift.

Or, in the “special graduation deal” she could get all of the above, plus a school alum t-shit and hoodie, all for $260. In other words, just $2 more.  So, for two dollars we decided to get the t-shirt and hoodie as well. What the heck. The price was already giving me heartburn, so what was $2 more?

Youngest also has to pay the school for the privilege of doing the paperwork for her graduation. You would think that would be included in the many thousands of dollars we paid them over the last five years, but, no. Even though the preferred result is that each student graduate, they still have to pay to actually graduate.

Then there are the graduation announcements. The “basic package” cost $94 for 25 announcements. But, dear friends, they come with return address labels and “custom envelope seals.” At almost $4 each, we decided to skip the “custom envelope seals”  and create our own announcements at the Shutterfly site. Worst case scenario they will cost us $2 each, and they will have adorable photos of Youngest on them.

Youngest has a friend at school who is handy with a camera. We paid him a small amount of money and he spent two hours taking photos of Youngest at various iconic places around the campus, including the rose garden, the horse stables (long story about why there are horse stables) and at the building that houses her major, among others. He did a very good job and we got some lovely photos.

Apparently Youngest’s school doesn’t like to let graduated students hang around on campus. While I understand their concern that a graduated senior might want to party or something, expecting them to be moved out the same day they graduate is a bit much, I think. Her deadline for moving is just one hour after her graduation ceremony starts.  In reality, she needs to be moved out and checked out, key turned in, place cleaned up, etc…before her graduation ceremony. So I think you know what we will be doing right before graduation!!! Hefting and toting! From a second story apartment with no elevator! In the heat!

Perhaps this is all designed to keep graduates and parents (especially moms) from getting too emotional about graduation. It is hard to get upset when you are swearing at the school for trying to squeeze a few more nickels out of you and sweating up a storm going up and down stairs. Yep, I bet that is why everything is so expensive and move out deadlines are so unreasonable. Right?

It is obvious that the seasons have gotten all mixed up here in So Cal. We had lovely spring like weather during the supposed winter months and now that it is officially spring, there is snow on the mountains and we keep having chilly weather, overcast skies, and rain falling from the heavens. Surprise!

The weather gurus are breathless because we might be getting more rain today. My newspaper was double bagged this morning, a sure sign of possible precipitation. Meanwhile I headed off to the store this morning in search of milk, a breakfast necessity in these parts, wearing a sweatshirt and jeans.

I swear I am not complaining, but I sure am puzzled!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting a $4000 scholarship on behalf of an organization I belong to, Riverside Alumnae Panhellenic Association. (Try saying that three times fast!) Whenever I am in a high school gym with the ROTC presenting the colors and lots of students and parents around, I really feel like I am participating in a classic slice of American life. Given that Memorial Day weekend is upon us, it made me feel very grateful to the men and woman who sacrificed their lives to allow me and all the mortar board and gown clad seniors and their proud parents the opportunity to participate in the very American event of senior awards night.

The young lady we gave our scholarship to is very grateful for the help we are giving her for her dream to become a doctor. We shook hands when I gave her the certificate and then she hugged me. Our organization takes a very hands on approach with our scholarship recipients so this was actually the third time I had the opportunity to be around Rosa. She is a delightful girl and I look forward to seeing what life brings her these next four years.

We don’t have any big plans for this long weekend. When you grow up in So Cal like Hubby and I did, you tend to shy away from going places on holiday weekends because of the terrible crowds and traffic. Instead we will enjoy a dinner out with friends, a visit to another friend’s home, and  just some extra time around the house. I hope you have a lovely weekend, whatever your plans are!

Eldest Daughter found a fun little quiz/game on the Time Magazine website. You put in your name, birth year, and sex and it tells you what you would have been named, based on your name’s popularity the year you were born every decade since 1890. Hubby and I have names that were pretty common at the time we were born. Eldest and Youngest Daughters have names that were fairly uncommon when they were born (and they never let me forget it, believe you me.  They way they go on you would think we named them Sunspot and Pigsnout)

The funniest part of this whole thing is seeing what name they think I would have now and what I would have had back in 1890 and 1900.

My name, Kimberly, was the 22nd most popular name in 1961. Here are the names I supposedly would have had, by decade:

Now – Zoey

2000s – Rebecca

1990s – Kelly

1980s – Maria

1970s – Cheryl

1960s – Christine

1950s – Jane

1940s – Peggy

1930s – Irene

1920s – Hazel

1910s – Clara

1900s – Lillie

1890s – Hattie

Anyway, this is a fun little thing to do with your own name and the names of people you know. We did the whole family, of course! You can do it yourself at the site below:

http://time.com/3856405/baby-name-popularity/

I received the notice from our minister at church a few weeks ago that one of our elderly, long time members had passed away. This gentleman was a retired architect in the big city next door and was in his 80s. I was aware of him many years ago, long before I ever joined the same church he belonged to, because my best friend in college house sat for him and his wife.

Many years later when I joined the church I saw him around. He and his wife seemed like nice, interesting people and I talked to them on occasion at coffee hour, but that was the extent of my interaction with them – hanging out in their house while they were on vacation 30 years ago and coffee hour chit-chat in more recent years.

It just so happens that, amazingly, just a week after this gentleman passed away his wife of 66 years passed away as well. A few days ago their children placed a long  obituary in the paper honoring both of their parents. I read it, of course. That was when I realized that this gentleman whose house I had admired and who I saw around the church, was a member of what Tom Brokaw called the “greatest generation.”

According to the obituary, he was drafted into the army in 1944. His unit landed at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, otherwise known as D-Day, and this gentleman spent the next six months marching through France with Patton’s Third Army. He was captured on Christmas Eve, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge. After four months in captivity, he escaped during a march. Having lost 65 pounds, he spent several months recuperating from the ordeal, and was discharged on November 16, 1945.

D-Day…Utah Beach…Patton’s Army…Battle of the Bulge…Prisoner of war…Escape from the Germans…. and I am sure this gentleman thought he was just a regular guy, nothing special. But he was a participant in historical events of unimaginable proportions and a true hero among us. And here I thought he was just a retired architect.

Here it is, May 15th, and we are experiencing some pretty amazing weather in So Cal. Of course, weird weather is our specialty in these parts. But this time it is particularly weird.

The ski resorts in our local mountains had to close early because of warm weather and a severe lack of snow due to our drought. You may have seen the infamous image a month or so ago of our Governor Moonbeam standing on bare brown dirt in the high Sierras where there should have been several feet of snow.

Well, a cold storm has moved in which brought rain to our area yesterday and today. It is cold enough that I turned my heater back on this morning. Usually by now it would be off until November. And then there are our mountains. See for yourself.

(Photo is courtesy of Jennifer Ayala)

I am sure all the skiers are very unhappy and the ski resort owners are probably gnashing their teeth and ripping their shirts in frustration. All those events that happen in May because the weather is predictably free of rain are scrambling as well. Excuse me while I go dig out some jeans and a sweatshirt.