Woman in the Middle

Sometimes you discover an unknown destination right in your own back yard. That is what the girls and I did when we were looking for a place to take Hubby on Farther’s Day. It was going to be over 110 degrees, so cool was definitely on the agenda. We figured everybody and their brother would be headed for the beach. When it is as hot as it was on Father’s Day, the mountains also get warm. Not as warm as down below, but warm enough to make walking around outside a little toasty. So an indoor activity it was. Hubby loves anything to do with cars so we googled “Southern California Car Museums” and, low and behold, one popped up just a half hour from our house. Surprise!

Located at the Fairplex in Pomona is the Wally Parks National Hot Rod Association Motorsports Museum. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors over 60 and juniors 6-15 and free for children 5 and under. A discount is also given if you show your AAA card.

The central part of the museum tells the story of how hot rodding and drag racing began and how Wally Parks was instrumental in it becoming a sport. The galleries on either side show off all kinds of drag racing cars from the late 40s to today. It is amazing to see how these cars have changed over the years. There are even a couple of well-placed benches, so you can sit down,  just in case some in your party may want to linger over the displays a little longer than others! LOL!

Hot rods and drag racing were truly born in America, and this is a great place to learn all about these American institutions. They even have a drag racer you climb into for a photo op. Just ask Hubby, even with the side of the car cut away, it wasn’t easy getting into the car. But he loved it anyway. I mean, how often do you get to sit in a real professional drag racer?

The museum’s website is located at nhramuseum.org

It is located on the Fairplex grounds – Gate 1 -Very easy to reach from the 10 freeway

1101 W. McKinley Avenue, Building 3A, Pomona CA, 91768

I have been going through my family tree, checking out hints and finding bits of information, such as birth records and census information, to add. For some reason, this time the weird names were popping out at me. In addition to a healthy number of Johns and Williams and Elizabeths and Marthas, there were some very interesting names. I am sure my girls are glad I didn’t mine the old family tree for their first names.

First off there were folks nameed James and Raymond. This seems very normal, except they were women! And here Blake Lively thought she was being innovative by naming her daughter James. Sorry, My great great great grandparents were way ahead of you!

Some other more feminine but still unusual names included Neva, Leda, Tinie, Elnora, Vida Lee, Omie, and Melvinia.

Three men in my family had the unusual monikers of Ayera, Uriah, and Ira.

But my hands down favorite was dear Wilkinora Wilkinson. She must have been relived to marry and become Wilkinora Godwin. Really, what were her parents thinking? I don’t care if it was the 19th century, there really was no excuse!

Tell me if here are any unusual names in your family tree! 

I am sad. It is Shark Week on Animal Planet and I am sitting at home.

It became almost a tradition for us to accidentally plan our family summer vacation during Shark Week. The kids would hit the hotel room, where ever we were in America, turn on the TV, and there would be Shark Week. Not so good if we happened to be vacationing by the ocean!

Alas, Shark Week is here and we aren’t going anywhere. Except for some very tentative future plans contingent on some other things in our lives (Blackie being the main thing) Shark Week finds us cleaning the house, not packing a suitcase.

Unlike us, does Shark Week find you making any vacation plans?

Blackie has continued to stay at his slightly perkier level we are happy to report. However, he has now developed an infection on one of his eyes. Seriously, if it isn’t one thing it is another with that cat! The vet gave us drops to put in his eyes twice a day. Lord help us! Drops in the eyes of a cat? I couldn’t imagine what we would have to go through to make that happen.

Hubby and I were home alone when the first drops had to be administered, because of the previously mentioned Disneyland trip the girls were on. I got the bottle of eye drops out and ready. The directions said to put one to two drops in both eyes. I told Hubby if we managed to get one drop in the infected eye I would feel we accomplished something. I picked up Blackie and handed him to Hubby. Hubby got him in position and I approached with the bottle. I dropped one drop in the bad eye. Blackie could have cared less. I decided to put another drop in the bad eye. Still no reaction. Hubby said, “Want to to do the other eye while we are at it? “Might as well,” I replied. Two drops there as well. Still nothing from Blackie to indicate anything even happened.

All that worry and dread for nothing. Oh Blackie, you do like to keep us guessing!

This is how relaxed Blackie was about his eye drops.

Wow, the weeks go fast. It is already Saturday again. I talked to a friend this week, and, I swear, it has been a year since we talked. Neither of us could believe it. It seems impossible. But, the good news is we did talk and it was like we had just talked the week before, like always. Even better is I get to see her this summer. Yay!

Speaking of friends, a friend of one of the girls is coming next week to spend a few days, so i will be spending this weekend cleaning the house. Someday I would like a house that, by some miracle, is clean all the time. But, that is not the case now and so I will clean. It is more the excuse I need to tackle some projects, like clearing off the kitchen counters that always seem to collect things.

Speaking of friends, again, the girls are off to Disneyland today, for FREE, courtesy of a friend of Youngest Daughter’s who works for the Mouse. It is one of her former roommates, who is an engineer as well and got her dream job with Disney.  I am a little jealous, I admit. I mean, its Disneyland! But it is also Disneyland on a summer Saturday when it is going to be hot. So my jealousy is tempered by the idea of big crowds and heat.

In major breaking news, Hubby got the 1962 Thunderbird that was his parents running again, after it sat for 30 years. It isn’t ready to be sold yet, but getting it running is a major step in that direction. Now he is working on polishing all the chrome. then waxing the paint, and finishing up some minor mechanical things.  But progress has been made!

What are you going to be doing this summer weekend?

 Just a year ago today….

From this

and this….

to this …

and this!

It has been a year since two poor little scraps of cathood came into our lives.  They are now adult cats (although they will probably always be “the kittens” to me). They are playful, annoying, delightful, fun, cuddly, shed hair everywhere, and we don’t know what we would do without them! Sometimes you find cats, and sometimes they find you. In this instance, I think we found each other.

They have a variety of nicknames. For some reason Hubby started calling Lumos, the orange kitty, “Butter Bean.” So Nox became “Teeny Bean.” I call Nox, who never lost his tiny little kitten voice, “Mr. Squeaky.” I call Lumos “Mr. Shameless” since he has no shame and is always showing off his belly to the world.

All in all, we are glad they are now part of the family. We needed more squeaks and shameless showing off.  Our lives would be so much more boring without it!

To see the whole story, check out the list of words on the right side of the front page of this blog. Click on the word “kittens” and you can read all the stories about Nox and Lumos from day one.

A typical sight in my area this time of year is an aerial dogfight between a mockingbird or two and a crow or a hawk. Both the crow and the hawk are a good deal bigger than the mockingbirds but mockingbirds are smart. They always stay behind the bigger bird and just harass it like you wouldn’t believe. I have seen a good-sized hawk driven to hide in a tree to try to get away for the smaller but more aggressive mockingbirds. Those mockingbirds really protect their nests!

So, yesterday, when Eldest Daughter and I were on our way to the post office, and I saw a smaller bird chasing a bigger black bird from behind, I assumed it was a mockingbird chasing a crow. After all, I was driving and trying to keep my eyes on the road. Then Eldest said, “That’s a vulture…and a hawk!” I took a quick peek and , sure enough, a small hawk (maybe a Cooper’s Hawk) was chasing a much larger vulture. Vultures are not made for nimble flight, so it was getting its rear end kicked , and pecked, and whatever else that hawk wasted to do to it. It was quite a sight!

Blackie is 17 years and four months old this month. That is pretty darn old for a cat. The months since he turned 17 have been a challenge for him and for us. He has lost considerable weight and has become about as picky an eater as any mammal can become.

When he was at the vet for his pooping problem two weeks ago we had full blood work and urinalysis done. It shows nothing new. Same old “maybe this, maybe that” stuff that can only be conclusively diagnosed with expensive tests which would require putting him under.   In the end, we might get an answer, but, given Blackie’s history as an international cat of mystery, we have a feeling we would end up with more questions than answers. Meanwhile, no one thinks it would be a good idea to give him anesthesia.

On Saturday it was really bad, but we doubled down on the medicine and he perked up a bit. He can still jump up on the couch, the bed, and his eating table with no problem. He still purrs when we scratch his chin.  For some reason, for the first time in his life. Blackie has to, and I mean HAS TO, sleep with Hubby and I. We would not normally tolerate such nonsense as our queen sized bed barely has enough room for the two of us. But, when the very elderly cat decides he wants to be with you and only you, well, we let him sleep with us.

We have entered the indulgent days. A little lick of ice cream here, a bit of chicken there, and we shall see how much longer this little upswing in how Blackie feels lasts. Meanwhile, it is all about the cat in our house. But, then , it usually is.

Sometimes the sun can get a little too hot. Then it is time to stretch out on the floor and cool off.

It is still all about the heat on this first day of summer. Facebook put something in my feed about summer and the sun finally returning. I couldn’t help the ironic, dry, slightly bitter laugh that came out of my mouth over that one!

I was up and at ‘em early today. Before 8 am I had watered the plants in the back yard to give them a fighting chance and was headed out to the grocery store. Even so, I was working up a sweat.

Today is supposed to be two degrees cooler than yesterday. FYI, 109 does not feel a lot cooler than 111.   However, it is supposed to gradually cool as the week wears on, so it is good knowing it won’t get any worse.

Meanwhile, Youngest Daughter informed me that yesterday and today fall into the 5% category as far as heating and AC goes. Systems are designed to deal with all but the worst 5% of weather conditions. She says this as I turn the AC up to 80 to give it a fighting chance of being able to cycle on and off.

Today is looking to be a really good computer day. Just me, a tall glass of ice tea, and a dim room.

Wishing all of you a wonderful and not so sweaty Monday!

Update: Unfortunately, 109 was just a pipe dream. I did go out in the afternoon and my car said it was 113!

Father’s Day has turned out to be a scorcher in good old So Cal! It wasn’t like we weren’t warned or anything. But I knew the weather predictions were true when I went out to get  the newspaper and the sun at 8 am felt hot on my skin.

We took Hubby out  and about for Father’s Day (more on that later) and we dreaded it every time  we had to leave a building or the car. On the way home in the afternoon, the car told us at one point it was 113 degrees outside! It was 111 degrees as we pulled into our driveway about 3 pm. Whew!

On days like this our poor air conditioner just can’t keep up. In order to keep it from running ALL THE TIME I have to keep setting it ever higher.

Hope your day is a little cooler where ever you are!