More from Seth's visit

I am playing catch up here.  Still sitting in front of the computer researching apps I'm using on my phone and Google+, wanting to figure things out before I get in too deep with this phone and have to delete or redo a whole bunch of stuff.  We still aren't able to initiate texts by the way.  Larry is up to the highest level of techs and finds out that the first person I talked to didn't fill out the work ticket correctly so it was signed off on and a week wasted.  Larry suspects that the only way to get it fixed is a new phone number...ack!  But if that is what it takes, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

We saw The Lone Ranger yesterday.  It was really good.  I enjoyed it a lot, the story wasn't anything new, but the direction, special effects and cinematography made it really fun, and of course the comic thread through out with Johnny Depp as Tonto was great.

We have been back to regular temps here though unusually breezy, which actually keeps it nicer.

These pictures are from back when Seth was here.  Already a couple of weeks have gone by almost since he went home.

On the ride to Yreka

Quick

Just a quick check in.  We've had visitors since Wednesday.  Andrea, Scott and three of the kids came to stay over the fourth and returned home today.  Between that, the blasted heat, and  playing with the phone and learning from the kids I haven't had time to get on here.

It is amazing how much time it takes to learn the ins and outs of these new fangled devices.  It was finally cool enough tonight to sit in the car and synch our car's blue tooth to our new phone and as we were nearly finishing...the car's battery goes dead!!!  HA ha!  Sitting with the doors open and the key in the on position, talking to the car for a half hour and we get a dead battery.  Michelle says she's not so sure we are ready for the "smart devices"...brat.  We were talking to her from the car.

So, last night was finally a decent cool night where we could all get some good rest, and it is cool again tonight.  Last week the nights didn't get much below 78 which is not comfortable.

If I can pull myself away from the new phone I'll try to get blogged.  Oh, get this, we finally get unlimited texting, a phone that makes texting easy and we can NOT generate a text.  They are puzzled at Verizon and are working on the problem.  We have never been able to text, even with our flip phone, but because we didn't care to or want to I just figured I was doing something wrong when they didn't go through and we never pursued it.  We can receive texts and then respond back and forth on the thread as long as I don't try to send a new one to that person.  Crazy.

Off to dream land I go.  My brain needs a rest.  HUGS!!!!

Steep Learning Curve

I was going to blog this morning, but our new smart phone arrived and we have been wrapped up in the silly thing ALL day and night.

Larry had to run to every Verizon store in Auburn, there are three, trying and finally succeeding in getting all of our contacts from our ten year old flip phone into the new smart phone.  Larry hates it and once I get it all figured out, I will love it.

Backing up, on Saturday my cousin Darcy and husband Paul stopped for the night on their way home from Paul's support team participation in the 100 mile Western States run from Squaw Valley to Auburn.  It was nice to see them.

We were up early on Sunday to take Seth back to his parents, we met in Yreka and it was HOT in Redding, 113 and Sac, 111 when we returned home through there.  It hasn't been cooling off at night and is HUMID.  It feels like Los Angeles instead of the northern foothills.

Oh, and Gracie did rattlesnake avoidance class.  HOT day of course, but they had canopies set up and kiddie pools of water for the dogs to drink and swim in if needed.  They put shock collars on the dogs, the snakes have "muzzles" on their heads so they can't bite and a handler walks the dog through a course where there are three live snakes and a pile of freshly shed snake skin.  They get the smell, the sound and the zap of the collar which makes them think the snake has hurt them.  The dogs rest and settle down and they take them through again to gauge the dogs reactions.  Gracie circled as far away as she could on the end of her lead.  The last test is a squeeze chute where we stand at one end and the handler and Gracie stand at the other and the snake guy throws a very large angry rattlesnake in between and with us calling she is supposed to give the snake a wide berth to get to us.  She started to come straight at us at the snake...he moved the snake in front of her as she started to sidle around it and she moved far away...so she graduated.  We were there all of maybe a half hour.  They say we should do it for another two years in a row so the dogs get it embedded in their brains, we'll see.

So off I go to dream land, hoping Verizon can figure out why we can't generate a text, we can reply to ones we receive, the rep that was helping was puzzled, so of course we have to wait for a troubleshooter.  I might add that the "manual" that they supplied online was useless, I'll just have to find a child to show me the smart phone ropes.....hahaha.  I'm not re-reading so ignore any typos or weirdness you run across!

Still more rain

It rained all night and most of the day.  I was up early and on my way to Placerville for jury duty.  The Superior Court is in a small old building with 70's dark paneling (paper).  There were a ton of us, but we were told that the trial was only slated to last a day or two and we would be done at the latest some time Thursday.  The Deputy suggested that we not hardship out of this one because there were a few big cases coming up that we could end up on by deferring our service.

It took almost an hour and a half to get to the selection part.  I was lucky enough to be in the first group called up and after answering all the questions asked by both sides I was lucky again by being the first one they excused!  Woo hoo!  I suspect I know why, but it didn't really matter...I WAS FREE!!!

I decided to walk back to the parking lot rather than wait for the shuttle, and my path took me by a lovely yarn shop, well of course I had to pop in there for a little visit.  I came out with one yarn that was on the clearance table.  I made it home in time to load up the boys and Larry and we headed to Kingvale to meet Ian's Dad to hand him off for the summer.  It rained the whole way and there was an accident at the highway 20 exit on I-80 that shut down our direction of travel, but they worked really hard at getting us moving and we were only a half hour late.

After getting home I walked the garden and surveyed the damage.  I have a tomato plant split right down the middle, but it might survive.  My mum's are flattened out in a circle instead of upright in a nice mound, I'll have to tie them up.  I had many broken glads and that branch of white roses to rescue.  I have a few nice bouquets now in the house.

After two days of rain and coolness we go to 85 tomorrow and 95 the day after and will stay that way for a few days.  It is going to be deep south steamy here with all the wetness and I wonder if the heat will generate thunderstorms.  Sticky icky is all I can say.

Bedtime for Bonzo!  Nighty night.

Rain, Rain, Rain

I took this first picture this morning just as it was starting to rain.  Sadly it has rained most all day, which is helpful with the watering, but the flowers fill up with water and fall over and some break.  I had a large rose cane from which many branches of white flowers and buds leaned over and broke off.  I will have a big bouquet whenever I can get out there and get them picked, washed off and in a vase.  Lots of the flowers look all droopy and sad.  I will have some tieing up to do later.

The boys have played hard all week, so with it being a cool rainy day they had a movie marathon day.  Ian goes to his Dad's tomorrow and lucky me, I've got jury duty.  I'm hoping I don't get picked; I was hoping when I called the number this evening it had been cancelled, but not this time.

Gracie thought it was cool to get to go
back to bed ON the bed after Seth climbed in.

I'm not sure exactly what happened here,
asleep on the floor BESIDE the bed...hmmm.

My new decor this week.

Even as I post this it is still pouring rain and we are hearing lots more for tomorrow.

June Garden Views

Here we go!  I'll post the pictures of the boys first.  If you hate flowers then you may want to skip this entry!

I have two of these bushes called Light My Fire.
I had Ian and Seth both pick a rose bush for the garden
from the catalog
and oddly they picked the same one, so I figured
what the heck.

This monarda/bee balm is about six feet tall.

The Sentry