Sunday rambles

So far today:

I've spent far too much time hoping someone would post something funny on facebook.

I printed out Raley's coupons and went grocery shopping. With sales and coupons, I saved a lot of money, but still was well over $50, which is the cutoff for getting 50 cents off per gallon at their gas station. The Toddler behaved as she ran around in a Christmas sweater and charmed people.

We got two fairly large "ponkins" at $1 each (coupon!) and then paid whatever per pound for a smaller white one. I'll probably still take them to a pumpkin patch next week when they have half days due to conferences. Maybe even Apple Hill?

There's a neighbor across the way cutting with a chainsaw. I might take my computer and move someplace quieter, ie not right by the front window.

They are predicting a little rain for this afternoon. It looks, feels, and smells like it and there are already a few little sprinkles.

I'm getting excited for NaNoWriMo. I have an outline that I want to read over and add some things to. I'm also reading a book about Louis XIV and might even get to Mme de Sevigné's letters. Maybe. I got distracted yesterday by a contemporary romance by Jill Shalvis that I bought when it first came out about 3 weeks ago and which has been langushing, unread, until now. I also went through my library requests and put a freeze on everything that I could that's not a movie for the kids, etc. I'm already returning more books than I read these days.

We just had grilled cheese for lunch. "Grilled" in the sense of toasted under the broiler, because the Brits call that the grill. See? At least I amuse myself, right?

Peepee and poopoo in the potty sometimes seems like the biggest moment of the day, you know? Toddler's, not mine...

Snowboarding, DUDE.

I took all three kids up to the snow with the intention of letting the boys try snowboarding.

Well, I forgot my camera when we went to the snow. I was going to buy a disposable one, but ended up never thinking of it anywhere that I could get one. I'm just organized that way, I guess.

It's supposed to be about a two hour drive. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

So we drove up on Tuesday in a snow storm. It was crazy. And it cost me double the price for tire chains because I was buying them almost up to the snow line during a snow storm. Then it cost me $30 for the guy in a yellow jumpsuit to put them on at the side of the road. But they work, so fine.

It was insane. Totally insane. If I hadn't had hotel reservations, I would have turned around and tried again the next day. With all the stops and the slow going, it took almost 4 hours.

We checked into the hotel that afternoon and relaxed for a bit and then went out for a walk and threw snowballs at each other (there was about a foot of fine powder). Then i got DD to sleep and let the boys go to the sauna by themselves for a bit. No hot tub, which they would have liked better, but hey, now they've tried it.

We went out for pizza that night and by bedtime, DD was throwing a screaming tantrum so we all went to bed early. I was awake half the night for no apparent reason - I fell asleep and then woke up at 1:30 then was awake until almost 5. Yeah, it stunk.

So the next morning, there was another foot or more of snow everywhere, so we cleaned off the car and set out for the ski place, only to discover that the road between the side of Donner Lake and Donner Ski Ranch was closed. So the hotel I chose because it was 3 miles from the mountain? Yeah, not so great. So I drove out to the highway and made the loop back to the next exit and it turned out to be the wrong exit and we drove aimlessly and finally went and got bagels in Truckee and then back to the hotel to call the Ski Ranch how the h*** to find them. I had to go one MORE exit back, making it a 12+ mile loop instead of the intended 3 miles.

So we got there a bit after 11 to discover that all the lessons at 12:30 were full. Since I have no clue as to snowboarding, we then bought lunch in the overpriced greasy cafeteria and sat around until the 2:00 lesson. It turned out to be a good choice anyway, because there were only 2 or 3 other kids in their lesson group and 2 instructors. They went down the smaller hill 4 or 5 times with the lesson and then DS1 had enough. DS2 went down a couple more time and then we turned in their rented gear and called it a day.

DD and I wandered around the restaurant/lounge area and got snacks and put her snow pants and coat on and off and on and off to go out and back in and out and back in.

The roads were basically dry by then, though the pass road was still closed, so I went around by the highway with the chains still on, which is not a good idea with everyone else going 65. DS2 and I got them off when we got back to the hotel.

We ordered in pizza. Mmmmm pizza! And went to bed sort of early.

Thursday morning, we packed up and left - the pass road was finally open, so we made good time on the little, twisting road with steep rock faces covered with snow. No habitation or businesses along there, so they saved it for last, I guess.

DS1 didn't want to snowboard again and didn't want to ski, so I signed DS2 up for lessons and rented his gear and he went down the slope alone a couple of times. I got them hot chocolate and he drank it quickly before his 10:30 lesson.

DD and DS1 and I wandered around the restaurant/lounge area and got snacks and put her snow pants and coat on and off and on and off to go out and back in and out and back in. DS1 took DS2's scarf thing out to him part of the way through the lesson and helped him out it on. What a nice big brother. There were a lot more people there the second day and it was packed, so less amusing than when it was a little more open.

It was a lot colder on Thursday and had started to snow again, so when the lesson was over, I got him another cup of chocolate. He looked so completely tired and I couldn't stomach eating expensive grease again, so we left. He cried and cried.

Oh, did you notice something? I forgot to check out of the hotel and my pay-as-you-go phone was out of money, so DS1 and DD and I drove back to the hotel and checked out and then came back. Probably illegal to leave a seven year-old behind even for that half an hour and even though he was supervised in his lesson.

So the roads were wet, but not yet snowy again, though snow was coming down and blowing like crazy even down below 4000 feet. And my wiper fluid nozzles had frozen up, so i couldn't get the windshield clean from the spray from other cars. Yet another driving delight!

We stopped for McDonald's halfway back, just below the snow. DS2 was still mad at me and wouldn't get out of the car, so we got our food to go.

We did make really good time, though: just over 2 hours.

And boy, I'm still totally wiped out, 24 hours after we got home.

hang on. This one is post #1,000. anyway. Drought.

I misread the number when putting up the last post. It said that there were already 998 posts, so that last one was #999.

So yippeeeee!!!!!!!

Anyway.

According to the drought monitor map, our county is mostly in D0, which is abnormally dry, though some is finally listed as no drought.

And guess what? It's supposed to rain tomorrow!

Still a couple of years' worth to catch up on and they're saying the reservoirs aren't full yet, but it's still good news.

rain rain go.... go on and rain harder!

Was wondering how we're doing on drought since it's been raining for 3 days. Mostly faint misty drizzling, but some actual rain happened, too.

So I looked at weather.com for the month and we have just over half of the average so far. Then I looked at last month and it was way below. We were ahead in October because we had one huge storm that dropped 3 inches all at once, but weather.com only shows current, last, and next months.

I looked at the drought monitor map and we're only at D1 - Moderate drought as of Dec 8th, which was before all this rain.

And hey, maybe we'll be back to *only* our usual perma-drought instead of extra drought...

bone chilling, my avoirdupois-padded behind.

From the Sacramento Bee's blog.

"Bone-chilling temperatures are being reported throughout the Sacramento region with widespread frost expected to stick around until 10 a.m. this morning.

In downtown Sacramento, the 27 degree reading ties the all-time low for this date, set in 1972. It was even colder at Sacramento Executive airport, where 25 degrees was recorded."

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

storm saga

Doesn't that sound dramatic?

In reality, i went shopping for a bit yesterday morning - in and out of the car and stores, getting totally blasted by rain and wind to try to find some boots for the toddler. I should have gone straight to target, but didn't want to drive that far.

Then we went to get the boys from school and got totally soaked (me all over except where I had her in the sling, her only the end of her legs where she wasn't protected by the sling and the poncho.

Then out and in for the library, out and in for the copy shop, out and in for karate - back out to wander for a very short time to keep her busy during karate and back into karate and out and into the car.

Then we pulled up out front of the house and the garage door didn't open. The electricity was off.

And guess what? Dumbhead me had been thinking for MONTHS that I should put the side door key back on my key ring, but had I? Oh no. So we went to Round Table for dinner - and it was buffet night and the boys ate some salad. *faint from surprise*

And back home again and the electricity was back on. otherwise, we would have driven for about 45 minutes round trip to get DH's keys from him at his work.

Oh, and we had to go look at our old live Xmas tree that was growing so nicely out front, but which apparently hadn't put down enough roots and so is flopped over sideways and we're going to have to take it out. sad.

And by this time I was soaked to the skin about 5 times. I was almost over that cold, too. Oh well.

So we came in and rebooted DH's server and I turned my crock pot back on to finish cooking the lentils that I wasn't going to have for dinner and went around fixing the clocks (elec was out for just over 2 hours).

From there, it was just a matter of getting DS2 to finish his math homework (no spelling this week because today is the last day due to teacher work days) and general goofing off and normal evening stuff.

Oh, and today I went all the way to Target and got to choose between Hello Kitty and Optimus Prime (transformers) for DD's boots. I sighed and went with the cat. I also got her some cheap tennis shoes. poor love has only worn soft leather shoes so far and wouldn't even take a step in her new boots because they were weird and heavy. She was stumbling around in the shoes, but at least she could walk.

I got some cheap shirts from the baby and boys' clearance racks at Target, too. Nothing is DS2's size, but we can now hand down some shirts that were getting too small for DS1, I guess.

Typhoooooooon!

It's not just supposed to be rain on Tuesday, it's supposed to be RAIN. It's leftover bits of a huge typhoon. 2 inches of rain predicted in the valley and 6 in the foothills, then a ton and half of snow up in the mountains. (and here we pause to think about the Donner Party and wonder if it was leftover bits of typhoon that stranded them up just this side of Lake Tahoe)

So everyone stay put in warm places up there in the mountains and keep an eye out for floods and landslides everywhere else.

It's going to be a bumpy ride!

unpredictable!

Well, they do try to predict it.

It's supposed to be 100-ish tomorrow, then 89 Monday, and then 74 (seventy-four!!) Tuesday - and 52 overnight.

I'm glad I don't have to try to tell anyone what to pack to come visit this week.

Though anyone who does want to come visit, it looks like Tuesday on will be good weather. hint hint.

Nice day :)

It started out chilly - the Toddler woke up a few times during the night because she just won't keep the covers on and she got cold. It was sunny and lovely and cool, though. Now it's cloudy and lovely and cool. DS2 filled the wading pool and quickly discovered that Mommy was right and it was a bit chilly for playing in it, since it was in the low 70's at the time. But wey-hey he filled it ALL the way.

It might rain a bit tonight.

It's supposed to shoot back up to mid-90's in the next few days, though, so oh well, so much for autumn.

And so that's the report on our weekend :)

rain?!?!?!?!

I heard it raining at one point during the night. This morning, it has been sprinkling off and on and really raining (not pouring, just steady) for short times. Others in the area have reported thunder, but I haven't heard any.

Very gray out there right now.

Nice and cool this morning, too, but they're still predicting mid-90's for later. yay for humidity.

The boys have been arguing for most of the morning. DS2 wants to go in DS1's room. DS1 wants to be alone. And then he invades DS2's room to show 'what it feels like' instead of being a good example of respecting other peoples' privacy.

I asked them to take apart the boat/fort of 2 couches and all the cushions, but then they put it all back together and wandered off. ARG.

And our next door neighbors are moving out today. *snif*

It's about time for DD's happy nap. Maybe for mine, too.

Is it really only Thursday?

Tuesday felt like Monday, but today felt like Friday. I guess it means I'm ready for a long weekend.

Oh hey! What luck! Long weekend coming up!

Of course, the 100 degree weather for the last couple days has made the days drag a bit. It's supposed to be in the 80's over the weekend. YAY!

DS1 had to write a poem of sorts for his homework. I'm going to help him type it up...

Well, he read me the 2nd stanza of 3 and then decided he wanted to type the 3rd one himself. Homework almost done. Just some formatting and then we'll print it out.

what're you griping about?

It only feels like it's 99, because the humidity is low. So what if the temp is officially 103?

I was in the grocery store for a long time (sat down and drank an iced decaf coffee and read a few chapters of a book before getting the 5 things we needed). They keep it cold in there, so when I stepped out, it felt like opening the oven. You know that blast of heat that makes your eyes sting?

Only low 90's tomorrow - fingers crossed.

And that rain that I said I wasn't holding my breath on? Not even on the forecast anymore.

Weather again. For heaven's sake Phyllis, can't you shut up about the weather?

Well, no I can't.

It's about 100 out there right now and it's cloudy and breezy, but it's not a breeze that cools you off, it's a convection oven sort of breeze. It'll be 100 again tomorrow, apparently, but only 90 on Sunday. They're predicting rain for a week from Sunday, but a prediction for 10 days out, as usual, doesn't inspire confidence.

I am ready for summer to be over.

In better news, I have some tomatoes getting ripe. I haven't found more hornworms for a while, but there are some missing leaves that I don't know if they are newly missing or from the old hornworms that I picked off.

Oh, and did you know that tomatoes can be up to 122 degrees inside when they're in full sun? I'd be willing to bet ours get even hotter than that when it's 110 out. I bet they can't perspire fast enough to cool them off. Transpire? Do that release of water thing that plants do that we don't call sweating, but is? (and "Things you wouldn't know if we didn't blog incessantly" is my new best friend.)

weekend rambling

Well, 2 minutes until bedtime here.

1st week of school is over and the weather looks like it's going to be slightly cooler over the next week. It'll be in the low 90's which is too hot to exert oneself and yet not hot enough that I want to puke as soon as I step outside.

I have 80 gradations of hot weather.

It's sort of like the 80 words for snow allegedly in some Eskimo dialect.

And my kids are earning their keep: DS1 (9 yo) mowed the front yard and DS2 tried to tidy up the raggedy pieces still sticking up when he was done.

DS1 has to go to karate tomorrow morning. I should exercise, too, because I only made it once this week so far.

OK. The toddler is squawking. She needs to go to bed.

Wednesday grumps

We had a break in the weather yesterday: it was 92 instead of 102! Predicted 99 again today, though and more than that for the next week. I am so done with summer.

Speaking of 100-and-something, DD has a fever. I don't actually take kids' temps, but she was boiling hot off and on yesterday evening, for most of the night, and again this morning. She has some Ibuprofen in her and has cooled off and cheered up considerably.

I'm low on sleep, though.

DS2 is allegedly going to a friend's house and the mom is allegedly coming to get him, but that was an hour ago and she's still not here. The boys have now injured each other because they were so wound up and it is quiet again for the time being. whoops, knock at the door. yay!

Oh ICK! I was looking for DS2's swimsuit and looked under his bed, from which he had assured me that he had removed everything, and found old pull-ups that reeked. He almost didn't get to go to his friend's house there. But now they're out and thrown away and maybe his room won't smell like pee anymore. Maybe.

And my friend/DS2's friend's mom said she hadn't heard me yell before. Huh. I must hide it well.

So anyway, it's about time for DD to take a nap. And maybe I can drag my fatigued hiney out to exercise. Then I'll be really tired.

one-twelve on the freeway

no, not driving that fast. I really doubt my Maserati, um, ancient Corolla, can go that fast.

that was the temp on my car's thermometer yesterday at a bit after 5 as we came home from the mountains. (moun-TAYNS as DH says).

it was about 90 up there, though the forecast had said 85. it's usually 80-ish, but 90 was better than 112. the water was cold in the little lake we went to.

there were some other kids there, picnicking like us, plus fishing and boating and whatever. I was a bit worried about the war and the sticks and the thrown pine cones, but everyone made it out without major injury.

officially, it was 107 here. oh is that all??

summer

We've had a mostly nice summer up until the last week or so. For DS2's birthday party, we had some light rain before and during which cooled off the air, though it made it a bit humid. The kids were in and out of the wading pool and the grown-ups (other than me, who was running around) had time to talk.

The last few days have been over 100 and the next few days bode to be the same.

I just got the electric bill for last month, which wasn't even as hot, except a couple of times (and, oh yeah, that one day when it was 108 and the hot days right around it). Yeah, it's steep. The next one will be worse. Sigh. It would be nice if they had built the houses around here with enough insulation to keep out some of the heat, wouldn't it? And double-pane windows? I know they existed and that they were recommended, even in the late 70's, when this house was built. But hey, cheap materials mean big profits, right?

The boys are watching season 2 of Rocky and Bullwinkle. We watched the first 2 Star Wars movies at the beginning of the week, but haven't watched the 3rd one yet. The old ones, from the late 70's, speaking of the late 70's :)

HOT HOT HOT HOT

It's supposed to be 105 today.

It was already 90-ish at noon.

I'm not going ANYWHERE for the rest of the day.

But I will hang the diapers outside instead of putting them in the dryer (I always mean to, it's just I'm lazy)

weather (boooorrrring!)

It's getting hot again. It's supposed to be 98 tomorrow, which is hotter than average (which is about 90 in late June). We've had such great weather for a week or two now, with temps around 80 (lower, obviously, than the average).

I was getting used to being comfortable.

I am never ready for summer around here. Ugh.

actual rain

We had a bit of sprinkling the day before yesterday and I figured that was about it. We don't get much rain here in the summer - in fact we just don't expect to get any at all until October-ish.

But last night at about the kids' bedtime, we had an actual thunder-and-lightning storm. The thunder wasn't too loud, but it was basically constant. And then it dumped down rain for about 10 minutes. At about midnight another storm rolled through. More "isolated t-storms" are expected over the next few days. woah!

weather.com says we only had .01 inches, but I'm pretty sure it was wetter than that. The second storm might have been after midnight and so would count for today, but the first one really dumped it down for a while.

AND the highs are in the 70's instead of the average which is about 85 or even what we had a couple of weeks ago: 100.

the temp is fine for it, but I'm abit worried about rain for DS2's class trip to the zoo tomorrow.