Wet and Cloudy - no complaints


We're a bit waterlogged but that's okay. 




Last night we had some good-sized winds - we had to run out and take down bird feeders and wind chimes, the flag, and decorative pieces on the patio as well as tie back the curtains.  



No complaints though about the weather. It is still early in California's rainy season. I still think other places had it worse than we did.



I'm glad the blog is now updating - I had to go to Feedburner and "refresh" it. I guess 2023 has entered me into new blog issues. Yesterday I was unable to comment on anyone's blog. It wouldn't do anything. A few hours later I was promoted to anonymous.  On this blog, I was unable to reply to my own commenters. Today I can only comment when using my desktop - not my phone. 

I baked my favorite cake - a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Simple. I use Trader Joe's yellow cake mix. It reminds me of the yellow cakes my mom would bake when I was a child. 



I made a yummy soup last night - 


We'll be eating this for lunch this week. Add some parmesan cheese on top and some crusty bread and YUM! 

I watched church services online while my husband went to church - My body takes a while to un-rust on these cold rainy days. So I watched while I folded my laundry. Good sermon on contentment. I don't choose yearly words but if I did, I would choose contentment. 


That's it for me on this wet, cloudy Sunday. 

 

Pacifica, Storms and more frustrating BLOGGER issues


This is Pacifica - 

For decades this part of the town I grew up in has been eroding away.  

https://apnews.com/article/weather-storms-california-climate-and-environment-b83bb05fa2d21796a85be9bfc690cf17/gallery/14bb5ce4c10a41fe8b977af6f3cdd52e


We're wet - but all is well. I am so happy I no longer live in the Bay Area. Places I lived have flooded - roads have caved in. Up here, we see minor road flooding, and certain pockets that are prone to it but for the most part, nothing dramatic! 

Granted there are always the dumb and curious, who decide they want to go kayaking in the middle of a huge storm (atmospheric river) and need to be rescued. I saw this one video with a healthy young guy who was "stranded." 

All these rescue workers had to get into a boat to rescue him - the water came up to their crotches if that high. They all had smiles on their faces because they knew how ridiculous it all looked. Local news crews were there filming. Even the young guy being rescued had a sheepish grin. 


Image by Freepik


Apparently, my post feed is not updating recent posts. I didn't change anything. It just happened. At the same time, I had disappearing posts - and other annoying effects. 

How are you getting my posts? By email? Using the Blogger reader or do you have my blog in your sideline widget? Is it updating? 

Hopefully, now it is - or maybe not. It might be a couple of days until I can figure it all out. 

Oh well, it's just a blog - not the end of the world. 

Peace! 

Debby 






Free chair, WordPress and RSS Feeds


 Free is good! 

A gentleman in my husband's bible study is redecorating his home and offered this chair, free of charge and he even threw in free delivery! 

We'll take it! 

I've always been the keeper of other people's stuff! Throughout the years I have received some really awesome pieces of furniture etc. Have you priced these recliners lately? They are too expensive - and in most cases, delivery is no longer free, at least around here it isn't. 




I just got back from the grocery store where eggs are now $9.14 and the cheapest brand of bacon is $6.49. I also bought the store brand mayo - Best foods, which I always buy had a brownish tinge to it - Well do a take-and-bake pizza from the pizza shop tonight for dinner - usually my husband makes pizza but lately I have given him a break. 




I sure hope everyone is fine - seems half of the bloggers I read regularly have not posted anything in a week or more. I know that nasty flu is going around. If you are one of them, just know you are missed and I hope you are well. 

I've been having some issues here on Blogger. Yesterday I impulsively went back to WordPress and opened up a blog with this name - clicked for them to transfer my domain and I exported this blog into the new one on WordPress. 

Then it was time to pick a theme - which I did. I had a WordPress blog a year or two ago but it has changed even in that short time. I honestly could not figure it out. It is not user-friendly for those over a certain age. I've always been a bit on the techy side, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. Finally, after half the day, I deleted the blog, canceled the subscription and they refunded my money back. 

I guess I am stuck here on Blogger until they shut down or I die of frustration due to their many glitches - It's crazy - I can go months with everything running smoothly and then, WHAM - everything is acting wonky. 

I just want it simple - I do like to change things up a bit every couple of years - 






One thing new - I added was a way to sign up for email posts - 
I went with Follow It - (Thanks Denise

Easy peasy. It's free and you just add your blog URL and add the little widget they provide just for your blog. 


 I was on Bloglovin for years and had over 200 + followers - Bloglovin is/was platform that allows users to read, organize, and discover their favorite blogs on mobile and desktop using the RSS feed.  A new owner in 2018 and it has been going downhill ever since. More than half the time, it is down. 

I can't depend on Blogger and their reader - can't trust Bloglovin - So I need to always have options two, three, or four!

This blog post will self-destruct in 10 seconds...

Debby










Bomb Cyclone

 


Although it sounds very intimidating it's not the end of the world. It is an actual term in Meteorology defined as an intense midlatitude storm that has low pressure at its center and becomes a bomb when its central pressure decreases by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. Simply put, it's an area of low pressure that intensifies rapidly. We used to call them BIG PACIFIC STORMS back in the day when we were dumb - 

 We had rain and gusty winds last night right in time for bedtime. Laydee was shaking like a leaf, and Susie ran up and down the hallway into the wee hours of the morning. At times it sounded like a freight train was coming. It also tapped into an Atmospheric River. Woke up, took a walk around the house and all is well. Lost one branch off one of the trees. 

Not the case in areas closest to the ocean. 

Such fun. 

Apparently, we have 3 Atmospheric Rivers back to back through next Monday blending into what looks like and will feel like one event. 

More fun. 


Source: Redding Buzz
Table Mountain near Oroville. 


The spring waterfalls are going to be magnificent. 

I'm hoping to be able to hike this come Spring with my husband along with our church hiking club. The trail that gets you to this point, is fairly easy. It's not like I would be climbing or repelling down those cliffs. 

I do need new hiking boots. 




Navy texted me a photo of Harry enjoying the cedar log we gave him for Christmas. 

Take care - I hope all is well. 



Embracing Winter


Like it or not,  God gives us winter. 

I enjoy winter for the most part. 




Since we rarely get snow, I like to pretend. 






I don't live in Alaska - 

but I still like to pretend during our mild winter months. 




I get out everything I can find that is wintery - this painting was painted for my folks by my dad's business partner from Germany. 

Actually, it looks more like early spring...

I still like to pretend. 






My late father-in-law gave this to me - He knew I loved wolves. 








I change out every season, what the Lab pup is playing with. This time, my husband suggested getting a styrofoam ball - to mimic a snowball. 






I found this little sign at Dollar Tree - 

which is a good reminder to do just that! 



and yes, those little fluffs of pretend "snow" are the white fluffy dusters from the Dollar Tree. 





 

Lets get pumped up for the New Year!

 


"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” 

—Ralph Waldo Emerson



“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” 

— C.S. Lewis



“What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven't even happened yet.”

Anne Frank



“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

 —Socrates



 “The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written.” 

—Melody Beattie



“Every moment is a fresh beginning.”

 —T.S. Eliot



“Take a leap of faith and begin this wondrous new year by believing.”

 —Sarah Ban Breathnach





“Climb the mountain so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.”

 —David McCullough Jr.









A man’s heart plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps.

Proverbs 16.9



P.S.


Dec 31 and Jan 1 posts were published - and there and then they weren’t. 

I just re-published them for the second time. Crazy. 


*** Photos are taken by myself or my sons 

Sunsets, street flooding and a earthquake.


Last night (new years eve) we had a beautiful sunset 




Looking down the street - 




 
We were fortunate - we didn't get the copious amount of rain they did in the bay area, where I am originally from.
 




It's a shame that they got all rain and here,  is where the water storage is.

Basically, the rain they got, just goes out to the sea. The bay area gets its water from Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite. They have some local reservoirs that is water stored from HH. 





After church, we drove out to Shasta Dam. It rose 4 feet - which barely put a dent in the water storage. We are going to need several Pineapple Expresses, (atmospheric river) for us to meet the normal expectation and then some. 





My friend Mary, texted me photos of my old neighborhood in San Mateo. 




It's mostly street flooding - I lived there for 30 years and we never had the kind of flooding you see in Texas or in other parts of the country. So for the bay area, this is BIG. For the rest of the country, it's a big yawn! 

After the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, I received a USGS map of my area - and it is a flood plain - on an old creek bed. So yeah, it will flood if there is a high tide like yesterday. It's better than living on a landfill - which is right across the highway - to Foster City. You don't want to be in an earthquake living on top of a  landfill. 



Speaking of Earthquakes


There was another earthquake this morning while we were in church. Small at 5.3 or 5.4. We didn't feel it but Foodie texted me and he felt it. I usually don't feel them that small. This was different than the one a few weeks ago near Ferndale. That one was in the ocean -  and was 6.4. This one was in Rio Dell on land. 

The weather people make everything sound terrible - trying to work people up - but it's all normal. I know because when something happens, I get a text from a cousin or two, or my sister-in-law checks in. Sometimes the weather gets wild (for here) and sometimes we have an earthquake or two.  One day, it could be another big one like Loma Prieta or the 1994 Northridge earthquake down in LA. 




Last night we went to bed around 10 - woke up at midnight due to the firecrackers. Poor Laydee was doped up but she was still scared. She kept hiding in my husband's closet and then she'd go to the bathroom to hide and back and forth. It lasted for a very long 30 minutes until she was able to stop shaking and get back to sleep. 


Tomorrow is another holiday - I can't wait till Tuesday when everyone goes back to work - and the days are normal once again. 

New Years Eve 2022 -


Navy texted me a cute photo of Harry. 


Not much going on around here - I decided I wanted to change around my kitchen cupboards - and the appliances on the countertop. I told my husband, it's good for our brains to change things. 



I am trying to remember when we last did anything for New Year's Eve. I'm pretty much done with all the New Years' stuff - I like to treat it like a regular night; I only wish my neighbors did. We'll have to dope Laydee up, just in case they blow off fireworks and act crazy. I'm sorry, I just don't get that but if I'm being honest, I used to do that too. I guess I'm getting crotchety in my old age. 


I'm such a nonconformist - I don't do resolutions either. I've always had issues with people telling me what I should do - and following the crowd. I always go the opposite way. 

I just live my life day to day - sure I have goals and things I would like to do - we have some home improvement projects we have in mind. Nothing in concrete - if it happens great - if it doesn't, oh well.

I just want to be the best I can be - for myself, for my family, for my fellow man, and for the earth, God so graciously allows me to be a part of.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year.  

Debby

Rain and Back Fences


The rain has begun once again. This area in our yard will be getting paved over sometime in the spring. No matter how much grass is planted there, it always floods and turns into a mud bowl. 

I sure do hope we can get some good rain - Rain is a wet blessing from God. 


The lighter is the newer section. The posts are fine. 





I know what we'll be doing this year - whether we want to or not. The new neighbors in the back came over and want a new back fence that matches.  It matches - just some sections are newer. My husband and the old lady that used to live there, continually maintained the fence - The fence is fine - it's been patched but they are young homeowners and they both work and they want what they want. The estimate a few years ago was $3000. and of course, we pay half. With the cost of redwood so expensive, we're probably looking at close to $5000. 

We will not put ourselves in a financial bind because they want a nice new fence. We'll do what we can afford. 

Oh well - as my mom would say, "they can't get blood from a turnip." 




The situation with Margie has improved. However, my formal complaint still stands with the state. My son says, most likely nothing will happen. Because it was a one-time isolated incident. 

I went to visit her on Tuesday - she was surprised they let me in since they are in isolation due to the flu and covid. I was already there in her room with her roommate coughing... if I were to catch anything, the damage was already done so I stayed and chatted. When I went back out, there were no signs whatsoever prohibiting visiting. 

1-4 days for the flu exposures - and 4.3 days for Covid. Then again, every time my kids visit me, they have been exposed, due to their jobs. Foodie still has never come down with Covid. I find that amazing since he works right in the belly of the beast. 



I refuse to live in a bubble. 

It really is depressing to see her this way - At 81, I still believe she is way too young to be there. She has improved but her kids don't want her home, so they don't have to think about her or worry about her. Then again, they don't visit her enough there at the facility - it's the old "outta sight, outta mind" situation. She wants to go home or sell her house and move to a better place. They are the ones holding her up. 

It has been on my mind a lot - about if this happens to me which Navy assures me, that they would not allow me to live in a place like that - I would move in with them. Of course, if I died before my husband (which would be preferable) I don't have to worry about such. Actually, I don't worry - I just don't want to live like that. The plan is, if one of us starts showing serious signs of dementia - we would sell the house and move into the Veteran Home. That way, if my husband goes before I do, I can legally stay. However, the Veterans homes do not take military spouses alone. Margie looked into that due to her husband was military. 

It will all work out - I'll be 69 in March. 





I'm excited about a new beginning - a new month, a new year. Last year was a year of recovering from surgeries and physical therapy and regaining my strength. This year I want to get back into what I enjoy and that is hiking. Not the big butt-killer hikes my husband and sons do - just more exploring and hikes. 




My son said Lexi loved the dollhouse. I just told them to give it to her and say it was from Santa. I'm so happy she is having fun with it. 

I have some new woodworking tools I received for Christmas that I am excited to start using. 

So I've taken down everything that is Christmas related - and my husband took down the outside decorations and the nativity since the weather is rainy and windy. I still have the inside nativities and the tree. I'm also starting to decorate for winter - with snowflakes, snowmen, etc. 

That's all I can think of - until I hit publish and then I remember things I forgot to add. 



Still in holiday mode



Susie and Laydee's Christmas gifts. 
Laydee actually unwraps her own gift as we root her on. 

Apparently, it rained hard last night while I slept with heavy winds. I slept through it all. Had a little lake in the backyard - but the rest of the day has been partly cloudy or partly sunny. 

Did you know that there is no difference between the two? There are different instances where the terms tend to be used. You wouldn't use "partly sunny" at night. You'd use partly cloudy for that. 

If the rain has ended and the sun is trying to come out - it's considered partly sunny. If it's been sunny but is expected to rain, it would be partly cloudy. 

ANYWAY, looks like they got it wrong again - looks like the next 2 days will be just cloudy with no rain. Apparently, there are some storms lining up in the Pacific that might bring a lot of rain. 





 Here is a video of the husband using his new lawn mower - I'm glad I got him the kind that plugs in - Navy has an electric one that needs to be recharged. He says he runs out of power in the middle - and has to charge it to finish up his lawn. What a hassle that is. 

Looks like he is having an issue with the cord. I told him, "it's like vacuuming." 
Don't worry about Laydee, trying to bite the mower. As long as she has her ball in her mouth she's fine. She does this with me when I vacuum and when I mop! She always makes me laugh! Silly dog.

Tomorrow I hope to start...whatever it is I should start on. I'm still a bit stuck in holiday mode. Relaxing and still enjoying all the decorations until they come down. I don't know when that will be. I don't have any "tradition" one way or another. My mom always left them up till Little Christmas. I have waited till then; then on other occasions, I have taken down the decorations as early as 2 days after. That's one tradition I have not established and I feel at this time, it's a play-it-by-ear kind of thing. Hey, maybe that is my tradition!

Enjoy your evening. 

The Day after Christmas


We had a beautiful mild Christmas Day. 

We celebrate on Christmas Eve - always have - always will. This tradition comes from my dad - who also celebrated Christmas Eve in Eastern Tennessee. His dad, a coal miner would bring home oranges and walnuts - and put them in their socks. No fancy stockings like we have - SOCKS! 

I always have oranges and walnuts for Christmas Eve. 



The kids all came over around 5pm, Christmas Eve. 

It was a busy hour when they first arrived as I was finishing up the potato Latkes and I put together a plate for Margie. My husband offered to bring the plate over so I could stay and continue the last-minute details of our meal.




My gift to them is to make everything cozy and homey. And to offer FOOD and lots of it. 

The flexible flyer sled out there belonged to my dad and we used it as kids when we would go to Tahoe. 




Before and after dinner we sat outside on the patio - had a small fire burning. 

We had a wonderful time with a lot of hearty laughing going on. My sons are pretty funny guys and always make us laugh. 

Everyone left by 11:30 pm. 







Church on Christmas Day was nice - although I admit I was having a hard time staying awake. I am not used to such late nights. 

The husband loved his new lawn mower and he and Laydee mowed the lawns together. 

I had forgotten to mention: Laydee did it again. On the 23rd when I brought over Latkes to Margie, my husband forgot to place the 12 jelly donuts in the pantry. When we came home, Laydee had polished off 9 jelly donuts. 

Shame on us - because we need to be more careful. We opened up a box of See's candy and remembered, we need to not keep that on the coffee table as in the past. 






Christmas Day night was the last evening of Hanukkah. 





This morning we woke to fog.

A big storm is heading our way - for heavy rain and wind. Should hit about 6pm tonight. So we're all pretty excited. From the looks of it, it could give us close to a week or more of rain, which we need. 

I love the holidays - but I am always happy when they are behind me. I'll leave up the decorations for a few more days - then slowly I will put them away. 

PS. I forgot to add, the waterfall video from yesterday's post was called Potum Falls, near us. We took a short drive there yesterday. 

A beautiful day - knowing that for the next few, the weather will be wet and wily.