HAPPY PRIDE 🏳️‍🌈

Happy Pride🏳️‍🌈

I decided to skip Pride celebrations this year and instead do practical things. I assembled my hammock and spent 40 minutes in it relaxing. My pop up tent arrived and I practiced putting it up and more importantly taking it down. I cleared out a drawer of clothes that are too big and put my hiking clothes in the newly empty drawer. I did some laundry and washed dishes. I walked the dog three times. But most importantly I invoiced some clients.  

I also planned my next, next adventure. I'm planning another (I say another because I already planned my trip in early fall) trip mid to late fall. I'm so excited.

Until tomorrow 

GAY HISTORY HIKE

I got up early so that I could be up and ready to go to my planned hike. The hike was being run by a ranger who is gay and talking about queerness in the National Park system. It was a very interesting hike rhat stopped multiple times during the hike to talk about different parts of gay history. At the end of a beautiful hike with wonderful views, was a labyrinth. I walked the labyrinth and contemplated my upcoming life changes. 

After the planned hike, I went on a short hike by myself. 

I miss each year the fabulous party my friends used to have. They moved to Hawaii and I visited them last year. 

Until tomorrow...

GAY ORIDE WEEKEND

It's gay Pride weekend and I was going to go to the Trans March but my feet were bothering me. The thought of matching all that way after walking the dog did not sound fun. Plus I have a hike planned for tomorrow. 

The Trans March is a march showing pride for being trans or a trans ally. I matched in it years ago with a friend. The match was much smaller then. 

I am probably not going to to any big celebrations this year. Nothing wrong with them or me. I just want to get things done at home. 

Until tomorrow...

NEUROPATHY OR FIBROMYALGIA

I have been having pains in my feet. When I spoke to the doctor she feels that it might be neuropathy. I don't know that much about neuropathy but I hear it is nerve damage caused by RA that affects the peripheral nervous system. It may be numbness or tingling of your extremities.  

I have had pain in my feet and now I have burning on my toes. The question is: is it neuropathy or fibromyalgia? Who knows if we will ever know? I'm not so sure it makes a difference as long as I get treated. Do you have neuropathy or fibromyalgia? Where is your pain? 

Until tomorrow...

NEXT VAN TRIP PLANNED

Today started out regular. I was happy to not have construction workers in my house for the first time in a while. The door they put in looks great. They just have to come back and finish some painting of the trim on the outside and a little bit of painting on the inside. 

This afternoon I got bored and started booking campgrounds for my next trip. It's amazing how far in advance people will book campgrounds. But I got a site in every Campground but one. That one is switching hands tomorrow so I have to go on tomorrow reserve a campsite. 

Then in the evening instead of meditating I started looking at another trip that I'm going to take late in the year. I'm trying to figure out how much that would cost. With the van rental, the campgrounds, the gas and propane. I want to see if I can do another trip before the end of the year. I heard a lot of places the week of Thanksgiving and the week after Thanksgiving are less expensive.

Until tomorrow...

RUDE

Today I blocked out my entire morning to be on a video call for my foster kid. I was told about this date weeks ago, I didn't schedule anything during this time. I contact him last night to verify but I got no answer. 

This morning I'm sitting there with the zoom but I have no information on where to zoom. Finally the kid calls me around 10:00 a.m. to tell me it was canceled and rescheduled but he doesn't know the date and time. And yes, he knew this days ago but didn't bother to tell me. I find that very rude. My time is valuable especially because I work for myself. 

Kids. What are you going to do with them? 

Until tomorrow...

BACK TO THE VET

Today I had to take Miss Vivien Butterfly back to the vet. She that's this weird mark right under her bottom lip that looked puffy. So I took her into the doctor could look at it and she thought it was like ingrown hair mark. She gave me some gel to put on it. It's weird though because I thought it was a cut or scrape or something. I would not have thought that it was like an ingrown hair. She said that it wasn't the ingrown hair necessarily but the bacterial infection that caused the mark. 

Until tomorrow...

ELECTRIC CAR 🚗

This was my first trip with my new electric car. I do have to admit I went into it with a little bit of trepidation. I hadn't quite figured out that much about charging the car, going to a charger, and how far the car can really go on a charge. I also was not sure about all of the technology in the car. 

I made it down to my godmother's with a little bit of stress and a couple of stops. Of course I had the dog so I had to stop every couple of hours to let the dog out to pee. I even had to pee myself and I didn't want the dog to walk in the not so clean bathroom, so I carried the dog in and held her on my lap while I peed. It was a bit of a Cirque du Soleil move. 

Add another rest area I found that they had free charging for your electric car so I plugged in for a little bit. I texted my brother to tell him and he informed me it would be an extremely slow charge. 

Luckily my brother had planned out my trip for me and found me a charging station part way to my destination. It had a quite fast charger that took only 20 minutes on the way down. Unfortunately on the way back home, the charging stations were full so I had to wait 20 minutes to get a charging station and 20 minutes to charge the car in the horrible 100° heat. We sat under a tree in the parking lot waiting. 

Overall, the electric car is a smooth ride, fun to drive, has a lot of bells and whistles and the charging makes it interesting. 

Until tomorrow...

H O T

It is hot.🔥🥵

It is 110 degrees today. I'm hot just sitting still. My godmother has the thermostat at 75 degrees. 75! I'm sweating. Then the dog wants to go for a walk but I can't let her because she could burn her feet. We went for a walk at 9 pm when the temperature dropped to 85. 

The funniest thing happened. My godmother has a house with a doggie door from the previous owners. The doggie door goes from the kitchen to the garage, then it goes from the garage to the shed area, then it goes from the shed area to the backyard. We decided to show Miss Vivien butterfly how to from the kitchen to the garage and out to the backyard. So we showed her the first door then the second door then the third door one time. 

My godmother's kids came over and suddenly I'm looking for the dog. Wouldn't you know it she figured out how to get out through all those little doors to get to the backyard! Unfortunately she couldn't figure out how to come back because no one had shown her so she was out in this horrible heat in the backyard. We all marveled on how smart she was. 

Until tomorrow...

SUMMER SOLSTICE ROAD TRIP

Got up this morning and went to go see my concierge doctor. It was a normal every couple of months check in and things are going really well. Knock on wood. 

After the doctor I dropped Sunny off at the bird store to be boarded, Miss Vivian Butterfly and I got in my new electric car and drove to see my godmother. This is the first time my godmother is seeing my car and my new dog. 

Well, you would think that my dog won the lottery. She just loved my godmother and my godmother loved her. 

The only part that I didn't love was how hot it was where we were. It was over a hundred degrees and I just melted. 

Until tomorrow...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUNNY

Today is Sunny the birds birthday. He is 15 years old. When I look at Sunny I don't see a bird that's older than eight or nine. He looks quite young. He is now such a seasoned traveler that he's going to come with me on my next trip. 

Here's the story of how I got Sunny. 16 years ago my bird Baby passed away at the age of 17 years old. After a few months I went down to the bird store to look at other birds. I was told that they had baby cockatiels that were just born. I could pick out a baby bird and come every week to hold the bird to bond with the bird. They told me this is the best way to have a bird bond with you from birth. Each week I went down and held the bird. I came up with many names for the bird; jokingly one of them was frog. I can't remember now why but I think it had to do with the way the bird looked. 

Anyway I went week after week for a couple of months to sit there for an hour and hold the little bird. The day that I was supposed to go and pick up the bird because he was ready to go home with me, I got a phone call that he died. So now within months of each other I had two birds die. I was devastated. 

The bird store told me I could get my money back or I can get another bird. They felt horrible with what happened. I could not make a decision at that time so I waited about 6-8 months to call them up and say I want to get another bird. 

The day I went to go get a bird I walked in the store and went over to the bird glass enclosure. There were probably 15 birds in this giant glass enclosure. Right as I walked up this little bird walked right up to the glass looked at me and just stood there. I said that's my bird. The woman at the store laughed. She said of all the birds you would pick this bird. This bird has an overgrown lower beak. He's considered disabled because his lower beak juts out over his top beak. I said I don't care I'll take this bird because obviously he needs a home. They said not to worry they'd help me take care of his lower beak. I called him Sunshine after a dark period with birds. For short I call him Sunny. 

That is how Sunny came to live with me. Happy birthday Sunny!

Until tomorrow...

JUNETEENTH

Today my contractor came to install my new French door since the rain of 2022-23 ruined the back of my house. We thought we had gotten the leak but then another popped up. This time he found out my contractor years ago did not put flashing under the door frame on an outside door. If I knew where he was I would *#&$@# him. All the stupid things he did because he was ignorant or trying to cut corners. 

Today was Juneteenth and I had to sit around all day waiting for him to finish. 

I started meeting with someone to try and figure out what my next steps are going to be for my life. I want to quit the job I am currently doing and try to do something else. 

Until tomorrow...

DENTIST VISIT

I had to go for my 6 month cleaning. Wouldn't you know the dentist found something! One of my old old fillings was coming loose. So I'll need to go back and have her refill the filling. 

Don't you hate going to the dentist? I always think I do such a good job brushing flossing and then I show up and they find something. It's sort of very defeatist. I just want to go, sit in the chair, have them clean my teeth and then praise me for having beautiful teeth. Not sure that will ever happen because I'm a grinder and a gritter. So many of my teeth are cracked and I have lots of crowns. 

Until tomorrow...

ANOTHER VISIT FROM MY BROTHER AND SISTER-IN- LAW

Around lunch time my brother and sister-in-law came over to spend more time together. My brother had promised to fix a few things before he left town. One of my routers died and needed to be replaced. He helped me figure out about charging my new electric car. So we were busy. 

Meanwhile my sister-in-law re-wrote a text that I needed to send to somebody. It was a sticky situation and it needed a diplomatic text message. What emotions are included I'm not always the most diplomatic person. 

Once we got all the tasks done, we went out to lunch before I drove them to the airport. 

It was a fun visit and we never were at a loss for conversation. 

Miss Vivien butterfly adores my brother. I think she would leave me if he took her home. She was following him around after he put her on his lap for some pets.

Until tomorrow...

AI AND OLD CARS

Today was a busy day. First I got up early and went to a local old car show. My neighbor is part of it with his old restored cars. There are some very pretty old cars. It was near the beach so I brought along Miss Vivien Butterfly. I am not sure that she has ever been at a beach. She loved the sand and all the smells but was not too thrilled about the water. So we spent the time with her sniffing around the sand. 

Then I dropped Miss Vivien Butterfly off at home while I went to a conference/event where my brother and sister-in-law were. I entered into a world that I don't know much about. There was AI, robots, 3D printing, cosplay and so much more. It was incredibly fascinating to see so many people with such creative ideas and such passion. I ended up spending hours there including having lunch with my brother and my sister-in-law. It was a great day. 

Until tomorrow...

CURLING

Today was the day that I had my curling class. I've been super excited about going to this but as time was getting closer I started to get more nervous. I figured curling had to be harder than it looked on TV and I was right. 

But first I have to tell you why I was a little bit late. I was so excited I got in my new car, I backed it out of the garage, the garage door came down and went back up. I tried it again same thing happened came down and went back up. I checked the remote that wasn't it. I checked the garage machinery, that wasn't it. I checked the railings of the garage door, that wasn't it. Finally I looked very closely at the sensor, and there was a daddy long legs on the sensor. So he must have been going off and then going back on which caused the garage to go back up. Once I eradicated daddy long legs, the garage door closed. But now I was 8 minutes late. 

When I got there everybody was already in their groups and had already started the lesson. The instructor volunteer gave me one of those I'm disappointed in new looks because I didn't show up on time. I tried to explain but the class was moving forward. First thing we did was learn how to do the curling lunge. You put your foot on this little black wedge, you squat down putting your hands on one the curling Stone and the other a white thing that holds you up. Then you put your other foot on this footprint that is very slick. Realizing we're on ice the slick foot is super slippery so while you're in the squatting position with one foot on a wedge and the other foot on the slippery footprint, you put your hand on the stone and on the White thing and you use your foot in the wedge to push off into a lunge position. The other foot is supposed to sort of stay under you. When you get a few yards out you let go of the Stone and the stone slides down the "sheet" (the ice alley) were you stay in the lunge position. If you've ever seen curling you know what I'm talking about. 

I was in a group with a couple who both managed to do the lunge position Stone push. After two tries I was unable due to my knees being weak. So they gave me what's called a push stick to push the stone down the sheet. It worked well and I enjoyed pushing the stone. 

Then you have to learn how to "sweep" the ice. The sweeping is essential to keep the stone moving further down the sheet. When you watch the people sweeping on TV they look like they're just sweeping but it is harder than it looks. Not only do you have to sweep really hard, you also sweep while you are almost running alongside the stone. So you're moving fast while shuffling your feet (because you have to have your feet on the ice),  and leaning over sweeping furiously in front of the Stone. You can't touch the stone or that's a automatic disqualification of that stone. 

I found that I was a better sweeper than the person pushing the stone. That doesn't mean I was a good sweeper. I was just better at sweeping. 

Anyway at the end of the lesson we had a very quick tournament with another team and we won. I'm not that excited because it wasn't like we WON. We were just the least worse of the two teams. 

Overall it was a good time. I don't think I'm going to go again because they seem to want people to join their team and I don't want to join a curling team. I would do it again if it was just for fun. 

Until tomorrow...

BROTHER AND SISTER-IN-LAW

I got up early so I could finish cleaning up before my brother and sister-in-law arrived. I ran to the supermarket to buy some strawberries, chips and drinks. After they arrived we ordered lunch to be delivered so we could sit out in the backyard. It was a beautiful day and we did a lot of catching up. 

I drove my brother and sister-in-law to their hotel. Only later I found out that the wrong hotel was in the GPS and I left them there to take an Uber to the correct hotel. If I had known I would have never left them at the wrong hotel. 

It was a great time catching up and I'm sure I will see them over the weekend while they are at their conference/event. 

Until tomorrow...

IMPENDING VISIT

I spent today thinking about getting ready for my brother's visit. I didn't understand that he is coming tomorrow and Monday. I cleaned up and put things away to clean up the living room. 

I have to go to the store in the morning for diet coke. 

Today was a struggle after last night's concert. The singer was good but it was not the best concert I've seen. She sang pretty good but the stage was boring. 

Until tomorrow...

CONCERT

I went to a concert this evening by myself. It is not my first. I have a few concerts this summer that I am excited about. 

This concert it's fine but not as exciting as I thought it would be. The singer was good but the stage was not very decorated and very boring. Overall I had a good time but if I'm being honest I would not go see this singer again. 

I had to find my way there and back because I couldn't drive. So I took a taxi to the venue and the taxi driver told me the best way to get a cab to come home. So I left the concert before the last song so I could beat the hordes of people coming out of the venue. Once I got outside I couldn't find any taxis except one and he was taken. So I asked him if it was a place to find a taxi cab and he said to go a one block away. Once I got one block away I went on the taxi app and ordered a taxi and believe it or not it arrived in like 2 minutes. So if I go to any more events at this venue I'll know to leave before the end and that way I can quickly get a taxi. 

I probably could have taken public transportation but I didn't quite know which publishers transportation to take. So if I do go to this venue again I might investigate which buses trains etc I need to take. 

I found out that this evening that my ex-foster kid will graduate high school on August 8th. It's very exciting. He works very hard to get to this point. And I feel I worked very hard to make sure he got to this point. The percentage of foster kids that finish high School is incredibly low (50%) so this is really going to be a celebration day. 

Until tomorrow...

ARTHRITIS MEETING

Tonight was the arthritis group gathering. It's been a little bit hard because the group is dwindled and we don't know why. Started dwindling just as I became the co-facilitator and has continued to doing the while I became the facilitator. We spent some time tonight brainstorming what we could do to fix the problem. 

Meanwhile I gave my little presentation on tips for gardening with arthritis or chronic pain. It felt a little flat because neither person attending was a gardener. 

But at least it was a successful meeting. 

Until tomorrow...

CAR PAPERWORK

Today I had to go and get the title to my Cabrio to take to the dealer. I drove to the dealer gave them the title, did the paperwork and drove back to work. 

I am now the proud owner of an electric vehicle. My next step is to talk to the electrician to get a plug put in the garage so I can charge my electric vehicle. Since my Cabrio had 95,000 miles on it and it was a 2002, I don't think I'm suddenly going to drive a bunch of miles on this new car. 

Although I am excited to do a few long drives. I'm going to see a relative and I'd like to do some hikes further from home now that I have a car and a dog that is able to walk. 

Until tomorrow...

GOT MY CAR!

Today I picked up my car. It is exciting! Also the fact that they give me a car without paying for it. I do have a contract. 

I brought Miss Vivien Butterfly with me. She just loves her car seat. 

I went through the abbreviated training and off I went. 

I took lucky to her first dog park after picking up the car. She is the mayor of the dog park. There is a term for it but I can't think of it right now. She had such a good time running after dogs. Meeting all the people and meeting all the dogs. She was just incredibly adorable at the dog park. Her personality really came out. 

Until tomorrow...

I BOUGHT A CAR!! 🚙

I woke up this morning and went to test drive cars. When I heard it was going to cost $1,000 to fix my car plus the clutch is going which would cost another $2,000, it was time to look at new cars. I have wanted to get an electric vehicle since I put in my solar panels, so I went to three different dealerships. 

First I went to Chevy to see the Bolt. They only had one 2-year-old Bolt for sale. No new cars. 

Next I went to Nissan to try the Leaf. It was nice but it was too much of a sedan for me. Plus I didn't find that I hug the road very well. Not that I do fast but I did drive around a little bit. 

Third, I went to Kia to try the Niro. I've never heard of this car before but it gets good mileage for an electric vehicle and it was smaller than the Leaf. They didn't have my color, red, but they had a nice blue electric vehicle. It was still wrapped from being dropped off from the truck, so I couldn't take it home right away. That worked out fine for me because I needed to go home and clean out my Cabrio. I traded the Cabrio in instead of trying to sell it privately. 

I'm going to pick the car up tomorrow. I also needed to get home because the dog had been left alone for hours for the first time and I was worried how she would be. I hadn't expected to be gone that long.

 

I have to thank my cousin for assisting me in purchasing a car. She was in my ear, literally, through the entire process talking me through what to do.

Until tomorrow...

CATARACTS

This morning I went to the eye doctor. I didn't get the greatest news but it wasn't completely horrible. Turns out I have cataracts. I know as people get older they get cataracts but the doctor said I have more advanced cataracts than other people of my age. So that means I'm probably going to need cataract surgery in the next couple of years. Hopefully it won't be sooner. I thought the blurry spots in my eyes were because of my sjogrens because I have dry eye. But it turns out it is not. 

I don't know what to expect for cataract surgery but I guess I will find out. 

Until tomorrow...

ON OR OFF

I had an appointment with my nutritionist today. We talked about my trip and about what I need to do to keep healthy. 

The new little dog, Miss Vivien Butterfly, is keeping me on my toes. We go on about four long walks a day. Even after walking she looks at me and wants to continue walking. Then once I bring her home and get her inside, she collapses in her bed and is completely asleep. As someone said she either has on button or an off button. 

I'm starting to plan my next trip. I'm renting a van again to go somewhere. I still have to figure it out. 

Until tomorrow...

$3,000 TO FIX MY CAR

I heard about my car. They had to contact Volkswagen to figure out how to fix my radio. They also looked at my power steering. The pump for the power steering has died which was causing my power steering to fail. Honestly, that would not be such a huge problem but I also feel like the clutch is dying after 10 years. The power steering pump is going to cost $1,000 and I know that the clutch would cost almost $2,000. That would mean putting in at least $3,000 into a 22-year-old car. If I had the means to put this car in a garage and get someone to work on it all while I have a new car, I would do it. But unfortunately I can only have one card at a time because I only have one garage. So the Cabrio needs to go. It makes me cry a little bit because I love that car. I love having a convertible but what good is a convertible if you can't drive it. 

So now I have to think about what to do about a car. I have been talking about getting electric vehicle since I got solar panels so I think I will check some out this weekend. 

Until tomorrow...

CAR RADIO NOT WORKING

Today was a lot of walking. I had to be somewhere so I brought the fog to give her exercise. I swear she already looks lighter. I should weigh her tomorrow. 

I took my car in and they are having an issue fixing it. When I returned from my trip, I hooked up the car battery and the radio needed a code. I accidentally put the wrong code in and now the radio won't work. It is a security feature in case someone tries to steal it. It makes the radio useless because it won't play. Hopefully tomorrow. I really need a new car. I figure in 5k miles it will hit 100,000 miles. I'd like to see that after all these years. 

Until tomorrow...

MISS VIVIEN BUTTERFLY'S FIRST VET APPOINTMENT

This morning Miss Vivien Butterfly went to her first vet appointment. She was all excited to get in the car for the drive to the office. I got there early so we could walk around. Other than a little crying she did well at her appointment. It turns out she has some allergies on her paw, ears and buttocks. The vet thinks it was probably a bit of fleas in her previous home. She was so matted she had to be shaved. He gave her some medicine for her ears and a shot for the rest. She also had to go back in the cone to keep from licking. 

I was happy to hear she was in excellent health for an 8 year old pup. 

I've been a bit down after my trip. Even planning a new trip is not helping. I'm not depressed but just let down. We'll see if it passes. 

Until tomorrow...

FIRST HIKE

Miss Vivien Butterfly and I got up early and after breakfast, we went for a hike. I was prepared too only go a short distance, but Miss Vivien Butterfly had other ideas. She is a walker. A little Energizer dog. The hike was almost 2 miles and other than two water breaks, she walked the whole way. Okay I had to put her in "air jail" for a short stretch because she kept wanting to go on protected lands where there were foxtails. With her long hair, foxtails are no joke.  She saw the ocean for the first time, probably, in her life. 

After the hike, Miss Viv wanted to walk more. I needed to find a bathroom, so we went home. She collapsed once we got inside. 

I had the gardener come by and clean up the backyard after my month away. 

I watched a live broadcast of Kinky Boots on Broadway. That was fun. Great theatre without leaving you couch.  That is one thing I miss from the lockdown. I enjoyed seeing productions, movies and other things from my home. No driving or taking transportation. No losing your ticket. No running late and hoping they will still let me in. No overpriced food. And, I have my own snacks, food and drink choice. 

Until tomorrow...

MEET MISS VIVIEN BUTTERFLY

Miss Vivien Butterfly has found her forever home. Her foster mother dropped her off. She is the sweetest girl. She reminds me of Happi, my dog who died right before COVID lockdown. I can pet her anywhere, pick her up and I get kisses from her. 

I spent the day with Miss Vivien Butterfly. I wanted her to feel comfortable. We went on four walks and, boy is she a walker! I was told to take it easy with her but she kept walking. 

At night I let her up on my bed for a little bit for pets and snuggles. Then I put her in her bed. Next thing I hear is a noise where my shoes were. She was trying to get closer to me and my shoes were next to the bed. I moved my shoes and put her bed next to my bed. She snuggled down and went to sleep. 

I am happy she is here. 

Until tomorrow...