Day 100

Day 100, what?! This was deemed so significant that the fathers got their Fathers Day gift early: a Regusci wine glass by Yeti. And it's the best! Particularly when full of Regusci wine.

But wait, that was much later in the evening. Let's start at the beginning of the day... Jamie spent all morning prepping for and delivering a Parlor Car Chat session about the Central Coast Railroad Festival (a link to a recording is here). Matt took the boys fishing most of the morning. While that was happening, the moms were dealing with a dog that managed to soil up most of the house (well, it seemed like that). Lots of cleaning and extra laundry took place. The dads were both hungry for tacos for dinner, so Vaqueros it is! Tonight's movie: My Blue Heaven, largely filmed in San Luis Obispo County, CA, ya know.

Today's interesting tidbit: Thinkr.org. From their website, "We summarize the key ideas from new and noteworthy nonfiction. Read or listen in just 10 minutes per title." Free trial, then $10/month. No affiliation.

Jamie's Parlor Car Chat (recording link is here).

The culprit. After cleaning up, he was very shy and quiet for a long time.

Whatchya doin'? "Stuff."

"How many days?!"

Day 99

Tomorrow is Day 100. We should have been putting a bottle of beer on the wall each and every day! Lexi was very excited about picking the first cherry tomato, until she tasted it. "No, thanks." The boys went up to Palmer Lake for some more angling. By evening, everyone was into their hobbies, again. Dinner was week-in-review, and bubbly. Tonight's movie: That Thing You Do.

Another fishing day at Palmer Lake. Considerably chillier than yesterday.

The D&RGW hasn't owned anything here since 1988.

Thunderstorms this afternoon

Now there's a Fathers Day gift!

Tracy started a 3,000 piece Harry Potter puzzle.

Nana started in on her next quilt.

Day 98

Lots going on today. An early activity was Lexi (and Nana) picking roses from the garden for an art project. Matteo, AJ, and I spent over 4 hours fishing at Palmer Lake. Absolutely beautiful there today: about 70 for the high, bright and sunny, and the boys were catching fish (Matteo got 8). More Palmer Lake pics are here. Tonight's movie: You've Got Mail.

In that movie, Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) says something like, "Everyone says something they regret when stressed or concerned." I reflected on that by the new patio fire after everyone else had gone to bed. This lockdown period has been stressful, and I am concerned. And I did say things I regret, specifically to some of our recent first visitors since the COVID-19 thing shut everything down. It wasn't the content I regretted, it was the tone: cutting, sharp, a little over the top, like hurling a virtual molotov cocktail. The quote above is what Joe said trying to comfort Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) right after nailing him verbally, righteously, but unkindly. And she knew it was wrong the minute it came out of her mouth. So I ask myself, who delivers the truth well and sticks to rational thinking about politics, life's bigger meanings, etc.? You know: cool, calm, collected. Dennis Prager is one guy like that, I think. He's published a lot of stuff in many forms, but it's his Fireside Chats that I've gotten into lately. He's done one a week now for about 140 weeks. He's big on Happiness. Happiness is his root of all goodness. The lack of happiness leads to evil. Check out his book, Happiness Is a Serious Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual. Some quotes are here.

Be happy. It really is up to each one of us.

Lexi's completed rose-petal art.

From the pedestrian bridge running from a parking lot to Palmer Lake.
This is a southbound BNSF unit train of coal on The Joint Line.

AJ got his School in the Woods patch in the mail.

That should keep us busy a few days.

Excellent "Week in Review": steak, eggs, onion saute.

We have no idea what she's making.

Tracy got all some Sasquatch Cookies!

Beautifully cool evening, the fire felt great!

Day 97

Matt's pork tenderloin for dinner. CHOPstonia continues to flourish with foreign aid. Tonight's movie: City Slickers.

The baby found Lexi hugely entertaining.

Day 96

Fina was quite busy today: making videos with the kids, baking, and dancing. And who knows what I flat out missed. No pool today, but we did have good food from Fuji Mt (love those drunken noodles!). We're in our own tighter lockdown again for the littlest one's upcoming surgery (next week). Jamie got a record three hours in today de-duping the Give! database (it's quite tedious). Tonight's movie: Serendipity. With ice cream from Josh & John's.

Any day now...

Fina was making a video of some sort.

And chocolate chip cookies!

We have regular outdoor friends dropping by.

To go with the cookies.

Day 95

Thank goodness for Lexi's love of art. She's put in so many hours doing art over the course of this COVID thing. Matteo had his 132nd and final Take Flight lesson today - a graduate! Not stopping, though. He's moving on to vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, etc. in continuation. Good show, Matteo! Have you ever seen a completely see-through puzzle before? See below (or don't see it below). And lastly, fun at the pool from 5-8pm. The kids noted the activity pool was considerably colder than normal. So did everyone else that jumped in! And poolside service; welcome back pink shirts!

Day 94

Very quiet day. We said goodbye to the Siscos with a steak and eggs breakfast. And then we settled into a lot of nothingness. We did "attend" church online. Lexi was pretty ambitious about her artwork.  Fina got into the intersection of makeup and COVID mask artistry. It was really nice at the pool this evening; we had the 5-8pm shift. I watched Hostage (Bruce Willis) this afternoon.

Dinner came from the Steakhouse. They forgot to staff the Grill at the pool.