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WEEK 7 2010

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Saturday 20 February 2010
Saturday - well, it was a cold, overcast, and blustery day. The estate sale was not the crazed rush we hoped for. Not even close to a crowd, essentially just low-rolling browsers, and the furniture was completely ignored. Mostly elderly ladies and elderly men, almost always as couples or groups, probably just doing the yard sales and estate sales as a weekend hobby. We sold a few knick-knacks off the dollar table, and a couple of $5 items, and that was about it. Craigslist next, I guess.

Out of boredom we hooked up the old VHS to the TV (good for showing that both worked) and watched movies most of the day. Raiders of the Lost Ark (how young everybody looks!), Tombstone, etc.

The ending of Raiders reminded me to check to see if Warehouse 13 had been canceled. Apparently not.

Friday 19 February 2010
Friday - cleaning up around the place, in preparation for an estate sale tomorrow. Tiring. There is a lot of stuff to be moved about, and laid out. More than I thought, after all this time.

My brother came by and helped, and we priced some stuff. I don't yard sale enough, but we've both heard the horror stories about the buyer's and earlybird's and wanted to be ahead of the game. Gah.

Still, getting rid of some of the old stuff would help the repair kitty and make it easier to move about the place with tools and paint!




Phoebe using sun and shade

Phoebe using Sun and Shade
Phoebe, in a typical napping pose, with about only 1/3rd of his magnificent obese-ness in the sun...

Thursday 18 February 2010

Thursday - the Winter Olympics have started, again. Occasionally in years past I've watched, but it's lost my interest, and I haven't bothered to watch anything this year. And, of course, I've no TV here at the old house anyway.



The weather is cooling, with more fog and some high clouds. Mars is shining redly, almost directly overhead in mid-evening, when not obscured by fog.



My co-workers are wrapping up the big report. We'd hoped for an extension, but didn't get it. I feel guilty about not being there, but if I was there I'd be feeling guilty about not being here. No happy choices sometimes.



My cat sitter called. She found a kitten outside my house in Lancaster and fed it. Noooooooo.........

Wednesday 17 February 2010

Wednesday - it's been clear at night, and early morning. Then, after sunrise the fog get sucked up into the Alhambra Valley and sometimes moves over here towards the Pacheco side. It's neat to see it move in, hesitate, then roll across the valley towards the house. After an hour or so it burns off, and it's a warm and sunny day.

The neighborhood has kids again. For about the last ten years it's been almost free of youngster's but now you can see the riding their bikes, skateboards, playing in the yards, and yelling and screaming like they should. It's mid February but it feels and sounds like mid June.

Tuesday 16 February 2010

Tuesday - I'm reasonably happy with the state of the dining room. It's clean enough for paint to stick, and I've patched and plastered over the small holes from the various iterations of window coverings and wall decorations. The color will be the same light yellow - a professional painter that happened to be at Home Depot asked me "Are you sure of that color?". It is a lot of yellow, but in that room - it works.

I also crawled through the attic and under the house - no really major damage. There is work to be done, but I don't expect the place to fall down tomorrow.

Just a sliver of a new moon tonight.

Monday 15 February 2010

Monday - This would have been my parents wedding anniversary. The story is that they wanted to get married on Valentine's Day, but just couldn't get a church. Ah well.

A wedding day picture is below. How happy Mom looks, though Dad kind of has this "Oh what have I done" look on his face. It worked for them, through thick and thin, bad times and good.

I have no idea of what the car behind them is - Dad had a penchant for odd vehicles and makes - same as his father. At one point he was actually a car repo man - though I doubt he took one of those to his own wedding!

It's quiet around here, in the old house. It's getting empty.

Cleaning means, essentially, scrubbing out all traces of the people that meant the most to me. I could get maudlin, but won't. When I get to feeling blue I think of them up in heaven, looking down. They are both smoking Marlboro's in this vision, and chuckling at the effort they are putting me through!

Sunday 14 February_2010

Sunday - nice weather up here in Martinez, a change, so they tell me, from the last few weeks.



Cleaning and prepping the old house. Forty years of chain smoking have taken their toll. Even "TSP" takes multiple passes to remove the stains. And drywall tape does not respond well to multiple passes of a liquid detergent...

A sister was here helping. She in painting the (reasonably) clean walls with Zinsser Bin, which is an enamel that will stop (hopefully) the bleed through of stains when we put the actual paint on. Another sister stopped by, and my brother, but mostly it was the two of us.



Picture of the Week


Just Married.
Photo NotesThe Newlyweds, in San Francisco.

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