Blue Moon...

One of the gals called, "I will be by to pickup your kayak Thursday night. Make ready."

Friday evening we all piled in her pickup and pulling a trailer full of kayaks, headed out for the Blue Moon Paddle. It was hot, it was smokey from all the fires, and we were all tired from a long week. The thought of being able to spend a couple hours on the water made the journey worth the effort.

 

 We got up to the lake in plenty of time to paddle for a few hours before the sun set.

 The others were having a great time teasing me about all the gear I have stashed in my dry sacks. It got to be a question and answer period of: do you have? the answer was nearly always, Yes. (I do not have pink sparkly duck tape.) (I do have reflective tape, but I didn't tell them.) I understand that they have never traveled in the back of beyond with no one else around, or ever been out of cell range. I'm quite sure they think I'm paranoid. I just prefer to be prepared, and hopefully never have to use any of it.

We were a motley group: a banker, an auto dealer, an orchardist, a retired mill wright, and I.

We drank a few Blue Moons in honor of the occasion,

 

 

watched a pair of falcons hunt, felt the soft breeze off the water, smelled the pines, saw fish jump, got wet, told outrageous tales, and laughed at and with each other.

A gorgeous full blue moon rose through scattered clouds as we paddled in...

 

 

 

 

Elder care...

Let me tell you driving the Elders bus is not for sissies...

The Elders give a lot of unrequested directions, and little tidbits of strange information...

The Elders remember events that I have long forgotten, like the engagement party to my first fiance. 

The Elders are very resourceful, like Dad's date showing me the tooth she Gorilla glued back together for this date.

The Elders argue over who is paying for this luncheon date, but forget to tip the driver.

The Elders actually want their picture taken,

and don't care if the driver has the Biggest Margarita she can find.

Volcano high...

Dad's been mope'n lately, I know why, and I can't fix that, but I can give him another venue, mountain air.

Sunday, I told him to get his fish'n pole, and Willy and Load Up!  He hemmed and hawed for about a minute, and then was yelling for me to get a move on. Hey, who's great idea was this anyway!

We made a big loop, going to the N entrance to Lassen Volcanic Park.

eruption of Lassen Peak, June 14, 1914

 Whipped out the trusty senior pass and we were in. I then drove to the south end of Manzanita Lake.  

After unloading his gear, I parked Dad & his walker by the water so he could fish.

 

 He was way out of practice with his casting, there by being of some danger to anything in the general vicinity. There weren't too many other people around, and the ones that were hastened to keep their distance.  Willy sat under Dad's chair and shook, as I waded out to untangle the lure, again, and again.  He caught: four logs, a large stump, one pine tree, two pine cones, three water plants, and me. Another day fish'n with Dad... But dang if he didn't have a smile on his face. When the wind got too brisk for him, we loaded up, and headed on through the park.

the 8,000 ft elevation mark

Helen Lake

It is beautiful in the high country... I told Dad I would love to come up here kayaking & camping. He said, "Well, if you had a boyfriend you could. Which you would have, if you weren't so darn picky!"  He's plotting again...

Emerald Lake

As we were driving through the park, I asked Dad what a certain shrub was. He didn't know, but he said my grandpa would have been able to tell me what every tree, plant, rock, and critter was... It seems he was a voracious reader with a photographic memory as well as a consummate outdoorsman.

After touring the park we drove into Chester for a bite to eat, checked on what was on the flight line at the airport, and then headed down the mountain to home. Dad was in a much better mood after 200 miles of mountain air... well that, and his SF Giants Won.

 

Shake it off...

Buying a new refrigerator, or spending your brother's share of the inheritance can be the same thing. I know that it is possible to do both in one go.

It started with Dad's 12 year old frig making strange noises. Then it defrosted the freezer side. After I cleaned out the freezer and hauled our frozen goods to the neighbors freezer, it decided to be freezy again. Carted all the stuff back and reloaded. Then the frig side went. Called the repair man.  Unless I wanted to spend more than the frig was worth, I needed to turn the dials, thump on the solenoidal housing, and pray it would stay alive til I could get a new one.

No problem, found the one I wanted online, in a price range I thought my brother would approve of. Down to the local (same retailer as online) store to see if they had the same one in stock.  Nope, they would have to order it. Plus, if I ordered it in store they would charge me $50 for delivery & set up, +10 for the disposal of the old frig.  What! if I ordered it online all that was included in the price, which by the way was $100 less... Back home to order it online. Ordered it, printed out my confirmation, and prayed that all would go smoothly.  Day came that I had seen as the delivery date, pulled the confirmation order, and the delivery date had been changed to a week further out. Damn, I could not talk them into changing it back to the original date.  I was now looking at seven days of no frig/freezer, while living with Dad who has to have his homemade coffee milkshake every afternoon, or else!

Off to the other local big box store, HD. Found a frig I liked, they had it in stock. After a bunch of conference calls with their delivery service, they agreed to deliver & setup that afternoon. I'm pretty darn sure they just wanted to get the fierce woman, who had a 91 year old Dad at home waiting for his homemade milkshake, out of the store. But what ever!

I get back home, call the first store, and cancel that order.  They are not as gracious as they could have been.  I explain in cowboy terms that it just wasn't meant to be.

Let Dad know we were getting the new frig from HD that afternoon.  And the phone rings, it's HD, the frig they had in the stock room was found to be severely damaged when they uncrated it. They could bend the rules of engagement and deliver the floor model if it was alright with me.  Oh Heck Yes, just bring it.  Delivery guys show up, tell me there are scratches on this one. OMG, just note it on the delivery sheet and install that sucker!  They take out the old frig, install the new frig, turn it on and that thing is cold like right now!  Yippy! 

  They test the water dispenser... no water...  ok, all three of us trouble shoot that, hookups are fine. I open the the door look in and point out that it has no water filter. They say the water dispenser won't work without the water filter. And they have to leave. Alrighty, I go back to HD, get credit for the scratches, get a water filter and the two missing shelves, and come home and install them myself. Still no water, which at this point I'm good with as the essentials are chilling nicely...

The manufacturer is sending a repair man in a week to fix the water dispenser.  I'm back on schedule for Dad's daily milkshake, my brother's inheritance has been spent, and the resupply of essentials is on going. We're good... 

The daily average...

Took Marymine's & granddaughter Ali's GPSs back to them Thursday. I kinda look for any reason to touch base with my kids & grands.  Ali was at work, so I didn't get to see her. She is working as a pest fieldman during summer break from college.

Ali & Lauren at a Giants game

Lauren was home, on the mend from a nasty bug she got flying home from USA volleyball camp in Michigan.

She's all better now, but it was a really crappy few days for her, and Marymine.

 By way of thanks for letting me borrow the GPSs for Dad's trip, I got the girls a big travel bag.  They fly around the country a lot, and like plain ol country western stuff...

Go Forward with Courage be Wild and Free

 While I was there I got to go for a ride in Marymine's second New pickup.  She called me when she got the first New one a month ago. First truly New vehicle she has ever had. It had everything she wanted, in the color she wanted, leather seats, crew cab, etc.  When I called her a week later to check in, she was not a happy camper.  She had taken it back to the dealer to get the leather seats treated.  They called her the next day, there was a little problem, they had wrecked her pickup driving it from one service building to another.  They would just put it in their shop and fix it.  And then the fight began! Suffice it to say, she pretty much went through a lot getting them to either give her another new pickup, or refund her money.  They finally decided that they would refund her money.  She went to another dealer, and found an even better deal on her second New pickup.  It is very cool, and she loves it. So all is well there.

Boy have pickups changed since the last one I bought. All those bells & whistles and the price!  

2015 Silverado 2500HD High Country

 

Of course, we had to test out all those bells & whistles. I voted the in-seat vibrator warning system most interesting, and it was the cause of no small amount of laughter.