Observations

[Judy Harder]

Did you think you might benefit by hiring an electician. Would be faster and safer???!!!. Might also switch to decaf if you are doing it again. Hang in there........I really enjoy your column. Hugs.

[larryJ]

Funny you should say that, Judy.  After completing the repair of the light fixture and before discovering the fan didn't work, my wife's cousin said, "Just think, you probably saved yourself $150 dollars by doing it yourself."

Going with that observation, I will save myself another $150 today by repairing the fan. 

Wow!  Who knows what I could fix tomorrow and save myself a bundle of money?  At this rate, I'll be rich in no time.

Larryj

[Diane Amberg]

No problem.Just pull the fan chain and the light will go on, and the light switch will turn on the fan. Ha... That's how my attempts would go. I think we all have days like that.  I too always enjoy what's going in your life.

[Wilma]

Maybe you should try that, Larry.  Wait, the light switch did turn the light on, didn't it.  Back to square one.

[larryJ]

The ceiling fan and its light fixture are controlled by the light switch.  We leave the light switch on and pull whichever chain we need either for the fan or the light.  The switch I installed is wired correctly.  The problem is that when I was trying to get the fixture plate attached to the fan I was stuffing wiring into it to get it to fit and I probably pulled one loose.  I did not attempt to work on it yesterday as we had the older granddaughters after school and I had other things more important to do.  I will probably fix it today as tomorrow we will be headed to Newport to see our son and his family.  We have not seen them in a month.

Larryj

[larryJ]

Yesterday was an exhausting day.  With the other grandmother gone on vacation, I went to my daughter's house to pick up the girls and take them to school.  It was costume day and the kids wore their Halloween costumes to school.  There were two options.......wear street clothes under the costume or bring clothes to change into after the costume parade.  So I arrived at my daughter's house at 7:15 and took the girls to school arriving at 7:50.  The oldest could not fit clothes under her costume and so brought clothes to change into while the other one wore clothes under her Elsa costume.  (One of the parents there and I counted at least 30 "Elsas.")  So I had to stay for the costume parade which ended at 9:00.  Then I waited for the oldest one to change and bring me her costume.  I arrived home at 9:30.  2 hours and 15 minutes.

Because it was an "early day", meaning school got out at 11:30, I arrived at the school at 11:00.  Getting there a little early insures a good parking spot.  At 11:30, both girls came out and informed me that the PTA was having a fall festival on the blacktop behind the school and they wanted to go.  So we went and once there, the girls didn't see anything they wanted to buy. All their friends were there on the playground and they asked, "Papa, could we stay and play for a while?"  So I found a bench and they hung out with their friends.  We arrived home at 1:00.  2 hours.

Because I had not bought any candy for the trick or treaters, I went to the store and did some grocery shopping.  We average around 80 to 90 kids at Halloween, so I bought what I thought was enough candy.
Arriving home, I called the house and asked for my two darling granddaughters to come out and carry in the groceries which they did and the wife's cousin put it all away.  I retired to my chair and tried to catch up.  1 hour.

After several months of dry weather, rain was forecast for later in the evening.  The kids started coming around 6:30 and stopped coming around 9:30 only because it was beginning to mist.  In normal years, some of the older kids might come by as late as 10:00. 

I have plenty of candy anticipating the usual number of kids.  I always buy the good stuff....Snickers, Butterfingers and Reese's Butter Cups.  Then the rush started and I handed out the candy and wrote down how many kids came to the door.  Surprisingly, this year we only had 57.  More and more families are taking their kids to sponsored events held by churches or local communities.  We might have had more if the weather stayed nice.  Now we have a ton of candy which makes my wife happy.

Funny anecdote....In #2 granddaughter's class there is a set of twins who are good friends of hers.  I have known them for two years now and talk to their grandmother while we wait for school to get out.  They are identical making it hard to tell them apart, but I think I can sometimes.  Anyway, while sitting on the bench waiting for the girls to finish playing, one of the twins came up to me to talk to me.  We talked about trick or treating and school and then, out of the blue she asked, "How old are you?"  She is six.  I said, "How old do you think I am?"  She shrugged.  I said, "How old is your grandmother?"  She said, "67."  I said, "Well, I am four years older than her.  How old am I?"  You could hear the gears turning in her head and then her eyes widened real big and her jaw dropped.  "71?"  "Yep."  "Okay, bye."  Gotta love 'em!

After several months of dry weather, Mother nature would have to pick Halloween for the first rain of the season.  When I went to bed around 10:00, my wife said, "What's that noise?"  She muted the TV and sure enough it was raining hard.  It rained for a long time.

What a day!

Larryj

[Diane Amberg]

We had only 24 this year for trick or treat. Last year we had 57. There were a number of parties near here since Halloween fell on a Friday, so I think that may have accounted for the lower number.
Our little community has trick or treat time from 6:00 to 8:00 only. Kit Kats are the local favorites here followed by Snickers and Reeses cups. I too, get the good stuff, but they all get a pencil too. It didn't rain until after midnight.
We have a local "parade" here the Sunday afternoon before, down the Fremont Road hill that goes to our park, where they have costume judging and prizes. Then everybody troops downtown to join in the big Newark Halloween Parade. It's a big one with 2,300 marchers this year, 90 organizations, floats and marching bands entered for judging. Some 12,000 people lined the street to watch and reach out for tossed candy. I think the perfect weather that day had a lot to do with the wonderful turn out. great fun. Now bring on Thanksgiving!

[larryJ]

I saw an article in the local paper about some kind of flag flying thingie at a local middle school.  While I was out today doing my errands, I decided to drive by there to see what it was.  This is the third year that the Covina Rotary Club has done this "field of honor."  They planted over 2000 flags on the playing field of the school.  For a donation of $35 you can fill out a card with a veteran's name on it including the years of service and where the veteran served.  Then you take the card to an available flag and after it is all over you get to keep the flag.  I decided not to do it as I have two flags already and nobody is going to know that my name is out there.  However, it was quite impressive to see that many flags standing over six feet tall and covering the whole field.

I think I have mentioned my feelings about Veteran's Day somewhere on here.  To repeat, it is not one of my favorite holidays as all the Federal, State, County and school districts give their employees the day off.  In all my years working I never had the day off nor did I get paid overtime working it.  That really irked me because I was a veteran and most of those others weren't. 

As Tuesday is trash day around here (and they come early) I was putting out my trash cans when a neighbor informed me that tomorrow was a holiday and there would be no trash pickup.  I had to inform him that it wasn't a holiday for the trash guys either and they will be here bright and early in the morning. 

Our leftover Halloween candy supply is diminishing rapidly and I'm not eating it.

Looking on the bright side though......my wonderful, beautiful daughter-in-law has invited me to lunch tomorrow in honor of me being a veteran.  She didn't mention my son so I think it is just me and her and the kids.  I can endure having a pleasant few hours with a beautiful woman and two wonderful Grandchildren.  She had suggested the Legion in Newport, but the line would probably be horrendous.  So she decided to come here.  Can't wait.  I think I will take her over to the Field of Honor.  She will like that.

Anyway, to all my fellow veterans.....Happy Veterans Day. Spend a few minutes to remember those who didn't come home and raise a glass to those that did.

Larryj

[larryJ]

My children decided some time back that Thanksgiving would be held at my son's place in the mountains by Lake Arrowhead.  On hearing this, I was hesitant.  First, it is a sixty mile drive up the mountain on a narrow road, well, part of it was narrow.  Second, because of the earlier sunset time, driving home would be in the dark with no street lights until we got to the bottom of the hill which wasn't going to happen.  Third, because of the second reason, we would have to spend the night as well as my daughter and her family and my wife's brother.  Fourth, because we would be spending the night I would have to take 5 or 6 bottles of oxygen to see me through.  Five,  I am an early riser and like my coffee first thing and I was not sure that would work out.

To me it was just a bad idea and I voted against it only to be outvoted naturally.

So we drove up Friday morning.  Now, my wife does not like driving mountain roads, but insists on driving until we reach the area where the road begins to climb.  I am okay with that.  However, yesterday, she decided that she was going to try it.  I wasn't okay with that, but she did it anyway.  She did fine. True to our nature, and not having the experience of going there often, we missed a turn and had to be rescued by our son who just happened to be out and about and not far from where we were.  Dinner was good as usual.

After we had arrived, I began to notice that being in the thinner air (altitude 5,200 feet) was a bit taxing on my ability to breathe if I exerted myself.  Even a trip to the bathroom which required climbing a few steps was hard.  So I sat in one place and watched TV and chatted with my family.  We were given the master bedroom for the night which required climbing a bunch of steps to the third level.  (The dinner was served on the second lever.)  For some reason, I had to get up several times during the night and each time I did I got very winded even though no stairs were involved.  I did wake up early, but decided to remain in bed until around 6 when my son texted me and said he was up and there was coffee.  My wife woke up and I asked that once we had our coffee, could we go home instead of staying for the day.  She agreed. I had to take my time getting dressed and then went down to the second level kitchen. 

Our #1 almost ten-year-old granddaughter decided to attach herself to us at bedtime and insisted on sleeping on the sofa in the master bedroom.  She was up once with a bloody nose leading me speculate that the air was probably pretty dry also.  When we left, my wife's brother insisted on riding home with us.  (He is a pain in the you know where.) We couldn't say no. He had ridden up with my daughter.  #1 granddaughter also wanted to come home with us and did.  The other grandchildren are much younger and while she enjoys playing with the 1-year-old, she feels a little too grownup for the others.  I guess that is why she wanted to come home with us. 

An hour or so later, it was time to go.  Now.....leaving the residence on the second level requires about thirty gently sloping steps to the parking area.  My son told me that he and I would walk down the hill from the condo to a gate near the road rather than climb the steps and my wife could pick me up there.  Even walking down that slope I had to stop and rest twice.  It was about 60 feet from the door to the gate.  We headed for home.

Back in the city and on the freeway, I noticed the difference and began to feel better.  Still, upon arrival at home, I had to sit and wait for a while for my lungs to readjust. 

I have only been to the condo a few times in the year that they have lived there and those were all short day trips so I never really noticed any discomfort.  I have a feeling this was my last trip to the condo unless it is absolutely necessary.  I heard talk of celebrating Christmas there this year.  I hope not.  I just can't go.

On another note, some friends of ours volunteered to take R.A.M.B.O. and Sir Charles overnight. We have helped them quite a bit when they were having a hard time.  He brought them back today and said there was no problems with them and that their family really enjoyed having them around.  I noticed that since they have been home they have been ignoring us like we did a bad thing sending them away for the night.  Oh well, they will get over it.

Larryj

[Diane Amberg]

Your pets must have been enjoying their vacation too, and didn't want to come home so soon.HA!