Desktop Delight!

Huzzah, hooray, and happy day! Ellen connected up my desktop and now I'm back in business! She came in the afternoon and besides that, she dragged my mountain of knocked-down cartons to the trash place, and took most of the items she had lent me away. Boy, I can hardly believe how huge, clear, and bright this screen is, compared to the tablet. Don't get me wrong, though, I'm eternally grateful for the tablet, as otherwise, I would have had no way of communicating for two months. (Phone, mail, simply opening my mouth and talking? Nah, too old school.)
El and I also moved some of my lighter furniture to make more room in the guestroom/study. She asked if I wanted her to hook up the t.v., also, but I had a lot of stuff on the table where I'll put it and decided to wait. I was pleasantly surprise at the pittance Time Warner charges for the Internet and am not sure if I want to add the T.V. and phone. I could easily get along without cable; I miss a lot more the land line phones, as my cell often seems problematic at best.
El removed the T.V. screen, box and wires from the huge carton in which they had been packed and I filled it with the packing materials (bubble wrap, bags of "peanuts," and so on). I hate to waste it, so I'm going to put it on Craig's List as "free, if you pick up."
On the downer side, I got a communication from TIAA-Cref, to the effect that the state of California wants to take withholding taxes out of my pension! They have some damn nerve, but I guess I have to see what that's all about. (Hmm, maybe it's about California wanting me to take withholding taxes out of my pension.)
Earlier in the day, I went to Target to get sizing and came across those three-drawer plastic cart things. Bought one in neon orange because I thought I'd put it in the walk-in closet. Instead, though, I put paper, envelopes, and related stuff in and left it in the study. However, my darling daughter thinks it's hideous, and suggested I put it in the closet. No room there and it is pretty ugly, so I'll go back and get another for the study and put this in the closet where it won't offend delicate sensibilities--heh, heh.

Fudge

Well, I admit I fudged a bit: wrote what appears as a second post for Saturday late last night. I should have hit "save," then posted it now, on Sunday morning, but accidentally hit "publish." No matter, it's about as interesting as the presidential "race." which so many take so seriously. Guess I was just tired, as it was at least 9:15--as I mentioned, late last night.

Nothing Much

A mess of nothing much went on yesterday: the usual, which are now chores surrounding the guestroom/study. Drove here and there later to pick up a few uninteresting items. Called El, who was on her way to Ojai with Greg; said she'd call today and come over. Got an e-mail from Susan, who says she misses walking with me every morning. Got an email from the person interested in the old Domino Lane blog; said he'd write more later.

Continuing...

Continuing to work my little booty off, I filled several large trash bags with packing material, loaded up my cart with collapsed boxes, and hauled it all to the trash enclosure. Invigorated, I then gathered clothes to be washed and took them to the laundry room. While I waited to go back and put them in the dryer, I unpacked the stuff from my study at home, as I want to get my desktop and land phones up and running. Actually,I've gotten pretty far in setting up the guestroom as my office--that'll be a relief.
Once the clothes were dried,folded and put away, I had lunch, then went out to buy two more mugs and a few other things. Had a dishwasher full, so ran that while I pulled together the things Ellen lent me, plus donations for the thrift store.
I'm feeling pretty good generally. except my knee is still bothering me. Also, I've been waking during the night; usually I can go back after a short time, but Thursday night was an exception. I was awake, it seemed, almost all night--what a drag and I hope it doesn't happen again. Last night was a lot better: got up once for the usual reason, but went right back.

A Barbecue and Keyfob

Had a fun and productive day. I attended a barbecue "to honor first responders" at The Palms at Bonaventura, an assisted living facility. Its used-to-be sister facility is next to it and that's the one in which I'm most interested. Yesterday, though, I enjoyed the lunch, chatted with some nice people, and met the health services head, who took me for a tour.
She told me the two facilities had originally been owned by the same company, but the independent living one had been sold. She gave me the name of her activities diector and I'll call her today. I also have a person to conact at Cypress Point; I'm not sure, but I hope that's independent livers (as opposed to those clingy kidneys--heh, heh).
Brother Jim called just to see how I was getting along and I had a good chat with him and Therese.
Had a hankering for pasta, so I went out and bought ground meat, added eggs and bread crumbs, made meat balls, browned them and finished cooking them in sauce--or, as my Italian friends say. "gravy."
After dinner, I took a long drive toward the coast next to Oxnard, I think, and just enjoyed the scenery, mindful of the fact that Ventura County was named the most beautiful in the country based on its natural environment and scenery and climate. I wasn't exactly sure where I was until I suddenly saw Victoria Avenue and knew I could get back that way.
I was intrigued to be notified that somebody had commented on the blog I wrote years ago and he or she asked to get in touch. My Uncle Frank had written a memior of his early days and I simply transcribed it after a short introduction. I honestly don't remember if I called it "Uncle Frank's Farm" or "Domino Lane." Later, I added reminiscences by my Aunt Mary and my cousin, Judy, and left it at that. I actually forgot about it until receiving notice of interest from "Keyfob." This morning, the person left an e-mail address and I immediately responded--sounds interesting!

Clearing Out and The Japanese

More, more, more of the same. I've made a real dent in clearing out the living room, at least, but there's plenty more to go. Worked on it until about noon, then went back to the library to get a book my brother, Larry, had recommended. It's "Fly Boys," about WWII pilots who crashed landed on a Japanese island and were killed by the Japanese
This is no gung-ho, all praise to our heroes crapola, though. I just started reading it and was surprised that author James Bradley, who also wrote "Flags of Our Fathers," starts with clearly recounting the vicious slaughter of native people in the building of our huge and oblivious land. Native Americans were here first? Mexicans own California? Slash and burn until they're dead or enslaved. As for those in far off lands, the ignorance of Americans was--and often still is, in my experience, I'm afraid--appalling. In the thirties and forties, that prominently included Japan, according to Bradley. (On that topic, I can easily recall the characterization of Japanese people as cruel, ugly, and savage, monkey-like creatures who were barely human. I was fed that when I was a kid during the war and I believed it.) According to Bradley, though, before westerners "discovered" them, the Japanese were "arguably the most civilized, most urbanized, most highly organized, most literate and peaceful country in the world."
Noelle sent me a lovely picture of her and Joel's wedding with the two of them and all four boys. Joan Millen Hardman sent me a kitchen towel with pictures of herbs on it, prominently including rosemary. She included photos of her brood.

Strenuosity With Productivity

Talk about strenuousity (not a word? Well, it should be), yesterday was a pip. How so? Because I almost finished opening the rest of the boxes, put most the contents somewhere, and organized some of the ones I may or may not keep. Most strenuous by far, I removed the packing material, bagged it, and de-taped, broke down, and flattened a large number of boxes. Carried, dragged, or rolled (in my new shopping cart) the aforementioned to the recycle place, and laboriously lifted and hurled them in the bin. I took at least ten trips and I probably have that many or more to go. By the time I quit, I was sweating like a pig--unlovely phrase and do pigs sweat anyway? Dunno.
Anyway, it was hard work, but very productive and I felt good after. Earlier, I had stripped my bed and now I cooled down long enough to change it after I had lunch. Then I jumped in the shower and had a lovely wash.
Rejuvenated, I dressed and drove to the library in town. I had gotten a customer satisfaction survey from Bekins' corporate office in Upper Japip or somewhere (okay,Indianapolis) and yes, indeed, I would respond. I wrote up a sheet that practically singed the copier and left for home.
I was having dinner when that precious little boy in Tokyo called on Google+. Unfortunately, my tablet was acting up, sending messages that Hangout (the Skype-like program) had hung up, Chrome wasn't responding, and so on, so we had a short visit, but at least a visit. After, I was told I wasn't connected to wi-fi; I turned it off, rebooted, and it got over the problem.