Loss

The phone rang very early Wednesday morning - it was B. .  Rare for him to ring the land line.  I knew the minute I heard his voice something was wrong.  My first thought was 'he wrecked his brand new (to him) car'.  But no.  Not anything as simple as that.

A good friend had died.  He'd seen it on Facebook and had very few details.  He was just stunned and shocked and sad.  It was the guy who sold him the truck he drove for a few years - the first car he ever bought on his own.  He loved that truck - and he loved his friend.  He told me that S. was one of the first friends he made in El Paso - a few guys sitting around outside with an ice chest full of beer and S. asked 'hey, you want to hang out and have a few beers with us'?  The rest is history.  There are plenty of pictures showing that group of guys having fun over the years.

B. was so sad thinking that maybe his friend had hurt himself - a not uncommon thing among military.  And shocked - just stunned.

The next day, I googled the young man's name hoping to find an obituary - and came across a news article.  S. was working on tree cleanup on Hilton Head Island and he died when he was hit by a tree part.  He was airlifted to a hospital and died the next morning.

I sent B. the link and he wrote right back and said 'I just found out and was about to message you so you would know'.  Still sad and sudden but grateful he died in the outdoors (which he loved) and working with a group - which by everything I've heard about him was his element.  He was a great all-around nice guy - always smiling; always happy - no matter what he was doing.  He will be missed by many.

We just got an emergency alert on our cell phones - shrieking like we've never heard before. Scared us both and for a few seconds, we weren't sure how to make the shrieking stop.  There's a levee break near Manteca on the Stanislaus river - not 'close' to us but still worrisome because the San Joaquin River isn't too far from the Stanislaus and the SJR is overflowing it's banks and flooding everywhere it runs in San Joaquin County (where we live).

We aren't near the flooding but we have friends who have a home on 3 acres that's built up a bit - and it's likely they are surrounded by water.  I'm checking in with them shortly.

I enjoyed a 3-day weekend off which I really needed - I feel tired to my bones.  I still have quite a bit of things to juggle at work and while I am looking forward (very much!) to our weekend in Reno, I have so much to accomplish in order to be able to get away and enjoy that weekend without fretting about work.  It's hard to believe we are almost officially in March - can't get over how quickly time goes.

It's still steadily raining and J. drained the pool quite a bit - again.  I think this is the 5th time.  This is definitely a wet winter and we are so grateful for the water.  But we're so tired of rain.

Chloe isn't feeling well.  She spent Thursday at the vet for her glucose curve - she's still really high and they upped her dose of insulin again.  She hasn't been 'right' since she got home and we're trying to figure out what's going on with her.  She's itchy and sullen and whining a lot for no reason.  Poor baby.

I'm heading up to bed soon - it's early but tomorrow is a 'Monday' technically and I want to be well rested.  It's a board meeting day so super long -

Doing Something I Rarely Do

It's Valentine's Day and since J. and I both feel that we celebrate each other every single day, it was largely a regular day - but we did decide to get a couple nice steaks and make ourselves a nice dinner.

After a hectic day jammed full of 4 meetings - 2 on the calendar and 2 added to get things moving that needed doing - I trekked to SaveMart to procure dinner supplies.  J. is still not feeling great (I am suggesting strongly that he get in to see his regular doctor ASAP - his blood work showed some issues that may be causing or contributing to the dizziness) so it's worth checking it out again.  My sources are Google and WebMD so...a real doctor is a good idea.

SaveMart is a mystery to me.  It's been remodeled and we rarely shop there and I rarely shop ever.  I spent ten minutes walking around looking everywhere for the powdery grated Parmesan in a plastic container and croutons.  J. texted me 'on an aisle near the butcher'.  Five minutes in, I felt on the verge of tears - and when I finally found it (way, WAY far from where J. said it was but in his defense he doesn't shop at Savemart often either), I grabbed it and trekked to the registers.  Long lines all around.

A list of 10 items morphed into a lot more and $107.44 later, I came home with supplies for at least 4 dinners.  We really needed groceries - our coffer's been low for a while and with J. being unable to drive for close to a week, we were due.  I grabbed a huge box of bakery fresh heart shaped cookies with do-it-yourself piping bags full of frosting and sprinkles!  I LOVE SUGAR COOKIES - especially iced - and I couldn't resist.

We gave each of the boys $50 though H. doesn't know yet.  I sent a Facebook message to them both this morning - heard back from B. but H. doesn't check Facebook much.  And he doesn't have a phone that I know the number of so I couldn't text him.  Why does he not have a phone I know?  'cuz his iPhone is ruined and I've ordered J. to quit taking care of it.  If H. wants to get it fixed, he'll make trekking to the Apple Store his priority - which so far he hasn't.  So he's on a borrowed phone and I have no idea what the number is.  It's his 2nd borrowed phone and since I never knew the first loaner phone's number, I don't know this latest one either.

And I'm sort of fine with that.

We watched the final episode of The Young Pope and it was heartbreakingly wonderful....and traumatic....and fraught with 'what the heck?'.  There is possible a 2nd season in the works, but I just read that IF there is a 2nd season ordered, it won't film until Summer, 2018, which is an awfully long time between seasons.  Seems unlikely Jude Law will be in the role for Season 2 but I hope so.  It's a beautiful show and there's still so much we want to know about The Young Pope's journey.

It's approaching 9PM and I'm setting my alarm earlier daily to attempt to get in the office earlier - though I was up before 5AM this morning and was still technically 'late' to work.  Just get involved with 'stuff' on the computer...and admittedly, sort of drag my feet in rushing to get to another long day.

But I must and I shall.

This Weather Stuff is Serious

Another week over and we survived still more (very) wet weather.  The homestead is saturated and J. had to drain the pool again - I think that's at least the 3rd time in the past couple weeks and the most we've ever had to drain it.

The rain was pretty steady with a couple truly amazing cloud bursts - huge, HUGE rain for a few short minutes that made the house sound like a snare drum.  

Just a little bit ago, they ordered evacuation of anyone south of the Oroville Dam.  The regular spillway is damaged and the emergency spillway (never used before) has a hole in it.  They've got helicopters attempting to place rocks in the hole as a patch but if the spillway fails, there will be no way to stop the water.  The dam is at 101% of capacity.  Scary.  As much as we need the water, it's unbelievable just how much there is - and this is well before any snow melt starts.  With record snow levels (FINALLY!), it's going to be an interesting thaw.  

There was also a train derailment near Elk Grove yesterday and (because I ventured north to Thunder Valley today), I was able to see it - cars off the tracks 'head-in' to the water - scary!  Not a passenger train and no word on injuries but there were an awful lot of trucks and people attempting to figure out what to do to fix it.  The traffic north bound this morning wasn't too bad but on the way home, it was pretty slow on 99 South for quite a ways as everyone realized what they were seeing.  

It's been a crazy work week and I needed a little break.  Yesterday, I said to J. that I might head up to TV to give hitting the six-figure Thunder Strike jackpot a try.  This morning, I realized the jackpot hit in the night and was back down to $50K - and while I should have said 'so I'm staying home', I went anyway.  I've been timing my TV visits to the jackpot size - it's a good way to monitor and limit my play and gives me something big to be in the running for.  But I went anyway today - needed a little fun.  I didn't win big but I didn't lose big either, which feels like a win.  I came home with just a little under half what I took to lose so walking away with some money left for next time is nice.  I also came home with a free rice cooker and Panda Express Chinese food for the family - comped!  And delicious!

J.'s been sick the past few days - on Thursday morning, he said he'd had a huge issue with severe nausea and dizziness in the night.  Made it back to bed after retching for awhile in the bathroom - and still felt pretty dizzy.  We went to the doctor on Friday afternoon - not our regular doctor - and this doctor didn't even look in his ears at all.  He finally heard back from our regular doctor who said it happens post cold/flu and to give it a few days.  Time and the anti-dizziness pills prescribed by the first doctor seem to be helping. 

I got myself up and out of the house two days in a row totally solo!  The horror!  I really missed him in the mornings - having that extra set of hands to press clothes, pack lunch, etc. - but was happy to give him extra rest which is what he needed.  I even managed to give Chloe her injection and that's good 'cuz I'm not nervous about doing it anymore.  She's so well trained - we need to make a You Tube video of how well she does - she's amazing.  As soon as she sees the syringe, she does a couple circles, then lies down on her back (like an otter).  We give her the shot just above her back legs and she stays perfectly still.  H. even gave her the shot one evening this past week and since he's going to be taking care of her the first weekend in March (when we fly to Reno for a four day weekend), that's a good thing.  She gets an Old Dog Diabetic cookie (well, 1/3 of one) after each shot and knowing she's getting that treat makes her anxious for the shot.  She's a champ!!

We have a special board meeting tomorrow evening and I plan to get to the office mid-day to spend some time getting a jump start on board prep for the regular meeting which is on the 21st.  And there's yet another big report due to the board in March and I need to get going on that as well.  

And before I know it, it'll be time for next year's budget development and all the school-year end stuff we do every year.  

It's just after 8 and I'm ready for sleep.  3.5+ hours on the road round trip on a traffic filled freeway with lookie lou traffic made for a long drive.  I can't wait for the days I can head to a casino 20 minutes from home and be home easily in time for lunch!