Getting ready for Robbers

James Spader was on Seth Meyers tonight, reminiscing about his childhood.  He talked particularly about a game he and his buddy played when they had sleepovers.  It was called "Getting Ready for Robbers" and involved gathering all of the "fire power" they had (everything from sling shots to BB guns) and gather them around, in, and under their beds so they would be ready if any robbers should come into the house.

I was born in 1943  We bombed Hiroshima in 1945 and the Soviet Union tested its first atom bomb in 1949, so I grew up a kid of the nuclear age.  These were the years when schools held "duck and cover drills"

Training kids to assume this position in the event of a threat of a bomb headed our way was supposed to protect us from the effects.  (Anybody ever see photos from Hiroshima or Nagasaki?)

Some folks built bomb shelters in their back yards, supplying them with supplies to last them for XX weeks/months.  I remember seeing TV dramas about the problems of panicked, unprepared neighbors trying to get into someone else's bomb shelter, which had only enough room and enough food for one family.

So at all ages we were thinking about the threat of an atomic bomb from Russia.

Somehow I got it into my head that if the Russians attacked, they would torture me.  I didn't know why people were tortured, or if they tortured kids, but I was going to be ready.  For some reason I decided that what they would do was to dunk me in scalding water and then freezing water.  So whenever I took a bath (we did not have a shower), I got the water as hot as I could stand it and then let it out and followed with cold water.

The Russians never bombed us (yet) and so my prepared body never had to deal with Russian scalding.  I suspect there are lots of bomb shelters that were turned into wine cellars and I don't think any kids today have heard of duck-and-cover.

I wonder how long before things get so hot with N. Korea that we have to start thinking in those terms again...

Speaking of the Provocateur-in-Chief, whaddya think of this glorious military parade he wants to have for himself "like the one in France."  We have a national debt of nearly $20 trillion, people can't afford health care, he has shut school lunch programs, meals on wheels, and other food programs for those who can't afford good food but we can afford a big military parade, which will cost millions of dollars and tear up Pennsylvania Avenue, which will have to be re-paved, just to assuage his emperor complex.

Can no one rein in this megalomaniac?  Apparently not...and those who might possibly be in a position to do so are just fired.  Where does it stop?

I was doing some organizing of my files today, trying to delete a lot of files that were saved in the early 2000s.  I came across this one about "nostalgia" and things to be nostalgic about and I thought I would comment on a few of them.

Slide Rules and Adding Machines. -- The slide rule makes as much sense to me as the computer does to my other.  Thank god computers came along and I can add 2 and 2 on my calculator app.  As for adding machines, I could use one, but rarely did.  Again, thank goodness for computers.

Mimeograph machines, Carbon Paper in Typewriters, and Hand-written Letters. -- there was a time when I was queen of the Mimeograph (and also the ditto--remember ditto machines?)  I knew all the quirks and could fix a machine most of the time.  Lord, I'm glad that we are beyond carbon paper.  Correcting 5 copies of something was a  real pain!  We have it SO much easier today!

As for hand-written letters, while I prefer typing, I have been known to, from time to time, hand write a letter, so that art is not completely dead here.

Cars with No Seat Belts. -- In these days when Walt won't even back out of the driveway until everyone is buckled in, it seems difficult to remember when we had no seatbelts and often had seven or more kids rolling around loose in the back of our car.  I look at our grandkids' child seats and remember when we drove to Colorado with all five kids, David just a few months old and lying in an open basket.  He was so bored on that trip that he learned to stand up by the time we got home, months before he would have otherwise.

Telephone dials -- We still seem to make dialing gestures in the air when telling someone we'll call them, but do today's kids even know what the telephones we grew up with look like?  And how about party lines?  I still remember that we had one when I was in grammar school and I got caught listening in on someone else's phone call.

Prices.   There is no way to even begin to compare prices when I was growing up to prices today.  Movies were 25 cents and you got a double feature, plus cartoons, and popcorn was 10 cents.  Candy was 5 cents unless you wanted on of the "fancy" candies, which were 10 cents.  Even as short a time ago as when our kids were babies (50+ years ago), if I spent $20 in a week for groceries, that was a HUGE amount and Walt would take exception to my extravagance.  Now I pay over $100 for just the two of us.

Silver Dollars.  I don't know if they are still in circulation outside of Reno, but I found a whole bunch of them when cleaning out my mother's things.  I still have them and haven't figured out what to do with them.

Mental Snapshots

You know how sometimes a picture just pops in your head for no reason at all.  You're peacefully minding your own business, watching some gruesome murder or something on TV and all of a sudden a totally unrelated picture pops into your head.

The picture that popped into my head last night was a menal "snapshot" that I frequently think about.  My mother sitting at our kitchen table in San Francisco, a bowl between her knees, an apple and a knife in her hands, and a bowl of sliced apples on the table next to her.  It is such a familiar sight.  In fact, over the years I have taken lots of photos of my mother peeling apples for apple pies.  I love thinking about that mental snapshot because it makes me remember the good times growing up.

(And as I write this, oatmeal cooking in apple cider is in the Instant pot, so I even have a smell track to accompany this memory!)

I have lots of mental snapshots which pop in from time to time and there is no rhyme or reason for them.  

There is the dark room where the only thing you can see is the glowing end of my father's cigarette, a familiar sight during the years when he was going though a major depression.  I think about those years and realize the importance of keeping questionable substances locked up.  I was curious to find out what a sleeping pill did, so snuck one of my father's.  I absolutely could NOT wake up for school the next morning.  My mother never knew why but I sure never tried one of his pills again.

Another vivid mental snapshot is one Sunday morning when we were returning home from church and saw a black wreath hanging on the door of the corner grocery store.  It may have been my first experience with the death of someone I knew--Angelina, the wife of Angelo, the proprietors who had been our friends for many years.

That reminds me of another death-related mental snapshot.  When I was about 5 my grandmother decided to take me, God knows what ever possessed her, to the wake of a friend of hers.  I was terrified being in the room with a dead person and I can still see the gardenia-draped coffin and just her nose sticking out, the only thing I could see from the back of the room.  For years after, the smell of gardenias nauseated me, which was awkward because it was one of my mother's favorite flowers and my father often bought her a corsage for special events.

There is the death-related snapshot of me standing in our kitchen washing dishes and my mother telling me she thought I was old enough to know that my godmother had cancer and was going to die.

(The mental snapshots are becoming a slide show, coming faster as I write this)

My mental snapshot of my godmother, Babe Fortner (the wife of my grandmother's cousin), is her sitting in a chair in our living room, wearing a bright blue knit dress which went beautifully with her snow white hair.  After she died, she had no children, so left her entire estate to my mother, which infuriated my grandmother who was counting on a big windfall from Babe's passing.  She was so livid that my mother gave her the choice of which of Babe's things she wanted and one of them was the blue knit dress.  It was the wrong color and wrong size for her (Babe was tall; my grandmother was sort) and she looked terrible in it, but she wore it defiantly.

Another snapshot, standing in the hall outside my senior homeroom hearing Sister Colette, who was not noted for being a "nice" person, reading the class the riot act about their lack of help with the yearbook, leaving me to do everything myself, resulting in the yearbook being published late.  After that lecture, nobody gave me a hard time about it, and my opinion of Sister Colette changed considerably.

Food tests!  Our kitchen had an attached laundry room with a window that faced into the kitchen.  My father liked to have blind taste tests with Karen and me.  He would go into the laundry room and peek through the window.  We would give him the choice of two different items and he chose which one he preferred.  The one I remember most was two different kinds of milk and which was the richest (we always chose the one with the most fat, a habit that has followed me throughout my life).

Another nice couple of mental images concern my cousin Peach, when I used to spend summers with her.  One is sitting under the weeping willow tree in her front yard harmonizing to "You are my sunshine."  The other was standing in the middle of the street, asphalt melting under our feet (it was nearly 113 degrees) while Peach braided my hair.

I have as many mental snapshots scattered around my head as I have physical photos scattered around the house.

This is Us, Too

This Is Us was a real tear jerker tonight.  As promised, we were shown how Jack died but more, it was the story how each of the remaining four -- mom and kids -- individually commemorated his death all this many years after it happened.

We human beings need to remember.  We need to bring back the person we've lost on their anniversaries.  The Jews ritualize it with the yahrzeit, lighting a candle each year on the date of the loved one's death.  Gilbert was Jewish and I lit a yahrzeit candle every year on his anniversary for several years after his death.

I smiled when Kevin (This is Us) called his mother, while sitting at the tree they planted after his dad's death.  My sister died on September 13 and every year on that date, I called my mother.  Now Jeri calls me.  I don't think she even knows that I called my mother every year for many years.

Today wasn't a death anniversary, but it was David's birthday.  He would have been 48 if he weren't stuck at 24.  His brothers are going grey, but David never will. 

We overdo it.  Not only do we commemorate the death dates, but the birthdays too.  David and Paul are one week apart for birthdays and one month apart for deaths.  I don't remember that we did anything special for David's birthday until Paul died, then since Paul loved sushi and David enjoyed it, we started going out for sushi on three of those four days (on the anniversary of David's death, we have Kraft mac 'n' cheese for dinner, since he loved it).

We were going to a matinee in Sacramento today and would be returning to Davis at about dinner time so it would be perfect.  We'd go back to Sushi Unlimited for another couple of those delicious sushi rolls that we love so much.

Only when we got there, the restaurant wasn't open.  Walt suggested we go instead to Zen Toro, a sushi restaurant downtown which has delicious spam sushi (I'm not kidding--it's a real thing and surprisingly, it's delicious).  Only when we got there it was closed too.  What?  Do Japanese not work on Sundays?  All the Chinese restaurants in town were open.

We went across the street to the Dumpling House, a place I'd wanted to check out for a long time (it is both dumpling house and fish and chips).  It's a real hole in the wall place and in fact, we were squished in to a thin table for two across the narrow aisle from two women making won ton and dumplings using vats of stuffing.

We had Thai beef noodles, pork-vegetables dumplings and fried green onion bread.  All delicious.  We ate until stuffed and brought home leftovers.  I will go back there again.  

 

We got home to watch the end of the Super Bowl.  It's the way I love to watch a football game, especially a game that is very tight scoring -- skip the first 3 quarters entirely, and then skip the 4th quarter until the last 5 minutes.  By the time the Eagles made their last touchdown, I felt as if I had watched 4 quarters.

I don't really care about either team but if the 49ers are not playing, I cheer for the underdog so I was as thrilled as any Eagles fan.  Well, maybe not that thrilled but so happy for them.  Brady has enough Super Bowl rings. Time to pass the torch.

Sunday Stealing

1. January was National Mentoring Month. Have you ever had a mentor? Been a mentor? How would you rate the experience?
Not formally, but when my boss decided it was time for me to learn medical transcription, she tossed me a tape and a medical dictionary and asked me to ask her any questions that I had.  I actually became a transcriptionist and when the business sold, I helped teach the new owner how to do medical transcription too.

2. What current trend makes no sense to you?
I can't understand people who are still slavishly devoted to Trump with all the terrible things he has done since inauguration, all the lies, all the possible criminal activity, ruining our reputation internationally, threatening a nuclear war....  Makes no sense to me.  Is it all about the money?  Can everything be forgiven for a raise in pay?

3. I saw a cartoon on Facebook highlighting a few 'weird' things that make you happy as an adult. The list included-writing with a nice pen, having plans cancelled, freshly cleaned sheets, eating the corner brownie, cleaning the dryer lint screen, and sipping coffee in that brief time before anyone else wakes up. Of the 'weird' things listed which one makes you happiest? What is one more 'weird' thing you'd add to the list?
Of those listed, probably having plans cancelled.  I'd add to the list seeing a calendar page for the week and discovering that there is NOTHING written on it.  I am quite happy sitting at home most of the time!

4. What's the last good thing you ate?
The Home Chef meals I've made this week have been good, but I'm still remembering that sushi roll we had for dinner at a Japanese restaurant last week.

5. Describe life in your 20's in one sentence.
My 20s were spent birthing babies, feeding babies, folding diapers, working at nursery school, and hoping some day I would get some sleep.

6. It's that time of year again...time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, or genera uselessness) in 2018. This year's top vote getters are -- unpack, dish (as in dish out the latest rumor), pre-owned, onboarding/offboarding, nothingburger, let that sink in, let me ask you this, impactful, Cofefe, drill down, fake news, hot water heater (hot water doesn't need to be heated), and gig economy
Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?
Good lord, "fake news" please!!!  Second place to "Nothingburger."

7. What's something you need to get rid of in the new year?
Look around you.  Most of what you see.  (Will I do it?  Almost definitely not)

8. Where do you feel stuck?
Since my mother's dementia worsened, I feel stuck in this routine I have of going to see her, listening to her talking about how old she is for an hour, leaving, coming home, taking a nap to let got of it all, and then doing it again in a day or two.

9. January was National Soup Month. When did you last have a bowl of soup? Was it made from scratch or from a can? Your favorite canned soup? Your favorite soup to make from scratch on a cold winter's day?
My favorite canned soup is probably tomato soup, made with milk (into which you must dunk soft white bread thickly buttered).  I make soup every so often (will probably do it more often with my Instant Pot).  My very favorite is one that I haven't made in a very long time which is Lamb Soup of the Middle East.  I must make that again some time.  The turkey stock I made recently was wonderful and made a great turkey soup last week.

10. Tell us one thing you're looking forward to in 2018.
There is nothing big coming up this year so I can't think of anything special that I am looking forward to, though I'm sure there will be many pleasant things that happen as the year moves forward.

Saturday 9

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: Boat Drinks (1979)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Jimmy Buffett is singing about his bandmates watching hockey in a sports bar. Since it's Super Bowl weekend, our first question is: In cold weather, which sport to you watch most: football, hockey, or basketball? Well, I don't really watch any sports.  I will watch football if we are at Tom's house (where it is akin to church) or if Walt is watching a game downstairs (though he usually watches upstairs, where I'm not aware of it).  I consider it a group activity.  I will also watch at baseball if the Giants are doing well, but I don't actually sit and watch a game.  I don't think I've ever watched a hockey game (sorry, Mary!)

2) Jimmy sings it's just 20º outside. How high will the mercury reach where you are today?
I just saw on the news that we will hit the high 60s and possibly even low 70s.  I saw the first blossoms on a tree yesterday.  I always think it's too early, but in reading back over February entries in previous years, I discover that I say that every year, so I guess it's not so early after all.

3) "Boat drinks" are mixed drinks designed to enhance the enjoyment of a boat ride or time on the beach. Popular boat drinks include The Tequila Sunrise, Cuba Libre, and Mimosa. When did you last sip an alcoholic beverage? Was it a boat drink? I can't even remember.  I almost never drink alcohol.  Just lost my taste for it.  That said, if we are somewhere where there is a special drink, like a Cuba Libre or Margarita, I'll have one.  Mimosas are OK, but I think it's really a waste of good orange juice and good champagne!

4) Jimmy met his wife, Jane, in Key West at a bar called The Chart Room. Have you ever been to Key West?
No.  Florida is one of the few states we have never visited.

5) Have you ever met anyone worth knowing at a bar?
Since we rarely go to bars, no.  Our years of bar-hopping were when our kids' band, Lawsuit, was playing bars here, in Sacramento, or in San Francisco.  The only people we "met" were other bandsmen, their friends, or their parents!

6) While Keith Richard and Paul McCartney have made cameo appearances in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Jimmy Buffet has not. Producers have asked him, but he's always had to decline because of his touring schedule. Have you seen any of the Pirates/Jack Sparrow movies?
No.  I've heard they are good and I always intended to, but never have.  When you say "Pirates" my first thought is always of The Pirates of Penzance, with which I am very familiar.

7) When Jimmy gave the commencement address at the University of Miami, he showed up in flip-flops. How many pairs of flip-flops do you own?
None.  They always hurt my feet (and because they are so flat, they aren't good for plantar fasciitis), but I wear Birkenstocks every day, even to dressy occasions.

8) Jimmy has his own station on Sirius Radio. Do you subscribe to Sirius?
No.  I once tried having it installed in the car as a Christmas gift for Walt, but found out that our car would require major upgrading to use it, so we do not have it

9) Random question: What trend or fad from your youth do you hope never makes a comeback?
crinoline slips

That Blasted Time Difference

Jeri is a good, conscientious granddaughter, trying to keep touch with my mother from the other side of the country (kind of like I'm doing with Brianna and Lacy from the other end of the state!)  But unfortunately, we keep running into problems.

A week ago, we planned for her to call. I promised her I would be there, since my mother often either isn't in her room, or is asleep, or just doesn't understand what that ringing sound is.  That particular day was not a good one for her and while we waited for Jeri to call, she fell asleep...and then into one of her spells where she was unable to be wakened.  Jeri called but had to hang up because I couldn't wake my mother up.

So we were going to do it today.  I couldn't remember what time we had agreed upon and texted Jeri this morning.  "4:30," she responded.  I thought that seemed a bit late but maybe she wanted to get home and call from her house instead of her office (it would be 7:30 in Boston).

I spent the afternoon doing "fun reading."  Passing up on my two Trump horror books, I immersed myself in "Dark Sunshine," the horse/girl book that I loved in my childhood.  I found it for less than $2 and ordered it (the companion books, "Silver Birch' and "Midnight Moon" sell for >$100!  I don't know why).  It arrived yesterday and so I sat down to start reading it and had read half of it when I looked up and realized it was 3:15 and my plan had been to leave here at 3:30.

I got all ready to go and then got my phone out of my office and looked at it.  There was a text from Jeri.

I've tried calling a couple of times.  Sorry it didn't work out.

Oh.  She meant 4:30 HER time, not my time!  So we have lost the opportunity this week too, because I didn't double check with her when I wondered why she was calling so late.  Part of me feels bad, but part of me is happy I got to spend time with my book instead.

---

I actually went to a party yesterday.  Unusual for me.

It was a party at the Davis Enterprise office to celebrate the impending retirement of the current editor and the appointment of the new editor.  All Enterprise staff were invited.  Despite my dislike of parties, I wanted to meet the guy--and also meet the woman I have been working with for the past 2 or so years, since she became the entertainment editor. (We e-mail all the time, but I had never met her face-to-face.)

I do all my work at home, write my reviews here and e-mail them to the office.  Derrick Bang, the entertainment editor, hired me in 2000 and then when the entertainment section was severely cut Derrick just did movie reviews and there was another entertainment editor.  I think I've been through 3 editors since Derrick left and the only one I met was the one who took me to lunch to meet me.  I haven't been inside the newspaper office since Derrick left.

So it was quite a shock to walk in and the very first picture I saw was this one:

 

It's a picture taken on the day Shelly and Ellen became the first same sex couple in Yolo County to be legally married in 2008.  The photo is HUGE and takes up the entire desk on which it is sitting....and if you haven't noticed, I'm the one with the camera in the back, on the left.

They tell me that photo has been on display in the office for years.  Who knew?

I actually talked with several people, including the current entertainment editor, the new paper editor, the retiring editor, my co-critic, a guy whose name I didn't get, the current photographer with whom I have worked for years, and Derrick.  A new high in  "talking with people at a party."

But my back just doesn't do "standing and talking" and after about 45 minutes, I was dying for a chair and did finally sit down, far away from the action. since we were all standing in the narrow hall, with no place for a chair.  I decided it was silly to sit there just watching people over cubicle walls, so I finally went home.  But I did make a visit and checked in with the important people. 
 

Year of the Dog

Welcome to the Chinese year of the dog, which begins February 16.  I thought it would be good to honor Polly with all these Chihuahuas because of it.

Some interesting things about the Year of the Dog from "China Highlights"--

Years of the Dog include 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, and 2030... The Dog occupies the eleventh position in the Chinese zodiac, after the Rooster, and before the Pig.

In Chinese element theory, each zodiac sign is associated with one of the five elements: Gold (Metal), Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. For example, a Wood Dog comes once in a 60-year cycle.

It is theorized that a person's characteristics are decided by their birth year's zodiac animal sign and element. So there are five types of Dogs, each with different characteristics:

Type of Dog	Year of Birth	Characteristics
Wood Dog	1934, 1994	Sincere, reliable, considerate, understanding and patient
Fire Dog	1946, 2006	Intelligent, hardworking and sincere
Earth Dog	1958, 2018	Communicative, serious, and responsible in work
Gold Dog	1910, 1970	Conservative, desirable, cautious and always ready to help others
Water Dog	1922, 1983	Brave and self-centered, even seemingly selfish; well-versed in dealing with financial issues.

The Dog's Personality:
Dogs are loyal and honest, amiable and kind, cautious and prudent. Due to having a strong sense of loyalty and sincerity, Dogs will do everything for the person who they think is most important.

As Dogs are not good at communication, it is difficult for them to convey their thoughts to others. Therefore, Dogs tend to leave others with the impression that they have a stubborn personality.

Born with a good nature, Dogs do not tend to be criminals or seek dishonest gains. They just need a quiet life and a good family and, therefore, forget the ugliness and evil on Earth.

Dogs are always ready to help others and do not care about their own interests, but if they find themselves betrayed by cunning people they will feel shocked and hurt.

When thrown into doubt, Dogs think the world is evil and complicated. Then they criticize sharply when giving comments on something, and infer all things are according to their pessimistic point of view.

Sadly, I was born in the year of the goat and 2018 doesn't look like it's going to be a stellar one for me

You are a: Goat

• Lucky numbers: 2, 7
• Lucky colors: brown, red, purple

Your Luck in 2018

• Work:  
• Wealth: 
• Love:  
• Health: 

Polly is blissfully unaware of all of this, of course.  She is in the process of becoming a changed dog since Lizzie died.  She doesn't bark 1/10th as much as she did before.  She lets me sleep in until 9 or after without demanding breakfast.  Most days she doesn't bark at all when I get up to feed her, or if she does, it's only a yip or two and then she patiently waits for her food.

She has us trained to give her a treat every night when we are eating our ice cream.  She used to get a treat after she went outside and did her business and then we called her back in, closed the door and gave her a treat.  Now she sees us eating ice cream, runs outside, stands on the patio for about 10 seconds, then runs back in and barks for a treat.

I don't know if her attitude about strangers has improved.  She was really pretty good at Christmas, but she hasn't had an "acid test" since then.

Slowly she is becoming, dare I say it?, a nice little dog.   Just in time for "her year."