First, a big thank you to a reader who donated to Buy Me a Coffee. I appreciate the gesture and am grateful for the generosity. Thanks for supporting my blog in all it’s boringness!!

Onward. My heart is just so sad at the loss of lives in Bend Oregon. Those little children will never get to grow up and that lovely 25 yo teacher. What a tragedy and heartbreak for those families.

Well, I’m coming out of my Dex moment. Not all the way, but at least I feel better this morning. I plan on going to the gym at least for a small workout. I finished staining the fence and had just enough stain to do that. I might see if there is a quart available to have as some other railings could use the stain as well. I’ll have to check home Depot.

We went and got the car Friday and it wasn’t all good news. He’s not sure if the head gasket was involved and if it was then the overheating could happen again. Checking that involves taking the whole engine top off and would be too expensive of a fix for me. For now, I’ll keep some coolant in the car and check before driving. Other than that, I’d need some kind of strategy to buy a used car. But I really hope that it’ll keep going but I cannot have the stress of a car not working with the driving I do. So, I’ll see how this goes this coming week.

I made a big crock pot of black beans for dinner last night and have a bunch to freeze. I’ll have some more tonight as well. These beans are still what was part of my prepper pantry from a few years ago, so I want to use them up. I still have one more jar of them and a jar of pintos from that time too. Going forward, I’ll probably just buy Rancho Gordo as then come in 1lb bags.

Tomorrow I have my labs and then I will chance driving down to Roseville. I’m sure I’m going to be nervous about it but I guess it’s better to do it and I know at least I can call AAA and have it towed back to the garage. Still, I’d really hate a repeat of last Thursday.

Another costly repair. The Santa Fe’s engine started smoking right before I got to the pool in Roseville. Fortunately, I limped off the freeway and got into a gas station. But smoke was billowing all over the car. I kind of freaked out. But steady on, I called AAA and eventually got a tow. It took 2 hours of waiting, so I was pissed off. He alos, the driver, took the car up to Auburn to the garage I used once before. I hate doing these things and my adrenaline was skyrocketing. The driver was very nice. he told me he’s Muslim and we had a nice chat about the state of things in our country. The garage was also kind and helpful as I must have looked a bit crazy at that point. My daughter came and got me and then we picked up some Taco tree to bring home.

Long story short, both coolant hoses had split so there was no coolant thus the smoking. So it’ll be $1500 to fix. I guess when there’s money problems it all comes at once. sigh, I’m incredibly frustrated and concerned. I mean this too will pass, but shit, does it all have to pile up at once.

So, then I had to take my daughters Honda to Velcade yesterday. I get quite anxious if I haven’t done something before so I drove slower than normal. In the end it was fine and I got there and home ok.

Today, I should be able to get the car and pay the bill on a CC again. But it’s also my Dex day, so I’ll need to be extra careful driving.

I’ve been staining the fence out by the driveway in 15 minute increments. I have had the stain a few years in the garden shed and decided it was about time. I am almost done but I think I will run out of stain right near the end. So I’ll have to decide buy a new gallon or leave it? I guess I’ll see how far I get. After I finish this I might see what else I can help with in the yard. I can’t do a whole lot but I can do some.

I checked on my Miebo reorder and I cant order till next week. The AI did say the $0 copay was a one time manufacturer deal, which I did figure out. This is a very expensive eye drop so I doubt I’ll be able to afford it and the insurance declined it already. I’l wait and see what it is next week. Maybe it wont be too bad.

Well, I’m feeling quite overwhelmed at the moment, so after I get the car, I’ll come home and stain some more fence and then read some.

We’re still trying to figure out a way to keep the garbage bear-proof, but all I can come up with is a bungee cord. I don’t think that’ll keep Mr Bear out of the garbage. Hopefully, he just decides to move on.

It’s cool this morning. Quite cool and I turned the wall heater on. I think our high is only 67. Well, fall is here! I am having some anxiety about this El Nino heading to California. Mostly with lots of rain and wind, trees can fall. So it makes me nervous about the trees we have. Also, (I really hope not) but some of the Ponderosas are looking like they have dead branches. It is not bark beetle but stress on the trees. I do not have any money to take trees so I can only hope they recover with the rains. We’ll see. We’ve taken so many trees out but there are still about 6 more that really should come down. sigh:(

I didn’t really accomplish anything yesterday except regular chores. Hopefully today I can get a few things done. I did run both robot vacuums and will do so again today. They do a good job overall.

I want to get my voting done and get it dropped off at the county recorders. I just have to read the measures and see what is recommended.

Well, that solves who’s dumping over the garbage. He also got into a Chewy box that had cat food in it and dragged it over to our neighbors. We had it delivered on Wednesday so it was sitting on the sunrooms steps outside. It’s kind of cool but still I hope he moves on. And of course, I hope he doesn’t get hit by a car. Sadly, there have been quite a few bears in Tahoe getting hit by cars this summer. People drive too fast everywhere.

So UPDATE; No RSV shot. I got there yesterday only to have the pharmacist come out and tell me it was out of stock. I’m thinking to myself” what kind of pharmacy is this to run out of a vaccine”? Anyway, I was secretly thrilled and so today I get to go swim.

He said check in a few days to see if it’s come in.

I’ll probably go over to Winco or TJ’s for a few things. I have to look at my list and see which is better to shop at since I get certain things at each store. I also need gas so I’ll do that at Costco before I swim.

We got our ballots in the mail so I want to get that done this weekend and dropped off. I certainly hope it’s a blue wave. The nut job in the white house would at least be tamed some.

Not much new with the budget. Frustrating for sure!! The last big annual bill ( I also have property tax, but I’ll do that closer to when it’s considered late in December),is the AAA rider and that’s on auto pay for the end of the month. Racking up this much on my CC is unnerving $$$$. But I have a plan to get it down but it’ll take a few months or even to Jan 2027. Before these big bills came in, I had the CC down to a small amount so that’s at least encouraging that I could get that done. There’s only so much to go around. I think I’m going to write up an outline for 2027 especially with these October annual bills are the ones that are overwhelming. So next year, I want to be more prepared. My son does owe me for the truck insurance so that will take a big chunk off the cc. It will help. Also if LLS gets funded that will be a huge help. It’s been almost 6 months so I wonder if it’ll get funded this year even. I do check everyday as I’m sure do others.

What a nice day we had yesterday. My son and his partner brought bagels and lox and some lovely flowers. It was nice to visit, and I’ll miss seeing him for almost 3 weeks while he’s in Japan.

The wood guy showed up and the wood looked very nice. He brought his 2 young daughters who were very cute.//Anyway I’m set for wood for the winter.

I plan on going to do weights this morning. Not sure if I’ll do anything else in town but I’ll see how I feel. I do like to go the thrift store Sunday am as nobody or very few people are there. I’ll just see how I feel when I’m done.

Other than that, I don’t have much I need to do. I’ll probably do a once around the house and then look at what the week brings. I have dentist appt and my other shot so that’s two days of something planned. I’ll black out Friday for after RSV shot day.

Birthday flowers, Tasha Tudor, looking out B’s office window, and a crazy looking raccoon!! That’s out by the wildlife pond that they like to splash around in.

Well, I had one shot in the left arm and one shot in the right arm. I did ok most of the day, and even that night was ok. But then I woke up the next morning with the usual fever very slight) and a bit achy. I went back to bed for a few hours and then when I got up started to feel ok. So overall, not bad, and now it’s done. Next week is the RSV shot, so I guess it’ll be the same thing.

My arms are just a bit sore but not awful.

Today I am getting the wood delivered and tfor the price, it better be good. the guy seems very nice and has been very communicative about when he was available.

My son and his partner are coming up too and we’re having a bit of a birthday brunch. He’s bringing Noah’s bagels. He’s not staying too long as he’s getting ready to leave for Japan.

Since I don’t want to put the whole Ca fair plan on the CC, I decided to do the 3 payment option. Not what I want but needs must. The increase was close to $1K so a huge increase and that’s not even the AAA rider which comes as a separate bill. Oh well, I’ll get through 🙁

After those are carded, I’ll wait and do property tax the very beginning of December. That’ll give me time to figure out more budget stuff. Still having to charge is not my first choice or second or third, but it needs to be paid. Buying the firewood at $475 is about all the extra money I have right now. sigh 🙁

Our hot weather is back for a bit. The house gets closed up by 8 am and stays ok in the afternoon. The way the sun is angled this time of year the heat just isn’t the same as July. Still it’s too warm to have a twinkle fire outside. Maybe in a few days.

Well, I’d better get going and get ready.

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 74.

I did what I love, and that is go swimming. The pool was a bit busy, but I had a lane to myself for most of it. Sweet! Then I shopped at Winco and Nugget. At Nugget which is a high end grocery store, their deli is top notch so I boght a few things, and then the real reason I went was to get something from their very beautiful bakery. I picked up a slice of tiramisu( my favorite) and chocolate cupcakes for when my son comes up.

My other choice was to go to Tahoe for the day but that didn’t really fit with the day so maybe soon. I do miss Tahoe in the fall.

It’s been a mixed year. Some good things and of course, sadness with Barclay not here to do these things with. It is a strange place to be in.

This coming year, I’d like to travel a bit more and figure out the camping stuff. I’d like to add in some ‘special’ things to do that I wouldn’t ordinarily do. Something like the Napa Valley wine train experience. I think I’d like to do a road trip with my daughter too. That though involves dealing with 6 cats so someone would need to house sit. We’ll see.

At least, I’ve dealt with the Triumph( which my son is taking over) and death related business stuff too. The truck is my son’s now too although I haven’t done the title part yet. The last part of this ‘what’s left’ will be the RV. I plan on selling it probably around May. Who knows though if there’s a market and I’m sure there won’t be a lot of profit. But I really want to move past it since it’s not being used except for when my son comes up to spend the night. I guess, I’d need to figure something out, maybe a sofa bed type thing. Although the studio( which is now my daughters office space) does have a bed. I guess time will tell.

Mostly, I want to keep doing the simple things that bring me joy, walking, swimming, reading, the library, cooking bread making and being present. Of course, in the mix of all this is managing my cancer and hoping the Velcade continues to keep things at bay. Life!!

Another really nice sunrise. So pretty. The park was empty when I got there, but people started coming in quickly by 7am. I was almost done, so it didn’t bother me.

My labs came back good. My kappa light chains went down one point, so that’s a win for me. I was very happy with that. It feels like every month is a crapshoot, but at least it’s keeping the myeloma down. No news on getting my LLS grant. It’s been close to 6 months since there has been funding, so I’m sure I’m not the only one waiting for it to open up. It would really help my budget, that’s for sure.

The other good news was that the prescription for Meibo was approved, and I think it’s showing up today. It’ll be interesting to see if it improves my eyes. I certainly hope so, but at least I can give it a go for the month. Hopefully, I’ll know if it’s working within a week. I think it’s one drop daily but I’ll need to check the instructions. They went me a short video on how to use the drops as the bottle is tricky and you need to prime it. Hopefully I won’t mess it up.

The rest of the day is open, so I’m not sure what I’ll get up to. I’ve made a chicken pot pie for dinner, and I have some whole wheat sandwich bread rising. That’s all the cooking I’ll probably do today. I only did the pot pie because I had leftover chicken, and I didn’t want to freeze a small amount.

I do need to dust the whole house and check when my friend can come to clean.

It’s been a quiet week, mostly being home. My daughter is still testing positive, and hopefully today she won’t. It’s been a week, so I hope that’s the case. Since she was vaccinated, her symptoms were very mild except for losing her sense of smell and taste. I guess that’s one way to lose weight. I’m going to get test today to see if there’s any change. Right now I feel fine except for sneezing and some allergy stuff.

Since I tested negative yesterday, I went to the pool, and I’m so glad I did. It was really nice, and the water was perfect. I came straight home though, as I didn’t need any groceries. I did fill up the car at Costco, and it was $5.89 per gallon, a big hike from just last week.

My son’s friend was supposed to come and do a house cleaning for me, but we cancelled due to COVID. He’s a wonderful person and does a great job. I’d like to reschedule for next week once my daughter tests negative. It’s been over a week, so I hope it’s soon.

Today, I need to go pick up my glasses and make sure the transition lines are right. I’ve only had to take glasses back once because they weren’t done right, so I hope these are okay.

Our weather today is supposed to be mid 70’s so really nice. This fall has been nice. I’ll probably have a twinkly fire outside.

Today is the first of fall, and it’s Barclays ‘ 76th birthday. I’m sad he’s not here to enjoy this beautiful day. We both love fall best, and our birthdays are within a week of each other. So I’ll let myself be sad for a while. I bought a slice of chocolate cake for him, and I planned to go to Tahoe but there has been a series of unfortunate events. Mainly, my daughter has come down with COVID, so I’m waiting for it to get me. I’m actually scheduled for my shot next week so I’ll have to wait and see what happens. I planned to go to Costco to buy some covid test kits but they do not have any which I thought odd.

This picture was September 21 2021 at Nevada Beach.

I had to rearrange my dentist appointment again, as it is tomorrow. I’ll also skip the pool until I know what’s up.

My new budget starts next week, so I’m working on that, and it looks ok. I will have a shortfall for the firewood, but I’ll have to figure it out. All the important bills, like the mortgage, are covered. So I’ll see how I can adjust things for the firewood.

I’m back to almost normal sleep from Dex, so that’s a good thing. Today I’m going to get some COVID test kits at CVS, I think, and return one of the jeans that didn’t fit. It’s too bad because they are the ones I wanted to fit. They were Levi’s high-waisted. If I have time, I’ll see if there are any others to check out. They don’t do cash back, just credit.

Well, that’s all for today.