Monday, June 7, 2021

Another week trying to avoid this nasty coronavirus…

 Monday was a perfect day. Susan came in to give me a nice long massage; what a great way to start your day! Karen came in and fed the hungry little guy, fed me, and got me dressed and up in my chair. Dude and I took off for a nice long cruise; I decided to cruise through the lagoon… I used to cruise through here every morning, but I haven't for a long time, and it was just as beautiful as I remember. Thank goodness my camera was working and didn't flop down sideways, so I got some pretty good pictures. We cruised up through the Bee/butterfly garden, through Bay Street Park, and down towards Westcliff Drive… Another place I used to cruise down almost every day. When it looks like the blacktop was getting too hot for Dude's feet, we cruised back down across the wooden bridge, down the hill past the Marine sanctuary, past the wharf, and down to the end of the boardwalk and back. I like to cruise down to the end of the boardwalk because there aren't many people on Mondays, and it's a good place to practice some commands with Dude. It was getting late, so we decided to cruise back home and lay back and rest for a little bit before Adriana comes in. She Was a little bit late because she said about six or eight squad cars were cleaning up the homeless encampment by Cosco; she said they also had about 10 dumpsters, and they were just dumping everything into the dumpsters and sending people on their way. She fed the hungry pooch, put me to bed, washed a couple of loads of clothes, wiped everything down, made up some snacks for later, wiped down the kitchen, and then went home after she fed me some dinner. My uncle, my aunt, my mom, Claudia, and I played cribbage… It's really nice to play cribbage again, but it really hurts my neck and shoulders because I have to look to the right all the time, I decided to try playing every other week for a while, and if it starts hurting again, unfortunately, I'll have to stop. I was pretty tired and fell asleep a couple times during the game, so after everyone left, I had no problem falling asleep.
















































































 Tuesday was a really great day! Cindy came in and fed the hungry guy, fit me, and then got me dressed and up in my chair.  While Cindy cleaned up, Dude and I cruised through the lagoon and down Westcliff Drive, it was such a beautiful day, and I wanted to take some pictures. We met Cindy at the boardwalk; I saw this adorable piggy bank shaped like a dog balloon animal that said Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk on it… I really wanted to get one for my nephew, and my niece's baby was due in October. With the help of Cindy and my little brother, we collected enough tickets in the claw machine to get one, and then one of my caregivers dropped it on the ground and broke, so I've been trying to win another one. They were a thousand tickets, but now that the boardwalk is opening up more, all of a sudden, they are 1500 tickets; after only about an hour at the machine, we finally won enough tickets, and I was able to get one… I was so excited! As we were cruising through the boardwalk Dude, all the sudden turned around and pooped, so Cindy set the piggy bank down to clean up the dog poop, and the way she said it down, it looked like the piggy bank pooped some course I had to take some pictures, people that were walking by were laughing. We hit the funhouse and took some pictures in front of the crazy mirrors and then cruise down to get some chocolate-filled churros but it was closed. We did some grocery shopping and then dropped Dude and the groceries off at the house and headed over to physical therapy with Yasel; I was supposed to get my new torso brace, but Karina was busy and wasn't going to be able to meet us at Dominican outpatient rehab, so we agreed to meet her at her office. The brace fits perfectly, and I liked it because I didn't have to wear so many, I had to wear three braces, and the outside one was so tall it was rubbing on the back of my shoulders… This one fits perfectly. We cruised on home, and Cindy left for the day, and Adriana came in; I was so excited about winning the piggy bank that I talked Adriana into going back over to the boardwalk to see if we could win another one, the first one that I won was green, and that was okay since my niece was having a girl. Still, the second one was blue, so I wanted to see if I could win another ring. We didn't win one, but we did win many tickets, so I am that much closer, the agreement would've been nice, but I'm sure they will be thrilled with the blue one. We cruised back home, and after Adriana fed the hungry pooch, she put me to bed and fed me. She cleaned up and wiped everything down, and went home. I listen to some music, edited pictures, and trying to catch up on my blog. I was getting a little tired, so I just watch TV until I fell asleep.



























 Wednesday was another great day! Susan gave me a nice long relaxing massage; I wish to have a massage every day. Karen came in, and we did some personal care and a nice long relaxing hot bath. She got me dressed and up in my chair, and Dude and I took off for a cruise through Depot Park and down to the end of the wharf; on our way back, we ran into Vince and stopped and chatted with him for a while… I had seen him or his wife for a long time, and it was so nice to catch up. I cruised back down to the end of the wharf, and I could see a couple on the beach throwing something in the air. The birds were flocking, so I stopped to take a picture when suddenly I heard something over my shoulder and the image of my go Pro on my phone went blank; as I turned around, I could see some kid had grabbed my camera and tweaked it. I turned around, and he stopped, and I said: "did you just tweak my camera, you little shit?" He looked at me and said, "no, I didn't tweak your camera" I said, "I just saw you, and I hope I got a picture of you so I could take it down to the police department" he didn't care. It was with a group of three or four other kids, and I started over towards the boardwalk when I thought to myself, "I wonder if he grabbed my camera" I went over to the glass display case to look in and see if my camera was still there and it was. I cruised on over to the boardwalk to meet Adriana, and she fixed my Camera, and then we took some selfies and went over to the claw machine to see if we could get some more tickets.  We took the elevator upstairs in Neptune's kingdom to take some videos and then cruised back to the elevator. Some of the places on the boardwalk were open, so I texted my mom to see if she wanted a final cake, and we cruised down to get a funnel cake to bring home. It was so good! We cruised over to Civic Auditorium so I could get a Covid test and then cruised back home. She fed the hungry hound dog, put me to bed, cleaned up, and then went home for the evening. I watched TV for a while and eventually fell asleep playing games on the computer.

























 Thursday was a perfect day. Karen came in and fed the hungry dog, fed me, and then got me dressed and up in my chair. I love these long days, but they are still not long enough, especially when the weather is beautiful, the ocean is gorgeous, and the people are super friendly. Dude and I cruised the cruise down to the vet to see if Dude had lost any weight; he is down to 78 pounds, so he still needs to lose a little more. We cruised through Depot Park and over to the wharf, I love taking pictures of the waves crashing over the rocks, and even though it's pretty much the same pictures every day, I just can't stop myself… Every day just looked more beautiful to me! It was still a little chilly, so I decided to cruise down to the boardwalk first; everybody was getting all the building stocked, touching up the paint, and running the concrete cleaner up and down the boardwalk to scrub off some of the bird poop. I love laying back and watching everybody scramble around to get the boardwalk ready for the huge crowds that will probably come tomorrow; everybody just can't wait to get back out and live life again. Dude and I cruised down to the end of the boardwalk and then practiced some of his commands before we cruised back through and headed for the wharf. It was still a little chilly, but since we are there, we just have to cruise up and down the wharf and see who we can see, It's so nice to see a lot more of the familiar faces and stop and catch up with everyone but all the conversations are pretty much the same… It's great to see you again; I'm glad you made it through this terrible crisis; what did you do to keep yourself saying during this mass? Are you vaccinated… We cruised on back home and rested for a while until Rosalie came in, she took us grocery shopping at Costco, and what a mistake that was… I've been stuck inside for so long that when I do get out, I just go crazy. I'm trying so hard to not spend too much money, and so far, I'm doing pretty good with Amazon, and that's my biggest struggle; it's hard to lay in bed when you can't sleep and not shop.  I got my covid test back, and it was another negative result. I try to play games and listen to music to keep myself busy, but I always still managed to sneak a little better shopping in, and I always justify that I need whatever I purchase. I usually watch TV and dim down the computer until I fall asleep.


















































 Friday was a long day. Susan came in to give me a nice long relaxing massage; I don't know what I would do without this little lady! Karen came in, and we did some personal care and, of course, a nice long hot relaxing bath. By the time she got me dressed and up in my chair, Dude and I didn't have a long time to cruise around; I had to cruise down to Palo Alto medical foundation to do some fasting labs; at least Dude got some exercise, and it was a beautiful day. I cruised by where I got my hair done and took some pictures of the restaurant next door where they made Pho soup, I have been looking for a place around here, and so far, I only found one place, and it was at the Santa Cruz Diner. It was on that TV series, diners drive-ins, and dives; if you want to take home any leftovers, you have to bring your own container, but it is pretty good… I had it a couple times. I saw a poster on the real theater, and I got a little excited thinking that the concerts are starting up again. We cruised back home and kicked back in the driveway for a while and waited for Rosalie to come in; she fed the hungry dog. I was supposed to bring a urine sample along with the labs, so we gathered that up and dropped it off back at the hospital. We took off over by where she lives to get some casa Birria tacos… I also got some Ramen noodles. When we were getting ready to leave, she packed up the van, and the transmission froze; it has done this three or four times since I got the van in 2012… Nobody has ever really been able to tell me why, and after fiddling with it for a while, it went into gear, and we came back home. But tacos were pretty killer, and I went to bed at a happy lady. She did a couple loads of laundry, cleaned everything up, and then went home. I listen to music and edited pictures for a while until I got sleepy, then I watched TV until I fell asleep.







 Saturday was a pretty good day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry pooch, fed me, and then got me dressed and up in my chair. I took off for a nice long cruise with Dude while Cindy stayed behind and set up the driveway/garage for the Michael Franti Mother's Day stay-at-home concert. Omar came in and started refinishing my cousin Patrick's memorial bench; he sanded it down really well and painted the back of the bench where it was carved out with black paint and then put an oil varnish over the top, and it looked brand-new… He did an awesome job! He asked me to look around for three big Redwood logs so he can make a log piling like they usually have on the wharf with three logs, some rope tied around it, and there's usually up pelican on top. He wanted to make a memorial for Robby; I asked my massage therapist Susan because she lives up in the redwoods, and she said it just so happened that they were cutting some redwood trees down on her property, and Omar can go up there and take his pick. I can't wait to see how it looks when it's done. Dude and I cruised through Depot Park, down to the end of the wharf and back, down to the end of the boardwalk, and back where we just happened to catch the beach train going by on its way to roaring Camp railroad. When I got back, my backyard was all set up and ready for the concert; since its Mother's Day, not many people showed up… In fact, I think there were only about four of us. As usual, the concert was awesome! We missed about an hour of it because Trish misunderstood the time; we've been using her laptop to hook up the projector. After the concert was over Rosalie came into bed, I always like to listen to Michael's music after I get up in the morning and then again after I go to bed, his music always puts me in such a great mood! My older brother Stanley sent me some pictures of my niece Melissa's graduation; she likes pomegranates. Hence, I found some pomegranate wine and some pomegranate snacks on nuts.com, and it looks like they had a really nice party for her. I listen to music while I edited my pictures and soon fell asleep.

































































 Sunday Was a great day! Usually, I stay in bed on Sundays, but since today is Mother's Day and my uncle, aunt, and cousin Rich are not to mention my brother Dave are coming for dinner. My aunt is making corn beef and cabbage. I missed the days when we had lots of families here, but everybody has moved away, so whenever I see them, it's a really nice treat. Cindy came in and fed the hungry guy, fed me, and then got me dressed and up in my chair. Dude and I took off for a cruise through the lagoon, through Bay St., Park, and down to the end of the wharf and back. I guess I thought everybody would be at their own house barbecuing and the boardwalk, and Worf wouldn't be so crowded, but that wasn't the case. It was really nice to see everybody back in Santa Cruz again having fun, and there were a lot of barbecues on the beach; I hope people remember to pick up the garbage and throw it away in the proper place. I wish everybody would pitch in, so the beach doesn't look like a dump when the weekend is over. It was still early, so we cruised over to the boardwalk, and it was even more crowded than the wharf, but everybody was so happy, and that was really nice to see. We cruised back and hung out in the yard for a while and let the dogs play before dinner. Dinner was awesome! My uncle and aunt have always been excellent cooks, and there's always enough for a small army, but we love leftovers, so it works out great! Nobody really eats dessert anymore, so we had a pie and some cookies, I try not to eat dessert anymore either, so next, I will just get something smaller. Karen came in and fed the hungry pooch, put me to bed, and then went home for the evening. I hung out with my brother for a while, and then he got tired and went to bed; unfortunately, he just came down for Mother's Day, so he was leaving really early the next morning. I watched TV for a while and edited pictures, although I forgot to take pictures of us eating dinner. Eventually, I fell asleep.

































I was cruising around Facebook, and I came across the Facebook page of a lady I met right after my injury and the spinal cord support group at Valley Medical Hospital; we hung out a few times, and she came over a few times. When my dad passed away, she asked if she could come to his memorial; we had it down to the clubhouse in the mobile home park where we lived. Everybody was telling stories of my dad and things that he did that nobody knew, I always knew this, but he was a very, very impressive man! My friend raised her hand and stood up, and said, "I have been to Tamme's house a couple of times; I remember one time Tammie and I were in her bedroom talking, and her father walked by the room. They both looked at each other with the sweetest smile, I will never forget!" She had never said that to me, but I remember I couldn't stop smiling, it's really nice to know that someone you love so much is 
noticed! My dad was funny, sweet, caring, and would do anything for anyone. If you visited my dad's house one time and mentioned your favorite treat/drink/food whenever you came to visit again, he would always have that special treat waiting for you. He was a service repair man at Sears, and a lot of the stories were of how he would take the appliances that were dropped off for repair and then left, and he would find somebody who really needed it and give it to them. Sometimes just from their explanation on the phone he would visit somebody's house, and they would tell him what was wrong and when he got there and looked at the machine he just pulled the part out of his pocket and fixed it, I'm sure it was so nice to not have to wait for the part to be ordered.

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