Monday was a perfect day! Karen came in and fed the hungry hound dog, fed me, and got me dressing up in my chair. Not only is today the day I have all day to cruise around, but these days, it's only one of three days a week I get to get up, so I'm so excited! Dude and I took off for a cruise through depot park and down to the end of the boardwalk and back; I love this time of year because the lifeguards and the junior lifeguards are practicing different life-saving procedures, and I love when I get there in time to take a picture or video… Today they must've been practicing grounding in wounds because we caught a couple pictures of the test dummy, and he looked like he was in a bicycle accident, and one that was soaking wet they must've been practicing saving and bandaging techniques. We also cruised by where they took out that one restaurant to see how the Siegel babies are growing; they're already running around trying to fly… It's fun to watch the mothers fly around and screaming to get them to get off the ground. We cruised over to the boardwalk and got there in time to see the beach train takeoff for Felton; I love that train! They started opening up the giant dipper by bringing out a surfboard with a colorful button in the middle; they picked out a kid from the line of the giant dipper and asked them a couple questions… "What's your favorite ride at the boardwalk?" And "what's your favorite food at the boardwalk?" And then they have them press the button to open up the ride and welcome everybody to the boardwalk over the loudspeaker, and then they get to be the first to ride the giant dipper that day. I wonder if they would let Dude press the button to open it up? One of these days, I might get the courage to ask them because I think that would be adorable. We still have a lot of time left, so we cruised back over to the wharf and went to the end and back again. We came home and rested for a bit, and my aunt came over and said she found a new pot to put her ivy plant in the bathroom on the top shelf, my uncle likes to go to the cancer store and the happy Dragon in Los Gatos, and they find all kinds of really cool stuff. I found a potential caregiver, and tonight is her second interview; I think she's going to work out great. Karen worked with her on Friday, and Adriana will come in tonight and show her again; I'm very impressed with her. Adriana and Jesse went home, and my uncle, aunt, Claudia, mom, and I played cribbage. I was really exhausted by the time everybody left… Exhausted and relieved that we finally found one new caregiver. I fell right to sleep.
Tuesday was another great day; these days, any day I can get up is a great day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry mongrel, fed me, and then got me dressed and up in my chair. Today is our CCI puppy play date at the Santa Cruz animal shelter; it sounds like it's just going to be Jan, Teik, her husband, Cindy, dude, and I; the dogs ran around and played a little bit more than they did the first time… I think they were just snipping out the territory. Cindy got them to go through the agility course, and that was fun to watch; after the puppy play date, we decided to go by the cat and cloud coffee place… We have wanted to check it out for a long time. I had a mocha coffee, and we split some banana bread, and allergic to bananas and eggs, and I'm sure it had both, but it was so awesome! I know I'm going to itch for a few days, but it's definitely worth it. We parked across the street, and somebody had done some really awesome brickwork around the building, so of course, I had to go take a picture; it looked really cool! I have never liked just plain bricks; to me, they always looked really cheap, but this was amazing! After we came back from getting coffee, we noticed a sign that says and plowed parking; we parked right in front of coffeetopia… They probably don't get near the customer, so that's why they put up the sign. I have been to cat and cloud at Abbott square market, and it is awe-inspiring. We stopped by Safeway on our way home and picked up a couple of my prescriptions. We got back, and Cindy left, and Dude and I kicked back for a while and watched TV until Adriana and Emma came in; Emma will be my new Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening caregiver… I finally found one that actually showed up, and I really hope she works out. Adriana is going to show the routine; both of the ladies that I hired have a lot of experience, so I know whether getting themselves into it, a couple of the other girls I talk to on the phone were not interested when I told them what was involved or they're just looking to make unemployment happy. Emma did really well; she took many notes and seemed to understand everything that we are doing. After they both went home, I was so relieved I fell right to sleep.
Wednesday was a pretty good day. Susan came in and gave me a nice long relaxing massage; I think I slept the whole thing. Karen came in, and we did some personal care did nice long hot relaxing; I'm so glad that my body is getting back to normal, and I found a couple of caregivers that I think you're gonna work out great. For a couple of months, I was only able to get up to three days a week… When I end up staying in bed, I usually get a pressure sore and a lot of bloating. I didn't get a lot of loading this time, but I did get the worst pressure sore I've had while, so now I have to wait for them to heal before I can even get back on my exercise cycle again. We didn't have very long to cruise around, but we did manage to go down to the end of the wharf back and take a couple pictures before we came back and waited for Andrea the organize. We finished up purging and organizing the bathroom; it looks so much better! I haven't really second-guessed anything that I decided to give it; usually, I get all stressed out about and ended up buying another one or something new to make myself feel better, but this time I'm just glad to have a bunch; of empty space… I think the more I unclutter my house, the more I uncluttering my mind. Andrea left just as Jesse came in; this will be Jesse's first time on her own… Just her and I to figure it out. Usually, I get really nervous the first couple of times I am alone with a new caregiver because I'm so dyslexic I'm afraid I'm going to not say what I want to say, and I'll get both of us frustrated. For some reason, this time, I'm not really nervous about Jesse or Emma; they really both just make me feel really comfortable. Jesse did a great job, but I was really exhausted and fell right to sleep after she left.
Thursday was a really awesome day! Karen came in and fed the hungry knucklehead, fed me, and then got me dressing up in my chair. While she was getting me in my chair, she said, "did you know that one of your headlights is broken?" I had no idea. You think I would've heard a crash or remember running into something, but I don't; I wonder how it happened? Nobody else tries my chair but me, so I can blame it on anybody else; I just blame it on my clumsiness. Dude and I took off for a nice long cruise, I haven't gone down Westcliff for a very long time, and I used to love it so much, so I decided to go all the way down to the end and back. I used to cruise down Westcliff almost every day with Robby, but for some reason, when he started barking at other dogs, I never figured out why he just started all of a sudden. It was a gorgeous day, and there were not a lot of people. I just couldn't believe I was out cruising around on such a beautiful day when I've been stuck in bed for so long. I took a picture of some more of the frames that they put up around Santa Cruz, and I finally found the hashtag on the side of one of the frames #outsidetheframe. As I cruise around, I see so many people admiring these frames and having pictures taken; it's so nice to see Santa Cruz back in action again. As we cruise down Westcliff Drive, I couldn't stop taking pictures, and I remember thinking to myself, "all of these beautiful pictures, how my going to choose which ones to post? I have a feeling I will be posting pretty much all of them." I passed by a big white van that had the side door wide open, and I could see a bunch of beautiful painted canvas paintings; I got as close as I could to take pictures, and I was wondering if they were selling them or just letting them air out, I wish I had the nerve to go up to the band and ask whoever was in there because they look gorgeous. I would love to have a couple, but from one, I'm too shy, and I don't know where I would put them… Maybe one of these days, I will see the van again, and I will have enough nerve to ask whoever's in there or overhear them talk to somebody. I don't know how I would get them home anyway. As I was taking pictures, I saw something had washed up on the shore, and I couldn't figure out if it was a sea lion or some driftwood; I thought maybe I could take it home and crop it and zoom in. I still couldn't tell. I stopped by my cousin Patrick's Memorial site, and it looks like somebody redid the sign; I wish I had been there when they took the old one down because I would love to get it for my cousin Rich, Patrick's brother, so he could put it on his property by Patrick's Memorial bench. It was a memorial for Patrick and his best friend Skye, I meant Skye's father there one day, and he told me that his full front yard has flowers that he takes up and sits by the memorial site frequently… I hope he got the sign. As we were cruising back, I lifted my chair as far as it would go so I could take a picture of these birds nesting on the side of the mountain; a gentleman came up and started telling me about the birds and why they nest there and even took some pictures for me. One great thing I love about Santa Cruz is cruising around and running into people and listening to their amazing stories, I wish I would've got a picture of him, and hopefully, I'll run into him again one day. I decided to cruise home, and it's a good thing that I did. When I went through the parking lot at Depot Park, I went over one of the speed bumps in my chair just stalled; when I looked down, my battery was totally dead. It was getting pretty warm by this time, and when I looked over, I could see Dude prancing because the ground was harder than I thought… I freaked out! I was thinking I was going to have to fly down our car and see if they could take Dude and put him in the shade or something, that's such a heartbreaking feeling to see your dog running his feet, and there's nothing you can do about it. I turned it off and then turned it back on, and thank goodness it moved, so I pulled over to the shade and laid back for a little bit; in my experience, if I lay back for a little bit and wait, the battery will charge back up and thank goodness it did. We cruised home, luckily it was mostly shaded with the sidewalk, but as I got to the ramp on the back porch, it stalled again, and of course, nobody was home. I again turned it off, waited, turned it back on, and eventually got into my house and took a picture to send it to Numotion. Adriana came in to show Emma the routine, and it went really well, it looks like I found two excellent new caregivers, and I am so excited! They put me to bed and made me a really awesome pizza with naan bread; it was delicious! I could already tell that Emma was going to catch on quick. I watched TV for a while, and I was so exhausted I fell right to sleep.
Friday was a really great day. Karen came in and fed the hungry mongrel, then me, and we did some personal care and a nice long hot bath; I felt so great and ready to go. She got me dressed and up in my chair, and Dude and I took off for a nice long cruise around Santa Cruz. Karen sent me a couple of pictures of her cats; they are so funny! Juno likes to clown around and watch Luis when he's on his resume calls for work; he gets furious if they start to zoom call without him and comes running in screaming. When Luis is gone, he keeps running up to the computer and looking at it like he's wondering where everybody is. Dude and I took off for a really long cruise through Depot Park and down to Cowell's beach to take a couple of pictures of the waves crashing on the rocks; we cruised over to the boardwalk and down to the end and back. I forgot it was Friday, and people were starting to flock to Santa Cruz; the traffic is just ridiculous! But it's good practice for Dude and me to weave through the crowd. I love to go way up on the top and take pictures. We cruised down to the end of the wharf and back and then came home. I kicked back in my chair for a while and waited for Emma to come in; usually, when it's the first time a new caregiver and I are alone, I get a little nervous, but I'm not really nervous at all…I really have a lot of confidence in Emma, and I feel really comfortable with her. she came in and fed the hungry Dude and then put me to bed; she fed me, cleaned everything up, washed my face, brush my teeth, and then went home. She did a great job… I really like this lady! I watch TV for a while, listen to music and cropped pictures, and try to catch up on my blog. It's so nice to just relax at night and not have to worry about scheduling interviews, calling references, and all that other stuff. I watched a little bit more TV and then fell asleep.
Saturday was a perfect day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry knucklehead, fed me, and then got me dressed up in my chair… It's so nice to get up again on the weekends even if the traffic and the tourists are the worst. We cruised through Depot Park, down the ramp at Cowell's Beach to take some pictures, over to the boardwalk in time to take some pictures of the beach train going by… I can't wait to go on the train again. We cruised down to the end of the boardwalk, the boardwalk was standing room only, and the beach was wall-to-wall umbrellas, canapés, and tents. There are many more vendors; it seems like the ideal restaurant to the boardwalk arcade is just back-to-back vendors. It's really nice to see the Paradise dogs hot dog stand at the end of the war again; I have such fond memories of when Vince owned it… I remember we went by one day, and he said, "I dropped a hot dog on the ground. Do you mind if I give it to your dog?" Generally, I say no, but Robby was just a couple of days away from retiring, so I said yes. I will never forget the look on Robbie's face; his eyes got huge, and he looked Vince into his eyes and then quickly looked at me in my eyes in disbelief, and when I said, "Robby, okay," he grabbed it real fast before I could change my mind. We still reminisce about that every time I talk to Vince. I have met so many really cool people and have had some really nice conversations with strangers since I have moved here, I always tried to avoid talking to people, but more and more, I'm starting to really not mind it at all. Moving to Santa Cruz has been really good for me, I think, I have become a lot more comfortable with myself, and I don't know if it's because everybody is so easy-going in Santa Cruz or because of my amazing CCI dogs. We cruised back home and hung out and watched TV until Emma came in to feed the hungry hound, put me to bed, and then feed me. I'm starting to feel really comfortable with Emma, and it's so awesome to not be nervous. She made me a quesadilla, and I had some kimchee and vegan chocolate loaf. She washed a couple of loads of clothes, cleaned up, wiped everything down, and then went home. I watched TV for a while and then fell asleep.
Sunday was a nice relaxing day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry pup and then fed me; the first part of my day on Sunday is nice and relaxing, and the evening part on Sunday is relaxing… The middle part is necessary but not too much fun. I was looking through some pictures, and I found a couple of pictures with Robby, Dude, and Riggy… They all used to be really close, and we always had so much fun when we hung out until the pandemic. I also found some pictures of my nephew Robert and his wife Mackenzie, they are expecting a baby in October, and I'm so excited! They sent me an ultrasound, and it looks like the baby is holding a microphone… That's funny because Robert is in the band and place on the keyboard, so now they have a lead singer. McKenzie painted some little peg figures to look like them, and she did such a great job! They are going to be awesome parents! Dude was extra goofy today, so Cindy took some videos of him; he is always entertaining and adorable! Karen came in at noon, and we did some personal care and a nice long hot bath; she put me back to bed and got me something to eat before she left. I watched TV for a while and then fell asleep.
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