This first week of summer, Vince went to gymnastics camp. Today was the last day and they wanted to show off in a little performance. There was suppose to be a video – but our video camera is on the fritz – so you just get some fuzzy pictures.
After the performance, Edda got a turn on some of the trampolines and had a nice time.
We saw a rattlesnake again at the same spot as last time during our noon time walk. I went to the upper-level parking lot to get my camera in our car. But, when I came back, the snake was gone. As a side show, we saw a deer in the parking lot eating grasses.
Yesterday, we saw several whales playing along the Shell Beach, just half block away from our duplex apartment. And, of course, Mom picked more loquat fruits of our neighbor’s. They are really happy to see us show up almost every other evening to pick the fruits.
It has been kind of a mess on the Red Line this week. It’s been a few days since the accident, and they are running tests and trying to figure out what went wrong. Empty trains pass stations and full trains announce that you have to offload. It’s been slow going for me back and forth to work this week.
Today was the first day that trains were going past the point of the accident, although only on one of the two tracks. It’s slow going because like a two lane street that has one lane blocked off, the trains have to take turns going through the choke point. And everything is running slower because the trains are run manually and so the trains are spaced further apart and also, for whatever reason, a lot of the trains I’ve been on have broken down. So I’ve easily spent about 4 hours on the Metro today, mostly packed shoulder to shoulder with other of my fellow Washingtonians.
This past Sunday, Vince and I headed downtown to meet with a friend of mine from work, Jane. Jane is young, single and doesn’t spend a lot of time with little kids, I think Vince amused her with his rather manic rate of going through the Air and Space and the Natural History museum. Also, I think that it was the first time in a long time that she ate at McDonald’s (Vince’s choice for lunch).
Vince and I rode to the metro.
Yeah, baby, we rule the Mall.
It was a nice day to be at the Mall, usually during the summer, it is so hot and humid and there is practically no shade on the mall, it’s really unpleasant. But on Sunday, it was cool enough for a sweatshirt and also, they shut down a lot of the streets for a triatholon.
Being a grown up means that you have to spend money on things that you can’t see. Dental surgery, for one. House repairs for two. This weekend we had our gutters cleaned because rain was just pouring straight down the side of the house. Today we had the plumber, the appliance repair guy for the stove and the HVAC guy come to do work or maintenance on the house. The HVAC guy just came to do the summer check up which gave Jeremy another opportunity to talk about a geothermal system. The plumber came to look at a leak in our ceiling coming from an upstairs bathroom (not the best picture ever, but the leak in the ceiling is at least 4 feet long).
After I scheduled all these appointments to miraculously happen on one day, thus maximizing the use of time, I discovered during a recent wet car ride, that my car’s roof is also leaking somehow. Sigh.
Several weeks ago, Rena & I saw a coyote in the park lot. Yesterday, after drove home with Mom, I came back to office to retrieve my personal computer and brief case, I saw another coyote crossing the road.
Today, during our regular noon time walking, Rena and I encountered a rattlesnake on a semi-paved space for parking trailers & power plant equipment. The snake wasn’t in the coiled position and, therefore, not ready to strike. No danger at all. Mom just walked away and walking back. I walked forward a litter and studied the snake more and the snake turned his head and headed back to brown grassy areas slowly.
People working in the plant told me that we may encounter mountain lions. Therefore, there are a lot of wild land animals around our office (ie., Diablo Canyon Power Station.) beside the ones in the sea. Some of them are pretty innocent and doing no harm. Some of them, will cause a lot of trouble if one let down one’s vigilance while doing their daily routines here.
Both Jeremy and I were on different Red Line trains when the accident occurred, but we were going in the opposite direction from the collision – ironically, I had been stuck on the Metro for over 2 hours for a completely separate reason (a train broke down in my direction) when over the loudspeaker, our train operator said that there was now an emergency in both directions. Just so shocking that people died in the accident – my thoughts are with their family and friends.
We started our Father’s day celebration last night, Jeremy opened his gift after dinner – what did we get him?
The $10 waffle iron from Target (I was willing to buy the pricier model, but he specifically asked for the cheapest model).
This morning, I went to the Joy of Cooking and almost fainted after I read how much butter to use for the most delicious waffles (2 whole sticks!).
Happy Father’s Day!
Vince and Edda being silly at breakfast today.
My dad is a scientist. He needs to read and write notes to people and use a calculator. He convinces people to not waste fuel.