Thanksgiving Eve 2017

Sometimes you just stop ...and recognize your blessings. This is one of those moments. My life mate of 43 years is sitting in a chair across the room. Although I may not have always recognized his love and what he was doing for me at the time he was doing it throughout our long life together , I recognize it now. I see it in the Magnolia trees planted outside my personal bathroom window where they can be seen from my jacuzzi tub. I see it in the jacaranda trees when remembering when I told him I loved the purple trees growing throughout San Diego. I see it in the gifts that he has given me. I certainly see it when driving home from Alpine a few days ago, and he said, (out of the blue) "You know ...I would step in front of a train to push you out of the way to save you. You know that. Right? I would give my life without a second thought for you to live." Yes, I do know that. My first born, a son, called me today, and I so enjoyed our conversation. Thank you God for him and his integrity, intelligence and compassion. He is the glue today that holds it all together. I am so thankful for my daughter in law, Katherine. Finally...is all I can say.  :-) She is perfect for him. My adorable granddaughters ... ages 26 and 10, respectfully, are healthy and enjoying life, and I so thank God for the wonderful blessings of healthy grandchildren. I am thankful for my son in law, who may have the biggest heart in San Diego County. I am thankful for my daughters. I can't imagine life without them. Tomorrow is another day ...a day of Thanksgiving. I am thankful for that.~drj51

Water Heater Saga

November 13, 2017...

Our driveway is quite steep if walking up it from the lower security gate. The lower garage on the property sits under the guest house cottage but faces the lower driveway, of course, since the pool is in front of the cottage. Yesterday Husband went down to the lower garage to continue his efforts to hook up a new water heater (Day 7 or 8) ...but this time, he was gone seemingly forever. Somewhere on this property, I believe, we still have a golf cart, which probably needs a battery charged or something but be that as it may, I knew if I walked down to check on him, I would have to walk back. I would have two choices. I could walk up the stairs at the side of the garage and go through the rose garden pathway. That is probably the easiest way. However, my concern for the length of time he was down there coupled with knowing he was working on electrical caused me to make the trip.

I walk into the garage, and he is back in the corner with his hands over his head working on electrical wiring. I saw red wiring, green wiring, black wiring and blue wiring. He was telling me that Don had messed everything up with the wiring, and he was trying to straighten it out. I saw bare wires without clips on the ends, but most were clipped. I stepped far enough away from him that should he light up, I wouldn't join him. I kid you not.

Anyway, I encouraged him to give it a break and asked if he would reconsider calling our electrician. He said "No, I just need to rest." So up the hill we go together ...stopping half way on the corner to rest and then trekking on up the hill to the house. He said, "Oh, they finally took those trees out. I was hoping they would." I believe he was talking about the apple trees, which seem to have come up on the short end of our watering system. I was happy to see trimmed bushes and blooming plants in the old rose garden. The rose garden is empty of roses now, but we still call it the rose garden. It has a Magnolia tree in it and other plants with flowers. There may be a rose bush left but I didn't see one from the driveway side. It also has palm trees growing now along the edge of the driveway. I suspect Husband wants to replace the area where the apple trees once stood with palm trees too.

This morning, he (Husband) got up an hour earlier than he normally gets up ...so he got up at 10 AM, walked over to the telephone and called our electrician. You know ...Clint Eastwood says, 'Make my day." Well, that made my day to know the saga of the cottage's hot water heater would soon be over.

A Technical Sorta Guy ...

My poor husband has so much trouble using his cell phone. He tried to call me yesterday while he was out and was unable to call. As I was typing this, I just realized I can probably set his phone up, so he can call home without difficulty. Anyway, he loves technology. If it were not for him, I would probably still be using an old fashioned dial phone. When car phones first came out, he had one installed in my 380 SL. You know, that little phone saved me one evening when I had a flat and was on my way home from an evening class. I called him, and he told me to drive it. I was trained never to drive on a flat, because it could ruin the rim. He said, "Drive it to the next exit with a service station, and I will met you there. I don't give a d**n about the rim on the car." Somewhere along the way, I found myself with a pager clipped to my hip and carrying a "heavy" cell phone around. I rebelled after a few years of wearing a pager and said, "If my staff have to call me when there is an emergency instead of taking care of it themselves, then I need to do a better job of training my personnel." A couple of government agency representatives didn't like that, but they had a hard time challenging my unwillingness to place my patients at risk. All of the above was replaced with a small cell phone a seemingly hundred years ago now ...and I seem to be stuck with this one. And you know ...since my technology man is struggling with technology these days, I have a feeling my equipment will become more and more outdated as the years go by. 

He doesn't give up easily ...as evidenced by his asking me to look at something this morning. He led the way and then pointed at the wall where my thermostat was yesterday. Last night after I went upstairs, he obviously had installed a new thermostat, and he was proud. He said, "If you are in North Carolina, you can control this thermostat from there with your smart phone." I just can't leave my country roots behind, obviously, as I said, "Well, I am not in Noth Carolina. I am here, and actually, I would much prefer controlling the thermostat in North Carolina from San Diego. However, I AM impressed. Wow!" Now THAT is what he wanted to hear. 

I once told him that I think what I found most attractive about him was the fact he is unpredictable. There have been times during our marriage that isn't so good, but for the most part, it goes a long way in preventing boredom and I get bored easily.~DrJ51