Earthquake, Money Boxes, Fresh Hell

Shortly after 8 o’clock Wednesday night, I heard what sounded like the girl downstairs having a fit … slammed her door to where the floor shook.

On the off chance she might not be off her meds, but instead what I'd heard/felt was an earthquake, I quickly logged onto Earthquakes Now.

Sure enough, a 3.1.

Twin 1 rolled in at 3:30 am yesterday. I once again had a senior moment, forgot she was here, later let out an audible gasp when she appeared from the bedroom.

In addition to these senior moments when I’m prone to forget, I’m just not accustomed to having someone in the unit with me.

Perhaps, I should tie a string around my finger or write a note to myself, as a reminder next time she’s here.

Though Twin 1 had liked the idea of money boxes after I’d described what they are/how they work, had requested one to thank someone for helping her out when she was ill, she had never actually seen one in action. So, I pulled up video of last year’s Christmas event, showed her boxes being opened, the crowd reaction.

I think I’ve started a trend, because after leaving a few hours later with the money box she’d asked me to make, she thought of two volunteers who'd worked with her a number of years in servicing the homeless. Thinking they'd get a kick out of a money box and wanting to gift them something in appreciation of their selfless work, she commissioned two more money boxes.

If this keeps up, I may end up in the business of making money boxes for birthdays/holidays.

While in the bedroom yesterday, I spotted movement out the corner of my eye through the window.

It was the landscapers doing something odd.

What fresh hell is this, I thought to myself.

First, they attacked the trees, now they’re attacking the grass.

Looking out the window this morning, I see the grass is completely gone, and they seem to be continuing along the walkway — digging up all the grass.

I guess management doesn’t like anything green because it has to be watered and will be replacing the grass with something else.

Tomorrow is the Christmas Party us residents host for ourselves, and I am exhausted. My energy tank feels low. Maybe from having been around the people twice already this week, maybe from awakening 3:00 am, maybe from shampooing the carpet yesterday.

Today I'll be doing nothing but pumping myself up to get through tomorrow — drinking coffee, watching Chinese Dramas, napping off/on.

Armageddon, Part 2

Not 10 minutes after posting yesterday about it possibly being the end of days, because I’d awaken to not knowing the cause of a power outage and the sound of sirens racing down the street, did the earth begin to move, glassware began to rattle.

It was another earthquake.

They are coming faster, closer together, but yesterday’s 3.5 did not last as long, did not cause near the same level of shaking, rattling, rolling, did not frighten me as much as last Thursday’s quake did, even though this one registered higher.

Later yesterday, I saw news on facebook, from friends that live in the area, that there had been another quake 2 hours after the earlier 3.5.

Yipes! Two in one day.

I actually did feel that second one, but took it as an aftershock, because it was so mild and so soon after the first quake.

They’re coming even faster than I could have imagined because, when I later checked online for the stats on the second quake, I learned "San Bernardino has had: (M1.5 or greater) 4 earthquakes in the past 24 hours; 17 earthquakes in the past 7 days; 52 earthquakes in the past 30 days".

GOOD LORD! WE’RE DOOMED!

Seems, even when unaware, we are living on quaking ground, still standing by the Grace of God, but for how long is anyone’s guess.

We are not the one’s causing world chaos, so why pick on us? The quakes should be happening in DC, under 1600 freaking Pennsylvania Avenue.

So anyway, power is on today, I'm hearing no sirens racing down the street, so today has thus far been okay.

In responding to Mitchell’s comment to yesterday’s post, I responded I was "taking with a grain of salt" that I’m getting signs of being appreciated. Some of you seemed to enjoy when I provide the history of old phrases … what The Misadventures of Widowhood calls "word and phase histories", so I looked this latest idiom up.

"The idiom likely originated from Pliny the Elder, who mentioned that a certain antidote was to be taken with a 'grain of salt', suggesting it should be consumed with a degree of skepticism or caution … It could also be related to the ancient belief that salt could counteract poison, implying that the information should be handled with caution".

As for Pliny the Elder, "Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 – 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder was a Roman author, naturalist, scientist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia (Natural History), a comprehensive thirty-seven-volume work covering a vast array of topics on human knowledge and the natural world, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field".

Class dismissed 🍎.

Shake, Rattle, Roll

At 9:35 this morning, as I was working on a project for the Baker, the building began to shake, the patio windows and glassware in the unit began to rattle, the couch began to roll.

I began holding onto the laptop for dear life, as the realization hit EARTHQUAKE!!!

I’ve experienced earthquakes plenty times before and, as the building actually moved (not just my building but reports are other buildings as well), this one scared me to where the blood in my body rushed to my head, leaving me even more lightheaded than I’ve normally been lately. So, it had to be much stronger than 3.0 reported.

On the other hand, looking at the earthquake map, the quake may have felt stronger because it looks like we were in the epicenter.

Considering it’s like being in the eye of the storm, we here at the complex have been lucky — buildings still standing, insofar as I know, and only one aftershock felt by me.

Having survived this morning’s quake, I’m not so sure I’m going to survive the Baker’s latest project.

It was just last week when I’d posted she’d asked me to do flyers for a "Labor Day party on September 5 with bingo" well in advance of September’s Labor Day.

For clarification I asked, "Is it bingo or is it a party?"

"Bingo and party, we just don't want to put party on the flyer because then we will have like 60 people coming".

Still not entirely clear, but I worked it out as "Labor Day Bingo", completed and delivered flyers.

So tell me why did I get a text message from the Baker yesterday asking me to do a flyer for Labor Day.

"Didn’t we already do Labor Day?" asked I.

"Yes", but change the date from the 5th to the 8th and label it "party".

WTF?

Who’s on first?

So, as it stands today — 32 days well in advance of September 1st Labor Day, the High Table is planning a "Labor Day Party" (no mention of bingo this time) on Friday, September 5.

I have a feeling that, with so many days for the Baker to rethink the plan, today might not be the end of Labor Day flyers.

Other than that, I did learn from the Baker that the Activity Director quit her job.

Unless someone in the office does the pick-up and delivery back to the complex, or unless and until a new Activity Director is hired, that may very well be the end, after all these years, of Pizza Tuesday — free whole boxed pizzas donated to the seniors.

As for why Activity Director quit …… it has something to do with a manager. But surprise …… not our manager, the one everyone seems to dislike, but her new manager at the agency through which Corporate has contracted Activity Director's services.

Activity Director reported to the seniors that she was "having a really hard time with the new boss, and she just could not take any more how that woman was treating her", so she resigned.

Having gone through the ringer my own self while in the working world, I get it, but I personally think that, though difficult to deal with crazy bosses, quitting is not the way through.

Drop, Cover, Hold On

That was the instructions on the emergency alert I received this morning shortly after 10 AM — "Earthquake Detected! Drop, Cover, Hold On. Protect Yourself."

Only I didn’t feel or hear a thing, but the earthquake site indicated 6.7 three miles from San Diego.

Two of my facebook friends, who live nearby, posted they’d felt it.

The Talker felt it as well, posting ……… "So I’m sitting at the casino on a winning streak. The machine starts shaking then the floor is shaking. Wow! What a win! An Earthquake".

Yeah, I thought just what you're thinking, that it was 10 AM in the morning.

I’m drinking coffee. The Talker is at the casino gambling already.

Talker practically lives at the casino. Spends more time there than in her own unit.

It’s a good thing she’s lucky and usually wins otherwise, with what looks like a gambling addiction, she’d have trouble paying the bills.

Other than an earthquake, not a lot to report as I’ve stayed pretty much inside my unit, not run into any residents since last Tuesday ……… with one creepy exception.

There’s a weird little man on the premises, whom I assume is a fairly new resident with issues.

It was a few months ago that he first came to my attention.

I was outside chatting with a group of residents when, from across the quad, we heard him shouting something and waving his arms at us.

We paid him no mind until he crossed the grassy knoll, approached us babbling something we couldn’t make out.

He was standing too close to me, so I left and returned to my unit.

I didn’t see him again until last Wednesday when I was heading to the Pain Cave.

I was walking towards the dumpster to deposit trash when I saw him appear from around the corner walkway. Something told me to drop the trash, get out of the semi-enclosed dumpster area, make it to the car post haste.

I did so and was at the door of the car when I heard him from inside the dumpster area say, "Where did you go?"

He went in there looking for me.

When he came out of the dumpster area, continued down the walkway, he looked over, saw me at the car door, began babbling something, but did not approach as I locked myself in the car.

Then, on Friday, returning from the Pain Cave and market, arms loaded with workout gear and groceries, I was halfway across the parking lot when I saw him coming towards me. He’d walked through the open side of where the cars drive through, eyes locked on me, coming fast, directly towards me.

If my arms had been free, I could have kept him at bay with one of my tools. Not having that option, him now almost in my face, I yelled "GET AWAY FROM ME!" and swung one of my bags at him.

He immediately walked away.

I should have dropped everything and followed to see where he lives, or at least taken a photo of him, so I can report him to management.

He’s probably not dangerous, just another resident with issues that management, in its desperation to fill one of many vacant units, allowed in; but I’m on guard now to get a photo of him next time, get him identified, find out what his issue is, have management talk to his social worker, caregiver or whoever he lives with, have them explain that he is to stay away from that Black lady he's been trying to communicate with.

Who Wants to Tell Her?

Popping into the market, after this morning’s workout, I ran into Next Door Neighbor.

We chatted for a bit about how we were going to survive, where we were going to live, when Elon takes away social security.

I said I’d probably be living in my car.

She said it would probably be the same for her.

We were both laughing, making jokes, but the humor was only to keep from crying …… if you know what I mean.

We moved on to the topic of the three earthquakes we’d experienced, her saying that, like myself, she’d been in bed the night the third earthquake hit.

Unlike me, who stayed in bed, she said she gotten up, run into the bathroom, sat in the tub until she felt it was safe.

I never left the comfort of my bed. Of course, I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I browsed TikTok until I felt sleepy again …… three or more hours later.

Heading back to the complex, I pondered the idea of the bathtub being a safe place to seek shelter in an earthquake.

Going over it in my head, it seemed to me that should the building come down, the floor give away, I’d have the mattress at my back, nice soft pillows and quilts surrounding me; whereas, if the floor gave away and the tub fell, broke into pieces, the sharp edges of the tub's broken bits and pieces could be injurious.

Arriving back at the complex, I posed the question to Google …… "Is getting in the bathtub during an earthquake better than staying in bed?"

Google answered …… "No, generally staying in bed and covering your head with a pillow is considered safer than getting into the bathtub during an earthquake; the primary reason being that the bathtub offers little added protection from falling debris while getting out of bed could expose you to further danger during the shaking …… If you are in bed when an earthquake hits, stay there, lie face down, and cover your head and neck with a pillow".

Who wants to tell Next Door Neighbor?

Not me.

Now disturbed by thoughts of Elon still in my head, I decided to do something about it.

I had cotton fabric, freezer paper, ironed the two together to make paper I could run through the printer.

I found an image I could work with, printed the image onto the fabric side, pulled away the freezer paper.

Now having an image on fabric, I cut around the image, fit cotton fabric as a backing, pulled out my sewing machine and VOILÀ …… a voodoo doll.

Stuffed and edges completely sewn together, pins in his vacuous eyes, a pin straight through his cold dead heart, and he was ready to join his sidekick.

I feel better now.

Ominous

That’s the word for how this week has started out ……… Ominous.

Yesterday was shake, rattle, roll with not one, not two, but three earthquakes.

Ominous.

Ain't no sunshine today. Outside is cold, dark, gloomy.

Ominous.

It’s only Tuesday, and I’m waiting for the other shoe to fall.

Excessive Heat, Earthquake and More

Not only did we have a heat advisory for all of last week, today we had Flash Flood Warnings along with yet another earthquake and a planned power outage scheduled for later this evening.

Online at the time of the quake, feeling the worktable shake rattle roll at 10:34 a.m., I logged onto earthquake information, learned the actual 3.5 quake happened a half hour earlier — 10:05 AM, 3.7 miles away in Ontario. What I felt was a strong aftershock.

I have been thinking about, worried for those astronauts lost in space. However, now I’m thinking that, what with excessive heat, earthquakes, flashfloods, this may be the end of planet earth and those two astronauts will find themselves, with no planet to return to, in the position of being Adam and Eve 2.0.

Earlier in the week I’d been invited by granddaughter and grandson-in-law to spend time with them, and the toddlers, apple picking on a farm in Oak Glen.

I’d have loved to spend time with the great grandbabies, but not out in the hot sun, so I passed.

Turned out I’d made a wise choice as apples were picked, but not for long. The heat was overbearing, so it was decided a visit to great granny was the more comfortable fun day out.

Somebody really loved playing with my exercise ball.

The sound she makes when laughing is hilarious. Sounds like a little cricket.

Somebody else preferred listening to classical music on his little player.

All in all, a very nice visit — not too long, not too short, an opportunity to kiss all over the grands.

Next up in the planned power outage, supposedly 1 am to 9 am. Going to be rough with no A/C cooling the bedroom tonight, but hopefully power is restored before the excessive heat fires up tomorrow.

One Job, Four Years to Get 'Er Done

The extensive heat mellowed a little today. Instead of over 100°, we stabilized around 95°. However, the tradeoff for less heat was another earthquake.

By the time the shake rattle roll reached us, it was so mild that, but for the fact the dishes began rattling, I’d have not even noticed.

Earlier today, headed for the morning workout, I ran into the next-door neighbor of Not Dead Nancy.

Having previously heard from others that Nancy was back from months in the hospital, but not seeing her myself, I sought to verify Nancy’s status by asking her neighbor, "Did Nancy ever come back?"

"I don’t even know if she’s there or not", said she; and went on to say "They brought her back, and then they took her back. Her daughter was supposed to come help her other daughter take care of her and she didn’t. She never came. And her daughter, she’s a nurse, said I can’t be here all day. She wanted for me to come do it, but I can’t do it. So, I don’t know if she’s there".

That’s sad that one of Nancy’s daughters wants no part of caring for her ailing mother. The other daughter seems to care but, with being employed as a nurse, can’t be a fulltime caregiver for her mom.

I guess Nancy can’t afford to contract a caregiver, and as to why the nurse daughter doesn’t just move Nancy in with her and her family, who knows. But it’s pretty nervy to ask a neighbor to take responsibility for their mother’s care. So, I’m guessing Nancy’s next-door neighbor doesn’t know if Nancy is in there or not because she’s no longer checking for fear of having the job of caregiver dumped on her.

I don’t know what exactly is ailing Nancy, but I’m sorry she is having such a hard time of it, not going gently into that good night, but I can’t blame her next-door neighbor for not wanting to get involved. I wouldn’t want that responsibility for someone I’m not related to either.

In other news, I couldn’t get excited about the Olympics this time around and, seeing reports of bad food for the Olympians, so bad that they’re flying in their own chefs; bad living quarters, cheating scandals, Olympians and coaches and broadcasters leaving and/or being asked to leave, a disappointing Opening Ceremony, including introducing the South Korean team as North Korea, events cancelled for one reason or another, so on and so forth, it seems I made the right choice in not getting excited.

Paris had one job .... prepare and four years to do it but, from what I gather, it’s a cluster you know what.

I expect, when all is said and done, heads will roll.

Deja Vu

This time it really was an earthquake.

While sitting on the couch this afternoon, I felt the couch jump.

That wasn’t me … That really was an earthquake this time, I said to myself.

After checking my phone for the time (1:49 pm) I logged onto the Earthquake Tracker and learned it was a 4.1 9km (5.59234 miles) SW of Corona 1:49 pm.

It felt so mild that I doubt many were aware we’d had yet another quake.

Earlier in the day, as I headed out for this morning’s workout, I saw the office had posted this month’s calendar to our doors.

Walking Club is twice this month — on the 7th and 21st, but the time has been changed from 15 minutes to 30 (8:45/9:15 instead of 8:45/9:00).

Also on the calendar is "Mothers Day Brunch", Friday, May 10, 12pm-2pm.

Listed on the 14th is another Mother’s Day event ("Social: Mother’s Day Celebration, 11am – 12:15pm").

Why two Mother’s Day events?

Your guess is as good as mine, but I think residents will respond, dress up, show up.

I won’t know for sure because I don’t plan on attending either event. Not just because my food choices are so limited that I’ll not be able to eat anything they serve, but because since bingo shut down and I’m no longer burdened with being sociable/participating, I’m really enjoying retreating into myself, not participating in anything going on around here ……… other than the Walking Club.

And to tell you the truth, I was hoping the Walking Club was over, wouldn’t be listed on this month’s calendar.

I think Activity Director is enjoying Walking Club, whether or not anyone shows up or not and she has to walk alone, because she’s somewhat training for a 5K.

I don’t recall how she learned 5Ks are my thing, but she’s been asking me a lot of questions about them, trying to work herself up to registering for one.

Inasmuch as Walking Club is still on the calendar, barring unforeseen circumstances, I plan to participate, but not push myself as I did last walk.

Last few days has been caregivers going in/out of Next-Door Neighbor’s unit so often I thought perhaps they are live ins, especially since I saw them doing her laundry day before yesterday.

However, when I returned from this morning’s workout, the Monthly Calendar was still posted to her door and the blinds appeared shut tight again.

Oh No! Is this going to be Déjà vu all over again, thought I.

The afternoon wore on, the calendar remained posted until fortunately, just as I was finishing up this post, a little after 5pm, I heard her door open and now see the calendar has been taken inside.

I've not seen the caregivers today, so perhaps NDN is up and about on her own.

I could call and check on her, but I don't want to get too involved, get myself sucked into anything.

Tomorrow is moving day for Red Light, but I don’t think we’ve seen or heard the last of her. Turns out her new apartment is only 39 minutes 23 miles from here.

She doesn’t drive, but she’s so into what goes on here that she’ll find a way to keep her fingers in the pie.

But for the fact the Mother's Day Brunch indicates "residents only", I wouldn't have been surprised to hear Red Light showed up.

Fool Me Once

I’m reticent to say the storms have passed because, after a dry yesterday, it rained during the night.

Today was all blue skies and a bit of sun, but there's snow on the mountains.

I spied a couple cars coming down from there with snow falling off the roof.

I'm actually hoping some of that snow makes it down like last year and we get a snow day.

Expecting it to be so, I some time ago invested in insulated boots.

She ready.

The houses on the hill are still standing, but it does look like there's some erosion going on.

If I were they, I'd be worried.

In case you heard about today's earthquake, thankfully it didn't reach this far. It was a 4.6 centered 90 miles away in Malibu — Barbie land, one the areas already experiencing devastation due to the storms.

A 4.6, after we just had that 4.1, would have done some damage to us for sure.

Just in case today’s calm weather was fooling me — calm before the next storm, I wore myself out after this morning’s workout — multitasking like nobody’s business.

After replenishing a few things at the market, I didn’t even take time to change out of workout clothes, as I first dropped off two of four bags upstairs, popped into the laundry room and got a load started on my way to check mail, circled around to the car to bring the other two bags upstairs, started sushi rice cooking and, in preparation for steam cleaning the bathroom, pulled the steamer from the hall closet, loaded it with water and, while the water was getting hot, put the groceries away, finished cooking the sushi rice and, in-between going back and forth to the laundry room, made sushi, steam cleaned the bathroom, and rearranged the hall closet.

I kinda sorta had to redo the closet because, in order to get to the steamer, I had to pull everything out.

I was a real whirling dervish.

Before I ran out of energy for the day and put the steamer away, I steam cleaned the kitchen floor.

Goal for tomorrow is to make albondigas soup, shampoo the carpet, then crash.

No updates on Red Light’s situation.

I did see her for a hot second, when I was out on the patio, pulling the carpet cleaner out of storage, but I was too busy to get into a discussion with her.

She looked woebegone, so I did ask if her situation had been resolved. She said "no". I responded with an "Oh" as I shook my head sympathetically and rushed back to my cleaning duties.

Speaking of fooling me once … Randy Rainbow has a new book coming out.

I’m still sore about paying extra for an autographed copy of his first book, only to receive what is obviously his having signed a page before the book went to print, and that page being copied and included in the book as a "signed copy".

So, sorry Randy. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice won’t be happening.

Seismic Activity

Feeling slight rumblings and swaying of the building yesterday and this morning, I thought perhaps I was imagining it.

That is until, returning from this morning’s workout, I ran into the resident who occupies the unit beneath Next Door Neighbor and asked if she’d been feeling seismic activity.

She had, so next I logged onto the earthquake tracker.

"San Bernardino has had (M1.5 or greater) 2 earthquakes in the past 24 hours; 9 earthquakes in the past 7 days; 41 earthquakes in the past 30 days; 507 earthquakes in the past 365 days".

Who knew.

So long as the rumblings and sways are limited to the earth letting off steam at 1.5, I think we’re good.

I also asked that same neighbor if she’d yet met our new neighbor (TinTin).

She had not but said, that because her unit is directly across from TinTin’s, she has been privy to who goes in/out and they all "Look rough".

Feeling the same vibes/red flags as I, she's not planning on introducing herself, said she's instead told herself, "I’ll just stay away from whatever that is".

I don’t always lock my door when I head down for a quick drop off to the dumpster, but now I will.

No news as to if and when the Community Room reopens. Perhaps Complex Manager is waiting to make certain the painted over crack in the ceiling is going to hold.

With the continuous rumblings and swaying, maybe I'll get lucky and it will all comes tumbling down, closing the room for months.

Checking sporadically on the nest in the naked tree, I’m beginning to think it’s an old abandoned nest, perhaps from when the tree was covered in leaves. Because, after all, why build out in the open like that.

I also, a few days ago, ran into the little guy that moved into the bad energy unit — upstairs, across the quad, over Red Light. He appears to be thriving.

He was carrying a rather large TV from his car to his unit when our paths crossed.

Strong little guy. Maybe I should name him Mighty Mouse.

"Getting ready for the big game?" asked I.

"No. My TV broke, had a crack in the screen. I had to buy a new one because they said I didn’t purchase a warranty".

Whaaaat?!!!

"Where’d you buy the first one from?"

He named a well-known retailer that shall remain nameless here on the blog, because I don’t want to get sued.

I purchased a standing mixer from that retailer, which failed after one use. I’d not purchased a warranty and had no problem returning, getting money back. So why he couldn’t return a TV with a broken screen without a warranty was odd.

Once bitten, twice shy, so no longer trusting this retailer, I purchased a mixer from a different source. I also later learned some of what is sold by that retailer is actually from a manufacturer that has been accused of defrauding the public, and probably the retailer, by pawning off rebuilt as new.

So, though Mighty Mouse appears to be physically thriving in that unit, he seems to be losing some of his marbles, because after being denied recompense on the first TV, when I asked from where he’d purchased the new TV, he named that same retailer, but said "This time I bought a warranty".

Good luck with getting them to honor that warranty if anything goes wrong.

I Got Nothing

Nother other than having spent the entire weekend indoors, catching up on recorded TV programs, working on that never ending needlepoint project, and watching my new superpower wane as it didn’t bring in any lottery winnings.

Heading to this morning’s workout, I saw our Outside Neighbor was no longer occupying space on the sidewalk. She’s moved on.

Sneaking a peek into the Community Room after this morning’s workout, I saw all the furniture had been moved to the far side of the room but, other than that, the room looked sparkling clean, no crack in the ceiling, no sign of earthquake damage elsewhere in the room.

However, there was the strong smell of paint.

From that, one can assume last week’s earthquake caused the previous earthquake crack in the ceiling to reopen, and management has once again painted over it.

I hope that doesn’t mean the room will reopen in time for the next scheduled bingo, Friday, February 9, because that’s too soon for me to get out of the responsibility by just fading away, being forgotten.

I’ll probably have to put on my big girl panties and just say count me out.

Be Careful What You Wish For, Part 2

I yearned for more time, and the cable box was mysteriously turned off, resulting in no TV for an entire day.

A few days ago, I was telling Trainer how I sometimes wish the Community Manager would tell us we can no longer have bingo, so I can get out of the responsibility of having to show up to do the photos and manage the residents’ webpage.

I went so far as to tell Trainer, I know residents will be upset should that happen, I’d be completely disingenuous on the surface — pretend to be upset as well but rejoicing inside.

Red Light called last night to say Manager has deemed the Community Room "unsafe due to earthquake damage".

The 3.4 quake we had in 2021 left a long crack in the ceiling, which I think was just painted over. So, having not seen what damage this 4.4 caused, I can only assume the crack has widened or parts of the ceiling have come down.

At any rate, the room has been declared unsafe, today's bingo cancelled for now and for who knows how long in the future.

I am not a good liar, so it was difficult to keep the joy out of my voice when commiserating with Red Light.

She’s hoping management doesn’t drag their heels on getting repairs made, wants the room up and running again soon.

I’m hoping the opposite — drag those heels long enough for residents to forget about me, not be surprised if I don’t return.

I’m not so vain as to think my wishful thinking brought about the cable box snafu and an earthquake, but you have to admit it is odd.

Just in case my thoughts are in some kind of 4th dimensional pocket where thoughts become reality, I’d better focus on being the big winner on the $1.64 million Powerball or $285 million Mega or $18 million SuperLotto or all three.

I’m not greedy, I’ll share.

And now this ……

Nesting and Holy Heck

The cable technician arrived at 11:16 this morning.

"What seems to be the problem?", asked he.

I picked up the remote, turned the TV on, showed him how the cable box was not connecting to its source.

I then handed him the remote and, as soon as it touched his hand, the TV came on.

"What did you just do?"

"Turned the box on. It was off".

So that was embarrassing.

As to how it got turned off in the first place is a mystery. Maybe I hit a wrong button when turning the TV off the previous night.

He showed me how to tell when the box is off, how to turn it back on, asked if I wanted him to show me anything else; at which time I thought about asking him to show me how to get to Netflix on the TV, so I won’t have to watch on the phone, but thought I’d better leave well enough alone. Stick to the basics and not confuse myself further.

There’s just too much technology.

Heading out later to pick up mail, I found the front drive full of rescue vehicles — not one, but two fire trucks and an ambulance.

The ambulance was loading up the gurney, but no one was on it.

Turned out, they were here because a resident had fallen in the office area.

Two fire trucks AND an ambulance seemed overkill for a fall, and proved to be so because, as I approached the mail center, the gentleman who’d fallen was being escorted back to his unit by Head Maintenance Guy.

He looked fine and, in fact, told HMG that he could make it to his unit on his own from there.

Maybe he was embarrassed by all the hoopla.

While chatting with others there to pick up mail, my attention was drawn to a naked tree.

I've never seen it like this before. It's lost all its leaves overnight, but looks quite beautiful this way.

One of the guys pointed out a bird building a nest on a bare branch.

The bird flew away before I could capture a photo of it tending the nest, so I’ll be checking back from time to time to see how the nest goes, if/when any babies appear.

Seeing flyovers around my patio lately, I figured it was nearing that time again when I’d have to chase birds away from nesting in the eves over the patio door.

There was all that drama last year, when I had to keep chasing birds off, telling them not to build and that one couple began building and settling in when I wasn’t looking, then got upset when I blocked off the entrance.

Having since purchased holographic scare tape, I’m ready for them this year.

So, that was my day — the TV got fixed, I finished another photo book for the family ...

Watch Me Grow No. 4

.... and, when I settled in to watch TV a little while ago, all hell broke lose.

The couch began shaking up/down, dishes and other items began rattling and the entire building felt like it was being lifted off the ground, then dropped.

It was the mother of all earthquakes we’ve had to date — a 4.4 @ 7:43 pm centered a mile away in Fontana.

Nothing broke, but one more like this and the building is coming down.

Now I know why it was, just last week, I began rethinking what to save in case of emergency. I'd decided to grab important papers, the cellphone, as many photo books as possible and my makeup bag, of course. Figured anything else was unimportant, could be purchased again.

Besides, I keep wanting to downsize, go minimalist living. I'd like it not to happen by way of a disaster, but what will be is what will be.

I can feel something big is coming. In fact, I'm hearing a rumbling, and small shakes, as I'm typing this. Aftershocks?

Shake, Rattle, Roll

You haven’t lived until you’ve been awakened at 3:30 in the morning by an earthquake.

I was deep into rem sleep when all of a sudden I was jolted awake by a loud sound, followed by what felt like the building being lifted off the ground and then dropped.

Living my whole life in California, never travelling elsewhere — except for vacationing once in Hawaii, I instantly knew it was an earthquake, grabbed the phone, checked news and learned it was a 3.4 centered two cities over.

The strongest I’ve experienced was the 6.7 Northridge Quake, back in ’94. That one shook, rattled, rolled for an extended period and had aftershocks that equated to a 3.4.

So, a 3.4 is normally child’s play, one might not even notice it. What made this one noticeable is that, instead of a mild shake, rattle, roll, it was one quick loud sound then THUD! The bed bounced.

No problem falling back asleep and, once up and at it three hours later, I found nothing disturbed.

Our building, being along the fault line, wasn't built on rollers. But thus far, the only earthquake damage I’ve observed — in my ten years of living here, is a crack along the ceiling of the Community Room.

I’ll take our earthquakes over a tornado, so it’s all good.

Today is my day off. I’ve no place I must be, nothing I must do. So, though I’ll be hibernating, I won’t be idle as there’s a situation in the bedroom closet — when I want to wear a certain item, I can’t find it, its gone missing. 

Twice in the last week, it's been an item I'd worn just a day or so before and now I can't find it.

It’s either that the closet is an entry way into Nardia, some of my items are falling into that dimension OR there’s too much of the same or similar item on the rod, making it difficult to find what I’m looking for.

I need to make some decisions about items I can’t let go of, items I rarely wear, items that I’ve never worn — still have the tags on, and items I favor for frequent wear.