Peninsula Living, Part 2

SUMMARY: But don’t you have to drive a while to GET someplace? Lol

Answering this friend's question on Facebook Sept 11, 2023

Depends on what you mean by "someplace". Within 5 minutes I have Costco, Home Depot, Safeway (and 2 or 3 other local/organic/nonchain groceries), Walgreens, Rite Aid, YMCA, local medical center, hiking opportunities, Dairy Queen, Burger King, McDonald's, Papa Murphy, Applebees, Taco Bell (plus nonchain restaurants and cafes)... and Walmart if you're inclined. 15 minutes to Toyota dealer if I want them to do things on my car, Wendy's... trying to identify local places by familiar names.

I *do* miss: Target, Macy's, Trader Joe's, Penney's (yes there is one up here!), Panera, major movie theaters, ... but all and many more are in Silverdale usually <60 minutes from here, so we just make it a day (or morning or afternoon) and go enjoy ourselves and do the shopping we need.

The biggest issue: Closest 24 hour emergency vet is also in Silverdale.

Most of my doctors are in Port Townsend (by choice--that's where I started up here and I like the facility and the docs etc) which is 35-45 minutes, but I'm so used to driving it that it doesn't bother me at all, AND... no traffic! The only traffic lights are at the onramp to 101 by my house and maybe one in Port Townsend--and within town they use roundabouts.

But NO TRAFFIC getting to all these places is such an amazing benefit--

I mean, it could take me an hour to get home from work in San Jose because freeways were jammed (15-20 minutes on a weekend). So driving freely through quiet mostly wooded areas for 40-60 minutes is nothing.

Not everyone else up here thinks that way. They just shop at walmart and online.

Yes, then I do have to consider gas prices. [shrug] I'm far from wealthy, but it's not like I make those drives every week.

I do avoid going to events in Seattle--it looks close, but it's either a 2-plus-hour drive or a 2-hour trip with less driving but waiting for and riding a ferry, less gas, plus ferry ticket. Ferries are pretty reliable.

You can drive around locally and find eggs and fruits and veggies and flowers and more at people's homes or at local small farms etc. And often it's just a small booth with the product and a sign stating the price and a place for you to drop your payment. Pretty cool. Of course, as population grows and more thieves arrive, that might go away.

Any more-specific questions? 😉

• My previous post about ferries: https://dogblog.finchester.org/2023/04/peninsula-living.html 

Photos from various  visits  to Silverdale (I have selected a whole bunch more, but from blogger into photos on my iPad, there's no way I can find the ones that I want. So I'll have to come back later on my Mac and figure it out.) ...(OK, I give up, the captioning and things don't even work right on my iPad. Here's what I've got so far kinda.)

This is a couch I've been considering for months. Then I bought that tie-dye thing. Oh well.

Sister and husband buying rugs at Macy's in Silverdale.

COVID-19 Vaccinations Part 1

SUMMARY: Feb 22: I'm a one-fer! And in 3 weeks, hope to be a two-fer!

[ELLEN: ADD LINK TO PART 2 WHEN THAT's DONE]

From notes on February 8:

COVID vaccination: I have an appointment for the 22nd of February, about half an hour from home.  Getting any appointment was a challenge! Plenty of folks on Facebook talking about struggles to find an open appointment, or traveling an hour or two to get one. Kaiser members were supposed to go through Kaiser and other sites were turning Kaiser folks away, and Kaiser was still limiting to over 75, so I was stuck.

Then, on Feb. 8, Santa Clara County stepped up and offered vax to anyone who lives or works in the county (and who meets the other qualifications due to limited vaccine availability, such as over 65 or being an essential care worker). 

So, on February 8, I tried:

• Fairgrounds, which is close to me, had no appointments available.
• Everything else was farther away or had no appointments. 
• So I looked at what I figured was the farthest-away option for most Santa Clara County people (Valley Health Center in Gilroy), and Lo! they had tons of appointments starting on the 11th!  

But it wasn't quite that simple:
I went thru the sign-up process, including picking one of their listed times on the 11th, Yayyy! But it said sorry it can’t schedule it. So I went back, and then it listed times only from the 16th! And those were almost all taken already! So I picked one and raced thru the options and--- it said it couldn’t schedule it. So back to the beginning and all of those dates had vanished, too, so I went to the last date available for scheduling, and finally it went thru. So not until the 22nd!  They must have just opened up dates for that location and word got out fast and I wasn’t fast enough to get something soon, but at least fast enough to get something.  

From notes on Feb 22:
I couldn’t get into the places closest to me, so I signed up to go way down to Gilroy for my first dose (a bit more than a half-hour drive). 

[ignore numbers by photos]

9

They were ready for huge long lines. I apparently picked the right date and time.
A couple waiting in the fairly short line inside said that they had driven by 
a few days earlier and the line went all the way around the parking lot.

1

They labeled everything very well. It was calming in the face of COVID-19.

2

The pre-existing round bench, one of many places we could sit to fill out our forms,
had a 6-foot-distance reminder sticker.
In fact, everything did. Lots of the usual floor stickers for the lines.

3

I'm inside and waiting in line #4 of 5 (all of which were short).
1) Get check-in forms and fill them out.
2) Usual test for fever and responding to questions about health.
3) Quick check of your paperwork and ID and appointment confirmation.
4) Full check-in with your medical ID and everything goes into the system.
5) Get poked with a sharp pointy thing that didn't hurt worth mentioning.

4

Reading material about the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines while standing in line. Convenient.
And note the usual floor sticker.

5

Keep your distance! In four languages!
All are common enough here that it's well worth accommodating them.
(English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese.)

6

Line #4, almost to the front.
I took no more detailed photos because I didn't want to 
post recognizable people online or have to edit them out.

All the stations had large acrylic dividers between them and us.
Between those everywhere now, and masks, and me being deaf in one ear--
it's often hard to hear clearly.

7

After my full check-in, they whisked me to a station to get my shot.
Right past a huge line of people waiting for their vax, 
but they all needed the Moderna and I had Pfizer.

I don't know how those decisions were made;
likely by their usual service provider due to availability?
After the shot, lines and signs directed me to the waiting area.

8

They keep you for 15 minutes, socially distanced from a bunch of others,
to ensure that you don't suddenly keel over, explode, or burst into flames.
They slapped a sticker on each person for what time the 15 minutes was up.
I liked that.

10

After the shot, on my way home, I made a quick stop at the Gilroy Outlet Center. 
In normal times, a bustling place.
In these times, not many cars or people, quite a few empty shops.

11

Signs everywhere:
On walkways, on stores' windows or doors, inside the shops, on benches, restrooms...
I plan on posting a good sampling of those at some point.
Haha. You know my track record for this.

12

 

A mobile COVID-testing station. "We accept insurance."
My medical HMO (Kaiser) did this for free onsite--with a pretty long line for drive-through tests.
I had one back in November and came out clear.

13

And it was all worthwhile, because I got this button!! Yay!

NOW I just wait 3 weeks more or less exactly for the 2nd shot; they already set me up for that down here in Gilroy again. So nice not to worry about it!

P.S. I had virtually no symptoms from the first shot. Tiny soreness in my arm at the vax site, but only if I thought about it and touched it. Yayyyy!

P.P.S. (Noted on March 24) I haven't talked about my concerns about vaccines that were developed so quickly without the possibility of long-term testing. All that are approved are through an emergency OK after whatever testing the CDC required for emergencies.  So: NONE ARE OFFICIALLY APPROVED yet.  But I accepted that this IS an emergency situation, after all, and we need to put a clamp on the virus spreading because it's already mutated too much into nastier versions because it has had so many willing hosts (won't wear masks, won't socially distance--you know the lot).  

Nearly Empty Huge Mall Wrapped In COVID Shelter In Place Restrictions

SUMMARY: Wordless Wednesday -- unedited from my phone

P.S. Could've at least straightened the photos. But I didn't. They have that slightly unbalanced feel that life in general has at the moment.

>>  Visit the Wordless Wednesday site; lots of blogs. << >>  Visit Cee's Photo Challenge blog; lots of blogs. <<

On Having A Completely Free Day In Which To Finish Off Some Projects...

SUMMARY: ... in which, that doesn't happen.

Best laid plans and all that. Plus the cure for everything.

Had great ideas for things to do today that I've been waiting for time in which to do them. Up before sunrise. (7ish.) No clouds to make a pretty sunrise, so that was that, BUT: Something interesting to look at in the yard: First frost I've noticed this year. So I grabbed my iphone and my DSLR and headed into the yard (in my bathrobe, I might add; all the good photographers do it). Then, after some time out there freezing my fingers and other parts,  quite a bit of photo reviewing and labeling and editing time ensued.

Posted on Facebook today around 9:30:

Frosty plants taken by DSLR: zoom in on this photo and you can see the square ice crystals. 

(I compared the phone and DSLR shots, noted that it was just barely below freezing point, showed my floppy dog door frozen in flopped position, and presented happy dogs doing tandem tunnels: This is just a screenshot of the Facebook Album thumbnails).

 The DSLR frost one:

And then... things happened. Or didn't. Blah blah blah for hours until I posted on Facebook around 2:00:

So this is midday
And what have I done
Another hour over
And my chores not begun
And so this is crazy
I meant to be done
But I'm still on Facebook
Not feeling very young
A very Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without too much time spent frivolously.

Posted about 2 hours after that:

I decided I had spent enough time today on Facebook, chats, photo editing, dog trick training, and other oddities; time to get back to the things I’ve been wanting to do for a long time and haven’t because they take time and effort. I’ve made great progress the last few days. But… I kind of need lunch. 

I grabbed the radishes from my refrigerator where they’ve been sitting since Christmas Day. I stepped over to the sink to rinse them, and there’s a big pool of water drizzling out from under my kitchen cabinet. I threw some rags on it, grabbed a knife, and started to trim my radishes and discovered that they’re...frozen!? I have not changed anything in my refrigerator settings. I can see how I’m really going to be spending my time today.

So, I had lunch. I mopped up the water from the floor and under the sink: Not much there at all, and now I know exactly where it's coming from AND it's not dire. While I was at it--heck, I had wet rags and was on my knees already-- I did some general floor mud removal.

When I stood up, I noticed that the sky was spattered with clouds that looked like they could make a lovely sunset, and the horizon wasn't covered with thick grey clouds. Wow! So--

Posted around 5:30 today:

Today I actually noticed a pattern of clouds in the sky before sunset (not much before sunset), grabbed my camera, and drove a couple of minutes to the nearest place where I might get a decent urban sunset shot. So: I’m not technically in a parking lot. Scroll left and right to see the whole scene. 

(If you don’t already know, if you’re using an iPhone, and maybe others, if you hold it up in front of you and move your head as you move the phone, it’s like you’re looking through your own camera at the scene.) 

(I don't know how this works on my blog site. We'll find out, I guess.
OK, I see that it simply posts as a panorama, which means that it's distorted: The path is not U-shaped--I'm standing on one spot on a straight path and turning in a half circle to take the shot.)

So, then, because I hadn't accomplished nearly what I wanted and because maybe the fridge is broken after 25ish years of service, I applied the Solution To Everything: I went shopping!

Posted on FB before even leaving the Target parking lot:

You might *think* that because winter began less than a week ago you'd find stores stocked up on mittens, scarves, anoraks, and the like. But, no. This is California. You won't see any more of *that* sort of stuff until July. Christmas is over. So: Suddenly, now, if you want to drive over to Yosemite to see the snow, guess what you'll be wearing?!

So, do I post my entire life on Facebook? Not really. At least, not usually. Today has just been scattershot. Maybe I'll try to do other stuff for the rest of the evening. In the whole hour before bedtime. Like, hmm, eat dinner???

We Need To Get Out More

SUMMARY: Limited dog activities equals limited interesting photos

There's a new chat channel at work for sharing dog photos, with a different theme daily. I often think, oh, yeah, I have a photo of Tika or Boost or Remington or... doing that! And then I think, jeez, I never do anything with Chip and Zorro. (Which makes the challenges of taking them places worse and worse...)

So last night I took them to the pet store. Early success--Chip jumped right into the car (not the crate; the center of the car through the door, which he wouldn't do even there last weekend when I tried). So that's progress again. No idea why sometimes he decides that getting into the car is evil.  Actually--after last night--maybe I do: Too many scary experiences? Such a worry-wart.

I took one dog at a time into the store. Chip looked a wee concerned about visiting soil and trees in the parking lot, but moved along pulling hard at the leash.  Trotted through the automatic doors looking a little worried still, sniffed at the huge pallet of dog food just inside, and then, when my back was turned (I might have pulled the leash and said, come on), he slipped a little maybe? and there he was in that "I don't know how to stand up on this scary slippery floor and I'm too scared to lie down" pose. Oh, right, I forgot the whole incident at the guest house over 4th of July. I got him up, he took a few ugly muscles-locked steps, tail between his legs, and then froze. I finally got him another 20 feet in, where he dove for the the cashier's mat behind the cash register. So I said, "let's go outside," turned and headed for the exit, and he trotted quickly and without incident the whole way across the floor, tail low but not between his legs. 

Outside, I walked him down the sidewalk a little way, then back into the store. He was fine until he got to the exact spot where he went halfway down the first time, stopped short, started to skirt it, then went back into the "I don't know how to stand up on this scary slippery floor" mode. So I took him back to the car.

Next up: Zorro. Overstimulated just being out of the car as I walked calmly thru the parking lot. I had a pocket full of Zuke's treats (which Chip had had no interest in from the beginning = fear stress = would *you* eat if you were scared?). Zorro actually turned and looked at me when I said his name, so we practiced a couple of sits, then letting him sniff around, then more name-call and response, and then, finally, a Down. (Rewards for each success! Yay!) Across the parking lot and into the store. He's whine-yipping the whole time... not loudly, not constantly, but still overexcited. We walked up and down a couple of aisles, letting him sniff almost as much as he wanted to. When we passed aisles with dogs, he looked and whined but no horrid reactivity; good boy.  (He even Sat when the clerk told him to for a treat!) So I took him back out while we were still successful.

Chip was in his crate, standing, tail between his legs, when I opened the door. Traumatized by being left in the car? Left alone in the car?  No wonder he wants to stay home.

Such a challenge.  I felt so on edge with both of them that I didn't dare take the time for any kind of photo.

We need to get out more.  I will try.

The Out Of Box Experience

SUMMARY: Might not be up to Steve Jobs' standards, but works for these customers.

Apparently Zorro got loose on Chewy.com again with my credit card. This arrived today.

Whut iz, Human Mom? Iz smells... of interestings.

Oooh, whut in here iz?

Eyes get suddenly very very big

Is puts noze way ins for better of smellings is!

Back offs, Zorro Poopyhead, iz me is founded first!

Uh-oh, did you catch this little jealousy teeth display in that last one?

Zorro inhales deeeeeeply

Wez is founded things of not belonging for Human Moms! We iz takings now.

Back on the Back Subject

SUMMARY: Yes, subjecting myself to this subject again.

If you've heard it all before, you may move along, nothing to see here.

My Life With Crapback is so prevalent  in my thoughts because it's so prevalent in my life.   Feels sometimes like I'm in limbo, as I seem to have improved as much as I'm going  to and my body is up one day, a little down the next, up one week, a little down the next, not getting much of anywhere any more.  Still, I have made a long, long journey upward from two years past!

Instead of having to go only to movie theaters where a friend can pick me up at  home and drop me off a few feet from the theater entry (and there aren't that many theaters like that here) so that I could hobble miserably through the entry and to a seat, I can now, as in the old days, park at the far side of the parking lot and cruise on over on my own.  But, in the old days, I could sit there carefree.  In the in between days, I could barely sit there if dosed up on painkillers and carrying a cushion or two to provide expert support here or there. Nowadays, carefree sitting just ain't gonna happen: I am either placing my hands under my hips or thighs and pushing up, or leaning elbows on both armrests and pushing up, to keep the weight off the spine, and adjusting frequently.  This, of course, is hard on my shoulders.

STILL -- I can walk into a movie theater! Across the parking lot! And sit and watch a movie more or less normally, munching on popcorn. As I did yesterday morning.

My paper-sorting days have been few and far between in the last 3 years or so (you know, taxes, bills, records of all kinds, interesting personal keepsakes, etc.) because it's hard to do that while lying or even merely reclining.  For over a year, I don't think I did any of it.  Now I am trying to catch up on those years.  In the old days, I'd just sit on the floor and sort things into stacks all around me  and power through all of it at once.  Now, sitting on the floor can be painful. Leaning this way and that to toss papers onto various piles is definitely painful after a short while.  So it has to be when I haven't already been sitting for too long or doing other activities that aggravate the back.

BUT this last month I have actually been able to make progress.  You know--work 20-30 minutes, maybe somewhat longer, then take a long reclining rest on the couch with ice on my back. But I'm DOING it.

My quality of life during these past 3 years has been so different from the first 95% of my life that it's hard to even accept that it is me that this is happening to. Hard to accept that it's not likely to ever get better.  Walking--I have to keep walking, and walking a lot, but not walking too HARD or overdoing it.  Have to keep doing this wide variety of exercises and stretches--knees, hips, shoulders, spine, core muscles...  and it's not merely a matter of toning up, it's a matter of surviving a normal life.

BUT lately I can actually function for a while  while skipping those physical therapy regimens, instead of needing them to even be able to get out of bed in the morning, and again to get dressed, and again to get in or out of the car, and so on.

And, hey! I can go grocery shopping!  I have to be vewy vewy caweful about how much weight I lift at a time for larger objects or shopping bags, but I can DO it! And walking normally?  Remember a couple of years ago when I could move around a store only by putting all my weight on the shopping cart and gliding carefully, smoothly, slowly? [hmm, was going to put a link to that, but can't find it in Mr. Blog. Must be on Facebook.  Will investigate later.] When getting something off a higher shelf or lower shelf required that I ask someone?  Can DO it now. I have to bend or stretch or twist carefully, but it has become a habit through necessity that I don't have to think about it too hard as I get through the store.

And I can drive--well, for whatever reason, driving in MUTT MVR has not been completely excruciating even at the worst of times-- getting in and out, now, that was a different subject for many long months.  But now I can get in and out of the car; I've adjusted how I do it and if for a moment I forget (which I hardly ever do any more), it's not going to lay me flat out for the next half hour as it used to.

My point is that pain and careful living are my constant companions, but that those are SUCH an improvement over agony and life-on-hold in a drugged stupor.

Every time I decide to take a stroll around the mall for exercise, or stoop carefully to pull a few weeds, or vacuum a room, or carry my own laundry upstairs, it still feels like a small miracle.

If only there were a big miracle around the corner. I keep on keepin' an eye out. As Scarlett said, "Tomorrow is another day."

Salmagundi

SUMMARY: View and invasives, shoes, chairs, ribbons, peeps, oh my.

I forgot to mention yesterday (really?! with all that text I didn't mention something?!) that, although USDAA is now too cheap to supply team or grand prix Qualifying and placement ribbons, medals, or pins any more, Haute Dawgs did provide some. May I present our extra-long, extra-large ribbons for: Performance Team 2nd Place, Performance Grand Prix 4th Place, and Perf. Tournament Master Platinum:

[break]

I hate shopping for shoes; it's hard to find something that looks like I want to wear them, and when I do, they usually don't fit. I was happy, as I reported two weeks ago, when I was able to quickly find a new pair of agility shoes very quickly in the third store I went into.

However, my normal everyday shoes were also a disaster--actually the uppers were fine, but the manufacturer I've been wearing for several years has greatly cheapened the shoes and both, although fairly new, had holes in the soles already. I dropped in to REI with my agility/movies friend (Sparkle's Human Mom) after seeing Hunger Games last week, and while I browsed for everyday shoes, she scoured the discount rack and found a pair of agility shoes that looked pretty good. She tried them on, thought they were OK, but thought they'd fit me better (she wears a  slightly larger size). So, while waiting for the Shoe Person to bring me my shoes, I tried them on. Wow! They were instantly comfortable, and so LIGHT! I felt barefoot yet more stable and secure! How could I resist half price on a perfect pair of shoes? And so they came home with me.

I switched between the pairs this weekend, and all went well with both. Happy agility camper--er, runner.

[break]
I also hate shopping for office chairs. My first real office chair I happened on by accident after shopping and shopping--it was on clearance at some random store, but 7 or 8 years ago its hydraulic lift stopped lifting, so I was left sitting about 10 inches above the floor and raising my hands over my head to get to the keyboard. I looked and looked for one I liked, finally found a decent one at one of those resellers of used office furniture. But its arms started wiggling fairly quickly and required constant tightening, then one of the bolts broke, then another one stripped out about a year ago, then the last one's hole stripped out, and I was left with an armless chair as reported earlier. In agility, as Jim Basic says, "armless is harmless," but in office chairs, especially with my back and knees, I need those arms.

I lucked out--in March, Office Depot was having a mongo chair sale, all of them at great discounts. I went on over and looked at about 3 dozen chairs. Exactly one was even close to what I wanted, and it actually felt pretty good. Would've liked it upholstered rather than just mesh, but comfortable, supportive,  fully adjustable, and available without spending weeks at dozens of stores were high on my list of key features, so I ordered one and it arrived last week. Some assembly was required, and although I bruised my hand, torqued my thumb, and got a blood blister on my palm trying to "press the casters into the holes at the end of each leg," for the most part it went smoothly.

Anyone need a perfectly good office chair with no arms? Or think they can figure out how to attach the arms? It's yours. (See link to previous post for photo.)
[break]
About a week ago: A stunning crystal-clear day after wind and a little rain, looking west at Mount Hamilton (if you click this photo to see a larger version, you can just make out the observatory); the field is still mostly green:

This morning, looking south across the same field--guess the mustard and oxalis have decided that it's finally really spring. They make even the neighbor's beautiful purple lilacs fizzle. The yellow fields are something else to see, but they are highly invasive nonnatives that crowd out native plants. Oh, and it's been warmish with no rain for several days, so although these hills are much closer than Mount Ham, you can tell the difference in the air quality.

[break]
Wait--how long have these peeps been on this shelf anyway?

More Miscellany

SUMMARY: Shoes, class, serpentines, spring, flowers, wind...

Because most of our class this week is off in Reno for the AKC Nationals, there were only three of us in attendance. So I ran both Merle Girls every run. And we got more runs in, or at least more detailed work on each of the runs, because there were only 4 dogs instead of 7 or 8 or so.

You know some people say, "I don't know which dog I'll be running" when referring to a single dog? Like I used to with Remington--the fast, eager dog, or the turned off dog? Well, my dogs I think don't know what handler they're going to get. Sometimes I poop out in class just running the normal number of runs with the equivalent of only one dog. Sometimes I can run both dogs a whole lot more and still feel like I'm moving and [relatively] agile. That's how I felt tonight. I dunno why. It can vary not only from week to week, but day to day.

Boost still can't do straight-on serpentines, even though we worked on them some this week. We talked in class a little bit about starting from square one, which was a good review. Now I have 6 days in which to fix it before the 4-dayer. Heh. Well, we'll work on it.

Tika started fast and excited, but slowed down fairly quickly, and, yes, is not doing some things that in the old days I could always count on her to do. And then, poof!, just like that, she's running and then she's sniffing the ground with a little displacement/stress action going on. Ah, well, learning to handle "which dog do I have" with Tika is such a change from her normal consistent self through most of her agility career.

I wore my brand-new, actually *shiny* shoes in class tonight.

You think it was time?

I dunno, those Ditas and an identical pair lasted me collectively at least 10 years. That was large amounts of money well spent. If this new 40-buck pair from Big 5 lasts me half as long, I'll be happy.

Meanwhile, speaking of shopping, you really should never let me into the garden center when spring's around the corner. I'm just sayin'.

Although, whoa, I'm rethinking how to decorate my dog's crates in MUTTMVR. This looks pretty good!

But spring is fickle this time of year--March is trying hard to circumvent those old saws and go OUT like a lion:

And speaking of lions--it's not every auto body shop (getting estimates on fixing MUTT MVR's owie) whose lobby contains two life-sized lion guardians.

Roar.