Utilikilt Original - Slant Pockets

At Last!
Slant pockets for my hands.

I have this Utilikilt Original in polyester - desert cammo ... but it was always a bit awkward to put my hands in the pouch pockets ... That's the one thing I liked about jeans ...
Yes, I DID buy both a Mocker and a Survival Utilikilt which have the slant pockets. But the Original was my only really light-weight summer Utilikilt ... the one I wear in the shop ... wear while driving truck ... etc.

So, I took my Original and my Survival Utilikilts to my Seestor ... I said, "Here's one with slant pockets in ... can you modify the other one to have slant pockets too?" She made a sketch of the Survival slant pockets on newspaper ... took the Original home with her ... and says it took her 2 days to figure it all out ...

As you see here ... there was plenty of fabric in the pleat to make the pocket ... but she had to angle the pouch pocket slightly downward to make room to put my hand in the slant pocket. I LOVE IT! My Seestor did a miracle. She says, "Next time, just buy one with slant pockets already in it!"

Playa del Rey

In between Marina del Rey and driving up to Malibu ...

we drove down to Playa del Rey, parked right behind the beach, hiked across the sand ... past the volley ball courts, over the bike path, and down to the ocean.  I in my shorts and my wife with her pants rolled up, stood in the water and watched the waves and boats.

after that initial cold shock ... wonderful to stand there with the waves rolling in.

the sun was silver sparkles on the water ... 

Marina del Rey

What a beautiful day, yesterday.

We started out with lunch at "In-n-Out Burger" ... then went to Marina del Rey where we spent hours watching the boats sail in and out of the harbor ... there were also a few kayaks ... the smell of the salt air ... the sun on the water ... the Coast Guard harbor patrol chasing down speeders ... the water bus taking people around the harbor ... the brown pelicans really loved the scraps when the fishing boats returned ... it was all a wonderful maze of activity. We left and headed up Pacific Coast Highway (1) through Malibu ... we saw a lot of "beautiful people" ... don't know if we saw any movie stars ... but 87 octane gas cost us $4.09 a gallon. Then back to Marina del Rey where we watched the colors of the sunset punctuated by the the black silhouettes of sailboat masts ... while eating a delicious halibut dinner. Then a drive home in the dark, looking at the sparkling lights on the skyscrapers in downtown Los Angeles. Topped off with mint ice-cream sandwiches from Stater Bros. market.

A very romantic and wonderful day!

We loved all the sailboats!!!

low tide ... mollusks on a rock ...
the harbor is much cleaner than it was in the past

Brown pelicans waiting on boaters to toss fish scraps ...
or steal from your fishing line

A prowed pelican

5 planes flying in formation were sky-writing TV ads ...

A pretty trimaran

Weddings

We saw 2 weddings yesterday ... this one on a boat in Marina del Rey ... and another one set up on Zuma Beach. Both had the little canopy with the bride & groom standing there! Can you imagine people in fancy clothes sitting in lawn chairs on the sandy beach holding glasses of champagne? ... only in California ...

More Needles ... Grind, drill

Back in to the dentist ... more needles ... I hate it when they give a shot into the hard roof area of the mouth ... that REALLY HURTS!

Drill, drill, drill ... grind grind ... the same 2 teeth again ... for 2 more hours ... 2 temporary caps ... an appointment next Friday for the crowns to be put on ... and $1,350 added to the bill. That's all the teeth I can afford until next year this time.

2 Root Canals

Just 2 root canals done at the dentist yesterday ... 2 full syringes of numb-stuff ... 3 hours in the dental chair ... multiple x-rays ... a big bottle of Tylenol #3 ... and $835 added to the bill ...

The side of my face is still in pain this morning ... 

and I have another dental visit today!

Vacation Dentist Trips

We are sitting here in SoCal ... spending our days reading.  Also visiting the dentist.  Waiting to get paid, so we can go shopping.  L.A. says I only made $3,000 last year ... so I can't collect unemployment.  Wonder where they are getting their figures from.  They also don't count anything in the last 18 months that I earned in Utah, Arizona, or Florida. (betcha they count when it comes to collecting taxes!!)

The dentist says there is nothing wrong with my teeth (like the ones that have been swollen around the roots for the last 12 months) ... that 3 root canal operations (roto-rooter the nerves) ... 3 caps ... and $3500 would cure.  Yep.  I'm real hesitant about every one of those.  They freak me out.  

We had ice cream for dessert last night ... one aspirin on either side of the two teeth in the upper left jaw (teeth numbers 13 & 14) ... and 45 minutes pressing on the nerve centers on the left side of my face ... and I felt almost normal again.  Then Oma made peanut-butter cookies today.

Maybe I should just spend more days at the beach.  "Waiting for my ship to come in."  

I checked the voicemail on our home phone ... and that on my cell phone ... checked email accounts ... no bites or messages that we want to receive.  No we aren't taking up residence here.  Too many people, too expensive, over-regulated.  However, not as many mosquitos, most of the little ants aren't fire-ants, great bicycle paths.  

There you have it for today!

Prop. 8

The measure as submitted for the ballot by petitioners was called the "California Marriage Protection Act."

 The actual ballot title, as changed by the Attorney General Jerry Brown, is "Eliminates Right of Same-sex Couples to Marry."

My political activist, my wife, signed us up to walk precincts in behalf of Prop. 8 today ... a California constitutional amendment that says, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." ... a "Yes"  vote is for the traditional family ... 

a "No" vote is: 

1) for homosexual marriage ("domestic partners" already have all the civil/legal rights, protection, and benefits that married people have) ... just not the originally religious title of "married."  So, it maintains the status quo as established by 4 members of the California State Supreme Court.

2) I wonder if it will be used to attack any religion that won't recognize homosexual marriage. And against anyone exercising their "freedom of speech" to criticize it. I just wonder what the "actual" potential consequences are of it not passing?  

Many churches are very worked up over Prop 8 ... We are doing our part to be supportive of our church.

I saw Bishops, patriarchs, senior citizens, and young couples today ... all working for "Protection of the traditional family."

Senior Citizens

Not all Senior Citizens are solitary individuals ...

some have even been known to go on dates ... 

(the foto is a case of misdirection) ... 

It's a M-family thing (click on that word and see where it takes u)

Santa Monica Pier

From on top the bluff ... this is the road down to Santa Monica Pier.

The first building on the left houses the carousel ...

There are other amusement rides and restaurants on the pier ...

Further down the pier you can go fishing ...

There's a bicycle path (loaded with pedestrians) running under the pier and along the back of the beach.

This is the view from the bluff ... where Santa Monica sits.

We walked down and stood in the ocean  ... 

past those cars, where you see the little people on the sand.

No trip to SoCal is complete without going to stand in the ocean and feel that first shock as the cold water hits your legs.  The same "Oh, my gosh!" expression on my wife's face.  

I'd love to be on a bicycle on the bike path ... 

I've seen bicycle police patrols ... but hadn't realize that they had horse patrol officers in Santa Monica, CA

Oma's New Faucets

Here's Oma with the jam that she is making ...

This is the new faucet in the laundry room.

This is the new faucet on the kitchen sink ... 

it is all shiny chrome ... 

the dark spots are reflections of the cabinets,

and the little light spot in the dark reflection

is the sink light.

So this is what we spent our morning doing.

Chemistry Teacher

This is for siblings ... Ms Oliveras is coming up on 50 years as an educator ... she still teaches classes at UCI and CSLB to school instructors. Some people who were procrastinators and didn't get their lab write-ups turned in ... took her class twice. A great instructor who held her students to USC collegiate standards. If you got an "A" in her class, you could get an "A" in any college or university chemistry class. The concept was to make chemistry fun, but demanding.

Wide Load !!

For those of you who are speculating as to what constitutes a "Wide Load" or "Oversize Load" ... here are a few pictures to make this clear. In the top foto, the truck is literally driving down the line at the far right side of the lane ... and the load still over-hangs the left lane. We had to get to the far left side of the left lane to pass it ... and even then it felt uncomfortably close. Find a Pilot, Loves, Petro, Flying J, or some other truckstop and watch the truck drivers as they come inside to fuel. You'll gain a new appreciation for the concept of "wide load." A few minutes there and I feel down-right svelt.

At Oma's

Tuesday morning - Job Fair at ESJC
Tuesday afternoon ... 692 miles to Houston.
Wednesday - 965 miles to Wilcox, AZ.
Thursday - 565 miles to Oma's.

Mr Pozo has been in the hospital with an infection, pneumonia, and gall bladder problems for the last 11 days. Poncho had a mild stroke a month or so ago ... hasn't been able to go back to work ... walks with a cane.

SHOCK! -- the large back bedroom now has a window air conditioner!

Hope you are all doing well.

Filed for Unemployment

"Our" spider has gotten larger ... it moved from near the door, out to the front edge of the porch ... closer to our porch lights. It seems to be doing really well at catching bugs there. And we've left it alone to do its thing.

In the meantime I submitted some more job applications.

I went on a bicycle ride yesterday morning ... after reaching the top of a rather steep hill ... I felt nauseous ... laid the bicycle on the ground and lay down next to it for about 5 minutes. Ugh!

Haven't submitted an application to Wal-Mart yet ...

On Vacation!

We're unemployed this week ... the truck and I.

So I'm busy taking pictures of bugs ... don't mess with this one ...

And pictures of houses ... then setting up a blog page for it ... click here

Jalapeño Peppers

What color are Jalapeño Peppers when they are ripe?

What color are Green Peppers when they are ripe?

If you let them sit out in the garden long enough ... they aren't green

The ones pictured here are in the process of still ripening ...