Today is our first Tuesday open of the season and it was as all days are, a weird up and down. We did 50% more than last year’s numbers… not bad. We will see how the Wednesday before Thanksgiving goes. This is the “booze and buffet” season, which Jim politely refers to as the “Wine and Dine” season – you tell me when you get a complete meal out of this season…
This is going to be the busy season for the shop, and with me trying to get the rest of the miles I need for Alaska MVP Gold. Expect truncated posts except when I’m getting those last miles.
Actually got around to calling the insurance company to get the dings out of my Miata in prep for sale – because of the piece of walnut bedframe falling on the car – bounce, glass (crack) bounce – we’ll see what the adjustor says the bill is: with collision, mine will be $100.
To the post office for $300 worth of postcard stamps, to Home Depot for a snow shovel and de-icer for the shop, guaranteeing no snow this winter, some washers for the new shop sign (see below) and a new shower curtain liner and soap dish for me.
Speaking of the banner, here is what it looks like:
Now, imagine that 30″ x 11 feet. I think that will stand out.
Back from the errand run, time to stamp 500 postcards and go back to the post office to get them in the mail.
Now it’s just time to work on the PayPal buttons, start to work on the fill-outable PDF of the registration form for the winter gathering, work on the website and stay up way too late.
Most of the day was as dead as a morgue at the shop, even with the art opening for Suze’s sky paintings… luckily there were a couple big spenders at the end of the day that pulled us to where we needed to be. The odd Sunday conundrum – how to get more sales on Sunday. Maybe I should open a nice bottle and call it Super Bottle Sunday.
Off to a dinner with Mr. Bliss after shop hours. Chicken parmesan minus the noodles as we are both on low-carb routines, a little asparagus, a nice salad, and the remnants of the tasting wines from today.
I did get a chance to scope out the condo next to his – 1300 s/f, two bedroom, $399K, $700 monthly maintenance dues… think I’ll keep my little place in the hood.
Back home before 8 to print up the postcard calls for the winter gathering.
Up and out early this morning for a bus tour (complete with senior citizens from a local old-folks home) of the Port of Tacoma. When I last did this a year ago it was a rainy, drizzly day – at least today’s tour was merely overcast.
So, today’s photos:
Out on the docks in the middle of the action.
If you own a Kia in the Northwest, it probably came in through the Port of Tacoma.
And for the last photo of the day… who to squeeze a 500-bottle wine cooler into a Toyota Prius:
The cooling unit is sitting on the front passenger seat. Breaks down like a piece of IKEA furniture. Not a bad deal for DancingBear — $350 which works out to 70 cents a bottle – and hopefully he’ll come to the shop and fill it up!
Lots of running around today getting stuff ticked off my tick-list, including a late afternoon run to the apartment to pick up a new 8-port router/switch – my old 20 port one died months ago and I’d be relying on a 4-port (in addition to the four ports on the wireless router), but it wasn’t enough so I was plugging and unplugging Ethernet cords as needed. No fun that, figuring out which one is which.
One of the other items was to fill my first cask (a birthday gift from Jim) filled with stuff from the still. This cask seems to hold about 750ml. Still one slooooow weep from the bottom, but I got ambitious. Here it is sitting on the sink:
Guess this means that I should get kicking on:
Ordering label stock for the bottles
Ordering a couple of slightly larger casks with a custom burn mark on the barrel with the new logo
If you’ve seen the movie Up In The Air starring George Clooney, that will give you an idea about my day.
Out of the house at 11:30 to drive two hours north and hang out at BLI (Bellingham International Airport) for lunch before settling into Seat 1C.
One of the perks of 1st Class is the free use of the DigiPlayer ($10 Value) on which over the course of the 6-hour flight I managed to get 2.5 movies. One Batman, one Bro-Mance, one half of a Tim Allen narrated animated movie (finished that on the return trip).
Here is a shot of the shrimp skewer dinner (no shot of the chicken breast salad with Hawaiian Bread Roll):
And a shot of the Mai Tai mid-flight – it was so sweet that I had to keep watering it down with Diet Coke, making it taste much more like a Long Island Iced Tea:
Arrived 30-45 minutes early. WOOHOO, more time in the Sky Club (Delta’s renamed Crown Room) – and time for a little shopping:
Box of 3 pineapples (Swanda, DancingBear, Jim)
Two key rings (Joe & Lisa since we are going next month)
Closed down the Sky Club – they close at 10PM and my return flight (another 6 hours in the air) doesn’t leave until 11:30.
Back in Seat 1C headed back to Bellingham.
Only tiny snack service on this run.
Ambian washed down with scotch. We’ll see if that makes me sleep.
Well, there is some good airplane news and some bad airplane news.
First the good: Got upgraded to first on the return leg of my Honolulu mileage run – still haven’t been able to change from 4C to 1C – maybe at check-in tomorrow.
Now the bad: Redid the math for miles remaining until Alaska Airlines MVP Gold status… 30 MILES SHY. Damn. Misfigured the Palm Springs mileage. Guess I’ll be flying to Portland before the end of the year (and training or busing home).
Shop meeting at two. Two pages of things to go over: marketing, back room construction projects, fill-in help, counter hours pay. Funniest comment of the meeting was when talking about our credit card debt – “the credit card debt is the third partner we never found”.
After the meeting I was supposed to drop off and set-up a computer for SalamanderHellBender… but he texted this morning to cancel the purchase… now I have a spare all-in-one computer that is running Windows 8 and has the full Microsoft Office Pro Suite on it – I was even going to throw in a rolling PC stand that is designed to slide over a bedside. $150 – what a deal. Any takers? Found a buyer for the 600 bottle wine cellar ($350), was hoping to have an extra $500 for the holidays.
Between the ribs and wine for the partner’s meeting and Blair’s cancellation, I was done with people for the day – I was supposed to go to the Woodford Reserve Manhattan Competition downtown… not as a participant, just there to drink the free Manhattans and eat the free food. That and needing to dress up was another reason.
Instead, gassed up the car for tomorrow and heated up leftovers and started through the “to-do” list from today’s meeting.
How’s that for a boring evening – didn’t even manage to book the Portland flight, which I need to do ASAP as fares go back up on the 14th.
VERY odd people pattern today at the shop… 11:15 husband and wife. Husband – $84.00 Amarone, Wife – two $20.00 bottles of Spanish Vermouth. Nice first sale.
Then for the next three hours, not one customer.
Next customer — $75.00 bottle of Burgundy.
Then nothing for an hour and a half until late afternoon when things sort of picked up enough to make it an OK Sunday – must be the bitter cold.
The down time did give me time to toy with shoe designs. Converse® sent me a coupon for 30% off that actually covered custom shoes which it usually doesn’t – and this one didn’t include the DC Comics line of custom shoes as I’m assuming there are royalties involved. Here is what I came up with just in case the coupon code was good for more than one pair:
Canvas slip-on in primary colors.
Canvas glow in the dark – the animal print white portion glows in the dark, as to the laces.
And finally, patent leather.
I’d offered the coupon to Atlas so he could get a custom set of kicks for SodaPop for Christmas, but he didn’t get a chance to use the coupon by 9PM (coupon expired at midnight Eastern Standard Time) and I’d gotten caught up in reworking the Breitenbush Gathering site and didn’t notice the time until it was 9:30 (I’d given Atlas until 8:30 to use the coupon). Just to make sure – logged onto the site, dumped the bottom two pairs of shoes (decided top one was too close to something I already had), applied the coupon, and it worked. It 2-3 weeks I’ll have another couple of pairs of kicks for the collection.
Nice day at the shop today… good flow of traffic through, OK weather. But man is did it get cold once the sun went down.
Some good travel news: Got upgraded on Tuesday’s mileage run to Honolulu (from Bellingham). 1C.
For dinner, just a “one pot” sort of meal. Asparagus on the bottom, then boneless chicken thighs drown in a jalapeño/chorizo/cheese/sour cream sauce, bake for 45 minutes, yum.
Work from 12-7, then entertain from 8-midnight. That was my day.
The details?
Nine deliveries – boxes everywhere and they were mostly put away by the time the regulars started showing up after 3:30
Decent sales for a Friday, made up for a crappy Wednesday for Jim in sales
Home to make lamb chops and spinach (can you tell spinach was on sale this week).
Atlas in town for a gay bowling league tournament – hoping he’ll win enough to by the Miata – and staying tonight in the guest bedroom
Conversation and laughter late in the evening, but no WII bowling – as he said, he’d have to use his left hand as to not accidentally strain his bowling arm before the tournament
Should have gone to bed earlier as I need to get him fed and up the hill to Roxbury Bowl in time for him to start bowling at nine
On the good news side, accordingly to my sister-in-law and my aunt, Dad was a Chatty Cathy today in person and on the phone. Apparently it’s one day to the next — or maybe they got his meds adjusted better.
And in more news on the good side, the ice machine is up and running, taking up 1/3 less counter space, but the cubes smaller and the batches smaller, but it’s so nice to not have to turn on/turn off the machine and manually move the ice to the bucket.
Well, the new ice machine arrived a little before two – which was good because the latest I could leave for the airport was 3 for my 5:05pm flight time. I’ll get it up and running when I return from this mileage run. This will be the last 1000 miles that I need to make MVP Gold on Alaska this year. The fact I got this flight for under a hundred dollars is pretty amazing. I still have more miles to fly this year, like next week’s mileage run to Hawaii, and Hawaii for most of a week in December – just need to make sure they all get credited.
Here is my plane (on the right) caught in the glow of sunset at Sea-Tac:
Alaska has grown so much at Sea-Tac that they now have a couple of gates on B concourse (as well as C, D, and N).
Got to go through the PRE line — love keeping on shoes, jackets, no toiletries or laptop this time, but those get to stay as well. Combined with hourly parking at the airport proper — extra time for lunch in the Board Room and a few pre-flight cocktails.
No time in the air for anything other than water (no free wine, no time), and I had to deplane on the other end since they were swapping out crew. Another line to wait in.
Was home by 7:30 – managed to get out of the garage in under 5 hours ($15.00).
Last night when I got back from running errands I found a massive sugar ant colony marching across the kitchen floor, up the wall and into the ice machine. THOUSANDS of the buggers. Today I started to clean the beast on the back porch and realized that the ants had won, they had set up a colony in the lid of the machine that would be almost impossible to clean – that, and the icemaker had the following issues:
Ice full sensor – dead for months
Ice paddle to move the ice into the bucket – dead for months
And then there are the ants
You all know how much ice I go through… time to order a new icemaker. Here is the new one coming from Amazon:
Click on the icemaker to order one for yourself – also comes in black, which was on back-order and I need it tomorrow ($3.99 extra for one-day shipping). Of course, what I forgot about a mileage run I have planned for tomorrow – I guess I would have remembered when I got the email to check-in, so we hope it comes before 3pm so I can sign for it before my 5pm flight.
And now for some not-so-good news about dying. Here is the latest report from my sis-in-law on my father:
Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I guess Arnie has had a few bad days, and his nurse was there today and switched him from OxyCodone to tablet morphine. If he has additional pain, he can take Oxy in addition. I was there about 2:15 and he was feeling fine, nodding a bit and in/out of the conversation, but still quite mentally with it – making appropriate liberal comments about the election, the growing gap between rich and poor in this country, etc. (i.e. saying things that make sense!)
However, he was talking about going to his eye doctor appointment next week, as his and Eileen’s are scheduled back to back. Eileen had suggested that he skip this one, and I asked how often he goes (monthly?
every 3 months?). He said it’s an every 6 month thing, and if he skips this one, he’ll definitely need to go to the next one to make sure the “driving thing” is all straightened out. I told him that I really thought his driving days are probably over, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it for the next appointment. In point of fact, I don’t think we’ll have to cross it at all because I just don’t think he’ll be around to deal with it in 6 months. What optimism! (or denial?) As I pointed out to him, if both he and Eileen have appointments, it will take twice as long, which will tire both of them out, and if his nurse says he should only do 1 thing every other day, does he really want his excitement for 48 hours to be a trip to the eye doctor???? I think that made an impression.
Eileen said that maybe she should be following the “just 1 thing every other day” rule, too, and she was just exhausted. This all seems to take a big toll on her. I told her that I would put her eye appointment in my datebook, so if she wants to call me to stay with Arnie while she goes, I can bring over my lunch and do that. She said she didn’t think that would be necessary, but I reminded her that it’s a week away, and we can’t really tell TODAY whether it will be necessary or not. I think she got that.
Reha called them yesterday to spring his “surprise” Thanksgiving visit with Benton, as I called him earlier this week and told him this isn’t a good time for surprises. Reha called me several months ago when things looked much better, so I needed to update him and make sure he let them know he was coming, especially as it looks like we’ll be eating at El Castillo (for which Eileen will need to make reservations), not at my house. I think Eileen was afraid I’d be disappointed about not cooking or being at my house, but I’m all about making this easy on everyone – I’ll have lots of years ahead to cook turkeys. She said she’d need to send an email to Reha apologizing for “being short with him”‘ and reminded me how much she HATES to talk on the phone, and she’d been too tired and overwhelmed when he called, etc. I’ll try to do some damage control with Reha this weekend. Why they won’t ask for more help is beyond me….. Reha has a hotel lined up and is always good about entertaining himself, so I don’t think that will be a big issue – he’s only here Wed afternoon – Saturday and will have his own rental car.
Maybe he and Benton can take Eileen out for a meal, and I’ll hang out with Arnie. She really enjoyed being out for birthday lunch at the Santacafe – cost me a fortune, but she had such a good time (glass of champagne, creme brulee, said she was really glad I talked her into going).
Arnie said he’d been having some trouble getting up from the couch, because it’s so low, and Eileen has to help him sometimes. I wish I’d thought to suggest that maybe now is the time for the hospital bed option. (I might make that suggestion in a day or two.) He doesn’t have to wait until he’s bed-ridden – it could help him get upright and out of bed when he wants, or just he could raise it which sounds like it would help. He probably doesn’t want to take that step yet, but it might not be a bad idea.
Both Kennan and I think the morphine step is a bit ominous. I absolutely don’t want him in any pain if it can be avoided, and I’m glad he’s talking to his nurse and asking for more pain medication. I don’t like to think about how he must have felt yesterday and today to bring him to taking this step, though. He looked ok, and his mind was engaged in our discussion, for the most part, but I can’t think this is a good sign. I’m not asking him about eating – he’ll do what he can, and if he doesn’t want to build up his strength at this point, I think that’s understandable.
I will probably go over there at some point this weekend, and will let you know how he’s doing then. I’m going to bed really early tonight (like 8:30), as morning swim practice started today! So, I was up at 5 and swam a lot! Other than this evening, call me if you have questions.
Well, that sucks. All loving-healing thoughts gratefully accepted.
I voted last week so it doesn’t matter that I am flying back from Palm Springs on Election Day – oddly enough the same thing I was doing 4 years ago on Election Night – same city, probably even the same flight number.
On the way to the airport Craig (and I) swung by a sign company for a project he is working on for his non-profit in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. He had seen this sign:
…and he tracked down (through numerous calls) not the person who did this sign, but the folks that lost the bid on it. Nice little meeting and a tour of their facilities. Yes, I’m a machinery geek and with several friends in (or were) the sign biz, always good to see another shop.
Got upgraded, but was stuck in the window bulkhead rather than the aisle, at least it was another gay boy next to me – and several dozen more on the plane, all returning from Palm Springs Pride.
The flight got in a little early which changed my mind about attending a neighbor’s election night party – to the affirmative from the negative. I was hoping that since Obama was elected 4 years ago while I was returning from PSPride, that the same would hold for this year… and it did.
And I was pleasantly surprised by the three gay marriage passages – guess that means I’d better find a husband.
Well, Bliss left this morning, and left behind this charming black man who needed to get to the Indio bus station after losing his ride back to LA.
After the bus station, a charming double-wide in a big parking lot with a portable bathroom trailer parked next to it, it was off to run errands in the desert.
Trader Joes (booze)
CVS (booze)
Toyota Dealer (dome light lens)
Cardinos (ceviche and things for Craig to take back to LA)
All the booze is to fill the empty Styrofoam shipper that came down filled with wine. When booze is half the price in California (as compared to Washington) you (or at least I do) tend to stock up.
Amazing how driving around for a couple of hours (even if you are just the passenger) in the desert cities is taxing – who both took power naps on our return.
Dinner was the leftover stock from the Osso Bucco earlier in the trip, with the chicken and celery from the other night added, and the remaining sausages from last night –sort of a gumbo like dish that was damn tasty. Damn tasty enough that Craig is taking home what little remains.
Watched a depressing, but oddly funny movie called The Lost Weekend with Ray Milan and Jane Wyman (Ronald Regan’s first wife). I put it in the same category with The Days of Wine and Roses – movies about out of control drunks.
Who thought I would be in Palm Springs for Gay Pride on the run-up to the presidential election… four years ago I was flying home as Obama nailed his victory. I’m hoping that is a good omen for Tuesday.
We got out of the condo a little late so we didn’t get to the parade route until 10:30, half an hour after it started – luckily we were at the end of the route, a couple of blocks down from the WorldMark Palm Springs, where we SHOULD have stayed (location, location, location over lazy river, private hot tub, unlimited parking).
Here are some of the highlight shots from Gay Pride. The flamboyant…
The buff boys from the Saguaro Resort in Palm Springs:
And the truly strange Dr. Bronner’s fire engine pulling a “Shower Booth”…
Or the Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert inspired RV. Please note that that high heel is on a pneumatic lift so it can be lowered to get under traffic lights:
By 1pm the parade was over and we were off to visit Richard (who was to dinner the other night) to see his new showcase property. And oh what a show case it is:
And here is a video from Craig from his visits last night:
Just so you all get a feel for the size of this place, we are in the furthest north building (top of photo), surrounded on most sides by a massive golf course:
To the north of us is a massive flotsam dam should massive rainfalls come down from the hills (which is possible).
A seriously lazy day around the ranch, cooking, napping, reading.
Late in the day the boys headed into Palm Springs to explore – I stayed on the couch, made a little dinner, prepared a breakfast frittata for the morning since the parade starts at 10am, which is usually earlier than we have been getting around the breakfast – luckily the boys have carbs to snack on to tide them over.
Strangely enough they both arrived back within minutes of each other.
The big question – Salton Sea or Joshua Tree and which day. Joshua Tree today… we will see what tomorrow brings.
Picked up a topo-map bandana (and hat pin) at the visitor’s center… free entrance thanks to Craig’s old-fart park pass
Here are a couple of shots from our day trip. Top two from the Cholla Cactus Garden:
And from the Skull Rock area:
After stopping at the ever-wonderful Mexican market (Cardenas) we didn’t get home until almost 6:30 – luckily our dinner guest was running behind as well.
Tonight’s dinner guest was Craig’s buddy Richard, an LA boy that co-owns four mid-century rentals in Palm Springs – it was great to see the before and after shots of his latest rental: http://www.psmid-century.com/home. Stunning house – not cheap, but stunning.
Wonder evening of cocktails while I worked on a bacon-wrapped pork loin, green beans and green onions stir-fried in clarified bacon grease and a lovely green salad.
Conversation late into the night lounging in the hot tub.
Sorry to hear your father is so ill.
Impressed by the ant infestation.
I send you the thought of a squashy hug and some very serious “there, there.”
Love,
Pat