No place like home?

Crazy hair

Dale hasn’t had a decent haircut in months, but then neither have I. He feared he was starting to look like Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber). The closest comparison for me would be Saruman. Quite the pair we are. It sounds like the beginning of a joke. The Unabomber and Saruman walk into a bar …

I’ve gone after Dale’s hair a couple of times with the beard trimmer, but it was not the right tool for the job. I finally caved and purchased a real hair trimmer on Amazon.

Wow – what an amazing tool! I cut his hair this morning, and it looks fantastic. He normally likes a #3 at the barber shop, but I started out with a #4 to be on the safe side. At just under $50, we’ll recoup our investment in no time.

The comparison to Ted is interesting. When we lived in Texas, we visited Big Bend National Park and took a side trip to Terlingua, a quirky ghost town. According to local lore, Ted’s brother, David, the normal one, lived in a hand-dug hole in the ground for a couple of years while he built his cabin nearby.

I’m not sure what David is up to these days, but Ted is in prison, and it looks like he’s getting regular haircuts.

let her eat cake

Dale’s off to order my birthday cake. My birthday is Sunday, but I requested a Saturday pick-up. Extra points if you can guess why. My sister got it in 2.5 seconds …

So, I can eat it for breakfast Sunday morning! Duh.

I have a picture of last year’s cake and asked if he wanted me to text it to him so he’d have a visual aid. He’s like, I think I got this. White cake, white buttercream frosting, puffy 3-D roses, as in not flat, but absolutely no red. You’d be amazed how a simple cake order can go wrong, but all that’s in the past.

Rewarding Disloyalty

Michael Cohen’s book, Disloyal, comes out today. I don’t expect many new revelations, but I’m getting it just the same. Partly because I want to reward Cohen for being disloyal to Trump and partly because I keep thinking there’s a tipping point, and maybe just one more book or one more article will do the job and boot the man out of our lives forever.

Where to go when the volcano blows

I had a brief driveway conversation with my neighbor, who also despises Trump. Fully masked and well over six feet apart, we were wondering where we can go if he is reelected. I don’t think Canada or New Zealand will take us. Too old, not enough money.

Then we started talking about the pandemic, the fires. I said Dale has started to call me a fair-weather Californian. I love this state, but I do confess … lately I’ve been wondering if it’s worth it. Dale pointed out no place feels worth it right now, and of course, he’s right. And no matter where you go, there’s some sort of natural disaster looming. Nothing is perfect.

We’re actually in a pretty good place in terms of risk. Out of the city but not in the woods. Reasonable cost of living by California standards. Lower risk of flooding and earthquakes than many areas around here.

My neighbor said a house down the street sold for a high asking price in one day. I asked who was buying. She said Bay Area people who can now work from home – they can get a lot of house for their money here in the outer reaches of the Sacramento suburbs as opposed to San Francisco.

It sounds tempting to sell, but where would we go? This is our home, and we’re here for the long haul. I put a lot of time into researching retirement locations, and even with all that’s going on, Dale and I are both happy with where we live.

In closing, I’ll leave you with my new email signature. You heard it here first!

Stay safe, and vote once.

16 thoughts on “No place like home?”

  1. Fun topics today! My brother in law was the first person I knew to react when the quarantine hit. He bought a hair trimmer immediately. I saw him yesterday and he assured me that his own cuts are now as good as any haircut he has ever had (it must be said, though, that I’ve seen him get a haircut at the airport, which shocked me. I need referrals.). I am glad that I’m not the only one who has non-negotiable demands on birthday cake! As for moving, I will just say that I’m already fretting a bit about the onset of fall/winter, despite the weather currently being perfect. Here in PA days in January feel about 10 minutes long, with grey skies and frigid temps. My plan had been to vote by mail and get myself to Toronto to wait out Election Day and subsequent results, staying in Canada forever if this person was elected to a second term (not that they would have me). But no! Border is closed, so I’m here for the duration.

    1. We lived in PA for a few years and have lots of great memories. I loved the thunderstorms!

      So, Toronto is out. Bummer.

  2. I would move to BC in a heartbeat. I love it up there. Alas, they don’t want us and we don’t have the money. Honestly, I just don’t know where we could go… Oregon Coast maybe? I think we’re here for the duration.
    Barclay is beginning to look like Bozo the clown with his hair but he’s not budging. I can relate as both of us were bald after our transplants. Maybe we want to just hold on to the hair?? Who knows?

    1. I sometimes wonder if I keep my hair so long because of the experience of being bald from chemo. Bozo was kind of cute …

  3. We live in a small college town in Indiana and have for many years and find it very comfortable.
    I used to try to figure out WHERE in the entire world I would want to live IF I could live anywhere in the world that I chose…
    Could never come up with a single answer, of a place I’d rather live.
    There are plenty of places that we’d like to visit, and have visited many, in over 60 countries. But no place that I’d rather call home.
    We are fortunate to have a second small home that we can go to in Florida for part of the year. We may be snowbirds in the future but not do far. Instead we have rented our place out to some nice Canadians for the winter months, so far and enjoy going south in the Spring and Fall, when it is actually the nicest there.
    The rent we have received for renting it out 3 or 4 months, nearly covers all if our annual expenses for our Florida home.
    This year we may spend more of the winter in Florida than usual, because we wonder if our Canadian friends will be able, or want to come this year
    If that is the case, it will be fine with us, since we just sold our longtime family home and moved into a two bedroom/two bath Condo in our same small town, and it we be easier to lock up and leave.
    We may be ready for a little more time away, since both of our international trips that were planned for this year have been cancelled.
    The best plan seems to be to remain flexible and try to enjoy ourselves wherever we may be.

    1. That sounds like a great set-up. Aside from everything going on, I’m not sure I could pick a place if I could go anywhere. The dual residence idea is kind of nice.

  4. Best wishes for a great birthday, Donna! Cake for breakfast? My kinda girl.

    Since the pandemic, I have learned how to do my own acrylic nails using dip powder (to build up my newly fragile, splitting “old lady” fingernails). I even bought a nail drill, to help me cut and shape my nails. I will recoup my investment in less than a year (especially at Vancouver Island salon rates), and it’s kinda fun to do my own nails. I call it going to the Pandemic Salon.
    The lockdown/quarantine/new life we are living is turning us not only into (even moreso) solitary hobbyists but DIYers.

    Deb

    1. That’s impressive! I’ve been doing my toes and will now call it Pandemic Salon. Thanks! It does feel like I’m becoming some sort of live-off-the-land survivalist.

  6. I am with you on all points. My hair —wow, it’s like a fairy tale, no, a Walt Disney flick, Cruella de Ville would be me, half dark brown, half silver.Very strange and my husband loves it , says it is “interesting…” go figure. I just pull it up into a scrunchy on top of my head and will look more closely after Covid is over. He’s been cutting his own hair for about 2 years with a clipper and we save a ton of money .

    trump; YES, another book, a law suit for rape, a few more incidents of opening his mouth in the wrong direction, maybe we are at that tipping point;Let’s hope and VOTE. I am on waiting list at library for the book and will get it in 14 days. Can’t wait. He needs To go back to Mar a Lago.ASAP.

    Birthdays: I must have my birthday PIE for breakfast, every June, and I have to bake it myself.. no chefs in this immediate family but me and I can’t stand commercially baked pies. I don’t mind too much. Usually it is a peach pie or strawberry rhubarb.

    California: I have many friends and family suffering right now.I can’t imagine.I love to visit but living there sounds frightening..if you decided to move,Arizona is not that far away, and we have a lot of great GOLF COURSES, and our property taxes are super- low. The summer heat is something I personally enjoy, as I love being in the pool, and I have learned the yearly rhythms: IN for 3 months, except early morning and evenings, then 9 months of all day or night BLISS outdoors. But I know what a CHORE moving is.Stay safe!!!!

    Reading intelligent and funny blogs is one of my pleasant pastimes during these Covid times..thanks for sharing!!

    1. It does seem as though we are simpatico! I love the idea of putting your hair up in a scrunchy and looking closer when the pandemic has passed. Hilarious.

      Arizona is an idea. I liked what I saw of it when I’ve visited in the past. Three months is nothing!

      Thanks for the kind comments — they really do keep me going.

    1. My sister just called to tell me about the tapes. Thank you, Bob Woodward. Please let this be it. I hope you are right about not having to move!

  8. Happy birthday! My choice would be birthday pie for breakfast and cake with ice cream (do you do ice cream?) after dinner. Or as dinner.

    I finally gave in and cut several inches from my hair the way you did it. Then I had my husband even it out. Looks pretty good. I’ve cut his twice and need to go for a third time. I feel like I’m getting better at it.

    We decided to get away from the heat and smoke by going to the Oregon coast. The joke was on us. Got to central Oregon and all roads west were closed because of fires. The coast had air quality that was worse than ours. Our daughter in a suburb of Salem had to evacuate. Oregon was definitely not the place to be. Turned around and went home to blue skies and moderate temperatures. Maybe there really is no place like home. Oh, and we saw way too many Trump 2020 signs. I just wanted to ask why, oh, why are you voting for that guy?

    1. Thank you! I do love pie, but my favorite is cheap supermarket cake. I ate my lifetime quota of ice cream when I worked in an ice cream store, so I don’t eat much of it these days. I do like it and am due for some.

      I can’t remember if I’ve posted on my newest way to cut my hair. I don’t think I have. I put it in low pigtails and then bring the pigtails to the front, under my chin. Then I use a couple of hair ties to “tie my way down” toward the ends. When I have a couple of inches left, I put it between my fingers and cut. I seem to get it pretty even, but if you have a cooperative husband, that works, too!

      Bad timing for Oregon! I just read our air isn’t supposed to clear up until maybe next week.

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