We've had patchy morning low clouds and fog in the early mornings, turning sunny and clear by noon most days. Unfortunately, I need light to wake up well. I wake up poorly (groggy and sleepy) when it's grey and dreary outside.
Tuesday was fun we had the first rainstorm of the season, complete with thunder (and two short power outages). Squirrel was not at all happy about the loud growling outside.
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The power outages knocked out our network connection for the rest of the day. Rich ended up replacing a battery and a network card and got us back on the air around 10 pm.
We've lost another restaurant: one of the Chinese places this time. The restaurant is still there but they've changed cooks and recipes and not for the better. :-(.
We went for lunch on Friday. Rich thought the spring rolls were greasy. That were the best of a disappointing lot. There was egg white in the duck with yee wonton soup (and precious little duck). There was salty brown soysauce gravy on the rock cod with tender greens. (much too salty, even "drained"). Sigh. It's a shame. I really liked the rock cod.
The waitress came by to ask "Is everything all right?". We said "No." She had no idea what to do; she really wasn't expecting us to say "no". She had the cook make up another bowl of soup. We got it packed to take home. Then we paid and left. We probably won't go back again.
Rich tried the soup the next day. He said it was "better". That is, it didn't have egg white in it. But it wasn't the same and it wasn't as good.
I had an "educational" trip to the drugstore on Friday night…
Those who know me know that my nose "attacks" me periodically; this seems to be largely weather related. I've seen an allergist; I've had the pinprick allergy tests. I don't have any recognizable allergies. Just every now and then, I will have a drippy, sneezy, itchy day.
Most antihistimines I've tried don't work worth a darn. Actifed (triprolidine and pseudoephedrine) has traditionally been the best but it doesn't always work.
I had one of those days on Friday and decided to drive down to the drug store and scout out the shelves and see if there might perhaps be something I hadn't tried yet.
For all of the apparent options in branding, there aren't many actual choices:
- Chlorprophenpyridamine maleate (Chlortrimeton, Coricidin)
- Lloratadine (Claritin, Allerest)
- Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
I've tried the above; they work about as well as an aspirin.
After much staring at packaging, I finally found a new one: Tavist (clemastine fumerate). I bought some to try. I also bought a nasal spray (Nasal Crom) that can be used in conjunction with a pill.
So far, Tavist is a winner. Wish me long-term luck.
Also, something new at the drugstore. All of the -D variants of the cold and allergy medications the ones containing a decongestant are now literally available "over the counter". You pick a little pull card from the shelf and take it to the pharmacy and they will give you a box of pills.
This might be nothing more than a minor inconvenience (depending on the line at the pharmacy) except for the fact that the pharmacy closes at 8 and the drugstore is open till 10. Happily, I didn't want the -D variety this trip.
On Saturday, we went to office Depot to buy a replacement for our all-in-one photo-copier fax machine. It had started scanning with too much light and the pages came out very dark.
After discussing what we needed (and why we really didn't need a fax function) we discovered that it's difficult to avoid the fax function. These days most of the choices are fax-copier-scanner-printer combo units. They vary in features such as paper tray and sheet feeder. We found a reasonably priced model, much smaller than our old one. Gee, now we have a color copier.
Bebop blessed the new machine when we brought it home and set it up. He sat on it and listened intently while it made all sorts of interesting noises.
Also on Saturday, we went to the hardware store to look for a tall, backyard sprinkler. I bought one of these a few weeks ago and wanted another. It turns out that the regular spinning "swirl" sprinklers don't work well in our yard. We don't have a flat grassy plain; if a bunch of grass grows up next to the sprinkler, it interrupts the sprinkler head's ability to turn.
Unfortunately, the tall sprinklers had been a "promotional item" and were all gone. Fortunately, there was a very bright and helpful young man (a recent engineering grad 🙂 working in the garden department. He recommended that we build a tall sprinkler out of an impulse sprayer head, a length of pipe, and a metal "stake" that affixes to the hose. So we did. They're solid and should work just fine.
On Sunday afternoon,,we attended the Leopards, Etc Wild Cat Adventure educational program. If you live in the SF Bay Area, go to one of these!
Rob and Barbara brought Oksana (Siberian lynx), Kamau (cheetah), Nakuru (serval), Shoshone (young cougar), and Ashakiran (snow leopard). Purrrrrrr.
This week I read Murder Most Mellow, Fat Free and Fatal, and Tea-Totally Dead, all by Jaqueline Girdner. These are fun murder mysteries.
In between and around the rest, I've had almost enough naps and plenty of snuggles with the cats. There have been good meals and interesting conversations with Spouse and friends.
Onward and Upward.
vlbrown-mzydt 