Happy Halloween

Tonight there was full moon. The sky was clear and ghosties and ghoulies were out. In addition there were dinosaurs and cows and butterflies and a few aliens too. 

But alas, you are going to have to stand sideways to see the astronaut and 

The two aliens he brought back from space.

I don't remember who these young girls were, but they were polite and we had a nice conversation about werewolves roving around during a full moon.

They assured me that the aliens were able to deal with mere werewolves.

To all, I hope you had a Happy Halloween.

Two Classics

This morning I saw a 1953 Hudson Wasp, and I thought that would be the last classic car I would see for the day. I was wrong. This evening I saw a 1956 Chevrolet Belair. Both are beauties in very different ways. The Wasp harked back to the forties; while the Belair was edgy and forward looking. The Wasp was the past, the Belair was the future.

The 1953 Hudson Wasp was in the second year of production. It was built on the a shorter Hudson chassis, but still had the chubby looks of the day. While rounded and shiny it looks bulky in comparison to the Chevy and might explain why the model was discontinued after only 4 years in production. Automobile design had changed.

The 1956 Chevrolet Belair was the top of the line Chevy that year. The chrome design exemplifies forward movement; speed; modernity. She is optimistic and bright, exactly matching the mood of the country at the time.

Nowadays, both cars shine, for the same reason. 

They are beautiful. 

Dolly Domestic

 Since arriving at my other home, I've been enjoying the domestic arts of sewing and decoration. We had new flooring installed in the house and I decided it was time to change the master bedroom furniture. I traded in the huge CalKing bed for a more modest Queen sized bed. All summer I looked for a headboard I liked and I found nothing. SO, we made a headboard that matches the bedspread. Next, I made the matching window cushion, and the valance for the master bath...and now we are working on recovering the bed bench. What started out as a small project grew and grew. A few more finishing touches and the room should be finished today.

During the day the teddy bears enjoy their new digs. They don't seem to complain too much when we take them off to sleep at night (I love to play with my teddy bears)

As an aside, if you plan on a project like this, buy 2 bedspread kits, that way you have enough fabric for the rest of the stuff you will need to have a coordinating bedroom. 

Three Little Piggies Up For Auction

My Delta Kappa Gamma group is holding a Christmas Auction in December and I volunteered some critters. These 3 little piggies (2 Berkshires and 1 Hampshire) are going on the auction block. Some other critters are going to follow. The nice folks want a starting price and I have no idea. Please write to me and tell me what you would pay for a piggy? Thank you in advance.

 

Going West from Fall to Summer

 We made our semi-annual migration from the high country to the low country without too much ado. 

We left autumn. The colors were in full array until western Nevada...then it became "late summer" again. We drove through the Feather RIver Canyon, which has a great fall color display, but it's too early. 

There were green conifers, dried grasses with burned patches along the way. One bridge had been destroyed by fire. Lots of trees have been lost to flames. That's the reason we had smoky skies from Idaho west. No more burning eyes, no more choking on the smoke. We had arrived in California. 

Since it's still late summer here, we can look forward to another colorful fall. In the meantime, we will get used to the grasses changing from gold to gray as summer wears out.

Big Scare

 Yesterday I was feeling "off" with a low temperature, body aches, shortness of breath. I called the local prompt care clinic and the nice person there told me to call the hospital as those were potential COVID-19 symptoms. I called the hospital and Tanya said, please get tested for COVID. 

The drive to the hospital was strange. Neither of us wanted to say anything about COVID and what a positive test would mean. We talked about the pretty fall leaves.

That was easier to handle. Once at the hospital we drove into the "test site." At first no one appeared then a masked woman walked out of the hospital. She asked both of us a few questions, then she asked me some pointed questions regarding COVID. She left to get an oximeter and thermometer. I had a 1.5 degree fever, oxygen was ok, pulse was high (I can only imagine why?). Then she suited up in a disposable garment and told me about the test. She said she would put a slim flexible probe with short bristles up my nose for 15 seconds then take it out slowly. She said it will tickle a bit but it will not be painful. She was correct. There was a "mean" tickle...not a tickle that makes you laugh but a tickle that is just this side of uncomfortable. It did not hurt. It was not painful. She counted to 15, pulled the probe out, and placed it in a covered tube. She told me that someone would call in the morning with the results.

For the rest of the day, we were walking around like zombies...was I infected? Were we infected? The other DrC now had a fever and he was feeling "off" too. The elephant in the room was "what will we do if both of us have this dreaded disease"?

We were not very hungry for dinner, but I fixed a little something. We needed to take our minds off the elephant, so I suggested a diversion. We looked at 4 episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It was a great diversion. Worrying about vampires and the mythical destruction of the world was the way to go.(I guess that sounds strange, but there you go.) We did not think once about what might be in store for us. 

This morning, no call arrived. The other DrC was getting antsy. We were feeling pretty good. The fevers were gone. At 11:39 I called the hospital. After 3 transfers, I was put in touch with Don and he said "he tried to call me earlier today but my phone just rang and rang"...I never heard the ring. Then he said...are you ready...the test was NEGATIVE.

I hope you don't have to go thru that scare. It's pretty bad. Now I'll go back to looking at the pretty fall leaves.