Day 34-BA2.12.1 is the current variant
I went on the Harvest Moon Hike at Central Park today…the moon was orange!!
6/14/22. Tuesday
SPRING SEMESTER CLASSES ARE OVER!!! MY SUMMER BREAK OFFICIALLY BEGINS TODAY!!!
6:00-6:15-My alarm goes off, but I lie in bed for transition time.
6:15-6:30-I need to get up if I want to make it on time for my hiking group. Downstairs to say good morning to the dog and she is fast asleep on the couch. I sit next to her and rub her tummy until she wakes up, then we head to the backyard. I survey my plants while she does her business. Return inside and cheese for her, coffee for me. I go upstairs.
6:30-7:30-Shower. I sit in the shower, drink my coffee, and ice my eyes. Lotion. Athletic Housewife attire: I wear a turquoise, T-back, tank top, T-back sports bra, grey leggings, my new hiking shoes, and my fedora. I don’t bother with make-up because I’m wearing sunglasses.
7:30-7:50-I drive to Whitney Canyon and eat my leftover Scramble [from Eat Real Cafe] in the car.
8:00-9:30-Renee, the coordinator, is there and she is so warm and funny. Renee is great about remembering everyone’s name and greets me as I walk up. I also see Sarah from the Striders group. Sarah hasn’t been walking for awhile and tells me that she gave up on walking after a couple of business meetings caused her to miss - she never returned.
Sarah and I walk on trail briefly but then Sarah says she’s going to move ahead because she wants to walk faster. This galls me. I’m a fast hiker and I like to get my cardio in, too, but the trail is packed with people right now and I can’t move. Give me a minute and I’m usually in the Top 5. I wonder if she thinks I’m too old... Sarah appears to be around 30-something…
As a group, we hike an almost vertical incline and it’s pretty tough - I’m out of breath but I keep going. Sarah has found a fellow walker who can match her pace - they climb up the incline like mountain goats. Admittedly, they are well ahead of me although I’m #4 but, hey, it’s not a contest, right? So why do I make it one? Still, their speed is impressive, but I quickly gain ground until I’m right behind them, at a respectable distance…I don’t want to crowd, or “stalk” anybody.
This particular trail isn’t a loop so, at 45 minutes in, we turn around. The waterfall at the end of the trail dried up and we’re actually walking through a desiccated creek bed and scorched brush. A pity.
As I’m walking, I meet ‘Clare.’ She says, ‘Ellen, right?’ These ladies are so good with names! She remembered my name from Renee’s greeting this morning, but there must have been 28 people Renee greeted. Clare worked for Fox, in the “dark room”, which she says amounted to “data entry”, for 30 years, when she was briefly laid off due to the pandemic, causing her to reassess her life. She appears to be part of the “Big Quit” phenom that swept the country last year.
After talking to her husband and doing some soul searching, Clare retired from Fox and decided to study Qi gong, which is similar to Tai Chi. After two years of study [2022], Clare felt she was good enough to teach Qui gong and applied to our local Parks and Recreation [the same program that offers my Hiking and Walking classes]. Clare said she was interviewed by a Parks and Rec panel, showed them her Qi gong moves, and six months later she was put on the Summer schedule. She teaches Qi gong twice a week, but the City takes 40% of her proceeds. Clare says she makes virtually nothing at this gig…being an Instructor for Parks and Rec appears to be a labor of love…or good ol’ fashioned worker exploitation.
Clare has a bad knee from running - her cartilage has ground down to the bone - but she is trying to prolong a knee replacement for as long as possible so she switched to hiking in lieu of running. Of interest is that Clare is on the Kaiser Glaucoma Watch List after a “freckle” developed in her eye, at which point she was referred to Ophthalmology, where she was told she might have glaucoma. I’m on a “watch list”, too, although Helm doesn’t call it that…in fact, they don’t call it anything. Clare knows “her [glaucoma] numbers.” Nobody bothered to tell me MY numbers. She says that Qi Gong increases blood flow and after two years of consistent practice, her “numbers” went down and she was finally removed from the watch list. Clare says her eyesight also improved.
I wonder what my numbers are…
We reach the end of the hike and as we’re all stretching, Renee tells me I look like like a model (insert smile emoji here). I tell Renee, who is actually beautiful inside and out, “Uh, no. You’re the model.” Renee turns and says the same thing to Sarah, who replies, “Yeah, we get that a lot.” It was very funny.
9:30-10:00-Return home and I eat some bacon and apple slices.
10:00-11:30-I read How to Win Friends and Tell Me Everything.
11:30-12:00-L. scheduled a private today so I tidy the Studio, trim the dead leaves off the succulents, and straighten the kitchen.
12:00-1:00-L. and I discover a huge, disgusting, winged bug in the skylight, above my cabinets, moving slowly, in a twisting, sidewinder way. It’s gross and creepy. We’re terrified so L. calls her current boyfriend, T., and asks him if he can come over and kill it. T’s lunch break isn’t for another two hours so L. calls T’s roommate, Omar, and begs him to kill this bug, bribing him with $40 if he comes now. This is no joke…L. and I have never seen a winged insect this big or this disgusting…we’re hysterical (more or less).
I get out bug-killing supplies - a ladder, a broom, and a magazine - then hide in my room. Omar arrives a short time later, climbs almost to the top rung of the ladder because #skylight, rolls up the magazine, and smashes the insect. L takes pictures and I see the insect up close and personal - it’s 2 inches long with yellow and black stripes. L thinks it’s a ‘paper wasp’ - even Omar was disturbed.
1:00-2:00-On SUNDAY, “Nick”, from AC Clinic, called me and scheduled an appointment for my air conditioner, between 1:00 and 4:00 pm., for today. This is the first time I have ever been contacted by a contractor on a Sunday, (was he hoping I wouldn’t answer?) but I’ve been carrying my cell phone, on my person, 24/7, in the hopes that this m—her f—ker would finally call me, so I answered on the first ring.
I work on my bullet journal while Omar kills the bug and I wait for Nick to show up. We have not had air conditioning for six days. It is miserable in this house.
2:00-4:00-The A/C repairman/owner (Nick) arrives around 3:00 pm and I give him hell over the fact that we have waited SIX days for him to assess the unit - this is ridiculous. When I ask him why nobody ever answers the phone, he says he can’t afford a secretary. I realize this is the same employee who called me on Sunday to schedule the appointment. A/C Clinic is a business of ONE - what a disaster.
Nick checks the unit and informs me that it is out of Freon. Yes, I know, having had this problem several times prior. It is out of Freon because there is a perpetual leak in the unit. This leak has been “patched” on multiple occasions, over the past 13 years, because First American ABSOLUTELY REFUSES to replace the unit, opting instead for what they call “modifications.” In the fine print of my contract, a “modification” is the homeowner’s responsibility. Over the past 13 years, I have spent $5,521 on First American’s forced modifications because they will not spend $10,000 to replace my air conditioner.
Clearly, there is a leak, [Hello! No Freon] but Nick says No, the unit just needs more Freon. He adds Freon to the reservoir and makes no attempt to investigate why there is no Freon in the unit.
On his way out, Nick tells me that “my condenser is filthy.” For those who don’t know, the condenser is the “shell”, if you will, that surrounds the actual unit. Yes, the condenser is filthy because this, too, should either be serviced or replaced. When I ask Nick if he can service the condenser, the A/C repairman/owner/business of ONE, says his company “doesn’t do that.” He tells me I can either pay another company $100+ to clean my condenser or I can spray it with “that.” He points to the high-pressured nozzle affixed to my garden hose in the backyard. “The hose?”, I say, doubtfully. “That’s how you clean a condenser?” Yes, he says. That’s all you have to do. He leaves and I dutifully spray the condenser with my garden hose.
-I go inside the house and turn on the air conditioner. It works - what a relief. We don’t realize what a wonderful invention circulating air is until we don’t have it. Spoiler Alert: in three days, the unit will run out of Freon, because there is a LEAK, and this process will start all over again.
I write a check for the $85 Service Fee [Ck No. 2134, dated 6/14/22], per my contract and hand it to Nick. Spoiler Alert: this check will clear on 6/21/22, but by October 2022, First American, after accusing me multiple times of having never paid the service fee and INSISTING that I pay it (again), even after I provide evidence from my bank that the check for the service fee has, in fact, cleared, will send me to COLLECTIONS over an $85.00 invoice, because corrupt “Nick” continues to inform First American that he never got my check, WHEN HE CASHED IT!! But I don’t know any of this yet…
I take a nap after all that excitement.
4:00-6:30-Blog posts.
6:30-7:30-I drive to the Harvest Moon Hike at Central Park, which is sponsored by my local library. This event was billed as a “Summer Stroll” so I’m under the assumption that attendees will be walking around the park, NOT hiking. To be on the safe side, I wear hiking attire just in case, but forego my hiking boots and wear regular tennis shoes instead. The park is huge and filled with people playing all types of sports. I have no idea where to go because the Library didn’t bother to specify exactly where everyone would be meeting. I circle the park in my car several times and keep an eye out for the Library crew or a group of walkers navigating the park, but ultimately see nothing.
7:30-8:00. Driving…driving…when suddenly I see a long line of people trudging up the mountain! So it is a hike! Almost simultaneously, I see a tiny kiosk set up by one of the public restrooms with a banner that says “Library.” The head of the Library’s “Self-help Book Club” [recall that this book club was canceled] is manning the kiosk and confirms that the line of people are library patrons. Damn! I’m in my running shoes, NOT my hiking boots, and I have no flashlight or yoga mat to roll out at the top of the hill. Plus I’m late…they have a significant head start on me…
8:00-9:30-I decide to go for it anyway. I park and walk to the mountain. I’ve done this hike before - it leads to the water tower and it’s a pretty good workout. I hike to the top and, surprisingly, it’s packed with people - big turnout! The Library was prepared - they laid out huge blankets and assorted yoga mats all over the ridge in advance. While we wait for the moon to rise, a ‘sound bath’ is piped through some speakers - this is great!. Next to me is a lady sitting with her dog in her lap. The dog looks like my dog, only a better, well-behaved version - it’s very sweet, watching her and her dog waiting for the moon to rise.
The moon comes up and it’s solid orange! Beautiful…
I send a text to L. asking how to convert my phone into a flashlight so I can walk down the mountain and, although she sends me instructions, I still can’t figure it out. I end up walking behind various individuals using the lights they’re shining on trail for guidance. I have no flashlight and I’m also slipping all over the place because I’m wearing the wrong shoe and the traction is bad. This is so treacherous but I make it to the bottom in one piece. Whew!
10:00-10:30-I drive home and eat my walnut-honey-apple, Greek yogurt mixture on the way.
11:00-12:00-Blog posts.
12:00-1:30-I take a nap.
1:30-4:30-Continue with blog posts.
4:30-5:30-Nighttime routine. Bed. The air conditioner is running tonight! :-)