Day 9 - Mask mandate RESCINDED; we do NOT need to mask indoors

I saw and identified a Dark-Eyed Junco today…

3/12/22. Saturday 

…6:20-6:30 – No. It’s bad.  I lay in bed for the next 15 minutes.

6:30-6:45 – I go downstairs to warm up my coffee and the dog is out of it – this is way too early for her. I put my coffee in the microwave and I’m shocked when she rolls off the couch and stumbles over to the kitchen to say good morning. I take my coffee out to the patio and sip it while I wait for the dog to go potty. I survey the yard and note that my plants are dry and the yard needs work.

6:45-7:45 – Shower. I sit in the shower, drink my coffee, and ice my eyes. I listen to More Happier. Lotion. I put on jeans, a T-shirt, and a sweatshirt (layers).

7:45-8:00 – I drive to Placerita Canyon for bird watching today.  I have my yogurt, apple, walnut mixture for breakfast and put my make-up on in the car.

8:00-9:30 – Awshook is not there today, but Cliff has returned.  He tells me that his son, the trombone player, is also in the 8th-grade jazz band. Impressive.

-Today’s docent is “Ken.” I learn that he and his wife moved from Wisconsin to California three years ago, where they encountered two earthquakes, a fire, and 108-degree heat [insert smile emoji here]. Later, on trail, I ask Ken which agency he retired from and he tells me he was a biology professor at Bard College.  No wonder he decided to become a docent at Placerita Nature Center - this is in keepin with his former line of work.

Ken says that he and his wife left Wisconsin to follow his daughter’s career at Cal Arts, the over-priced art school down the street from my home where L. was UNABLE to attend because we couldn’t afford the $60,000 a year tuition. Impressed that his daughter is an instructor for Cal Arts, I ask what subject she teaches.  There’s a long pause…Ken is quiet for about 30 seconds…then says, “Um…something with fabric, I think.” “Oh”, I say brightly. “Textiles?” I’m genuinely curious as L. is an artist, too. Ken says, “No…not that…I don’t really remember.”  I find this so odd…how can you NOT know your daughter’s medium?.. so I gently prod him: “Charcoal? Oils? Pastels?”  Finally, Ken has an Eureka moment and says, “She’s an Installation Artist!” He doesn’t elaborate further…I doubt he knows what that is.

-Anyway, as soon as he and his wife arrive in California and settle in near Cal Arts, their daughter promptly moves to San Francisco [insert smile emoji here]. “So are you and your wife headed to San Francisco now?” I tease. “No”, he says. “We like it here.”  LA County staff are still forced to mask and although Ken is masking, there is nothing light and airy about his response. I can tell by his eyes that he’s not smiling…I might have crossed a line or maybe it’s a sore subject. 

I mean, hey, you live in Wisconsin for 30 years, pull up stakes to follow your child to California during FIRE season, and she moves away within months? I’d be pissed, too, if that was my main impetus for moving, but it’s not his daughter’s fault. She’s probably trying to navigate her life and career and San Francisco was the next step in the journey. The moral of this story is ‘don’t follow your kid.’  Come on…he didn’t even know what she did at Cal Arts.  That’s how uninterested he is in her career…I doubt he takes it seriously. I move to the back of the bird watching line.

-Walking through the canyon and looking at the birds is my favorite part of the Saturday morning “hike”, if you want to call it that as it’s not really a hike at all…it’s mild, flat terrain. I can actually breathe in the canyon and everything is so green after the recent rains. Beautiful.

-I’m getting better at this bird watching thing. I’m sure I make the same comment every blog post, but here I go again…my Dad’s binoculars are really good quality. I correctly identify another bird…a Dark Eyed Junco. I cross reference it with my pamphlet and Ken verifies that I’m correct. Cliff sees my binoculars and says, “Hey, I like your binoculars!” I say, “Thanks!  My Dad gave them to me” like I’m 12-years-old.  Why did I respond like that? Cliff is silent and turns away…I move to the back of the bird watching line again.

-A young Asian couple joins us on trail, but they speak Chinese the entire time.

-Today, I see tons of Scrub Jays, California quail, an Allen’s hummingbird, a Golden-Crowned Sparrow,  and we hear, but don’t see, several Bushtits.

-I’ve been leaving at the bathroom break which is, roughly, the 90-minute mark. Part II of bird watching is out of the canyon and involves trekking through a big drainage tunnel to get to the Oak of the Golden Dream, which I don’t particularly care for.  I prefer to be deep in the canyon so I call it at 9:30.

9:30-10:00 – I drive to the Starbucks parking lot, but I don’t buy anything.  Instead, I sit in my car, listen to Fresh Air, and eat one of the donuts that B. brought over the other day. It’s stale but still good.

10:00-11:15 – Still in my car while I bullet journal.

11:15-11:30 – I drive to Home Depot because I live at Home Depot; and;

11:30-11:40 – exchange the sandpaper squares for the correct size.  Everyone is still masking but I don’t bother. I already had Omicron. I listen to Market Place.

11:40-12:15 – I drive to Staples and buy an ink cartridge and two Sharpies. Everyone’s still masking…I’m starting to feel uncomfortable because I’m afraid the customers think I’m one of those psycho, anti-vaxxer Republicans. I listen to Organize 365.

12:15-12:35 – I drive to Ralphs, sit in my car, and watch the customers to see if they’re masking. They are so I put my mask on, too, before I go inside. There’s a run on fresh basil and I can’t find it anywhere.  Is this due to the Ukraine war? I find “basil in a tube” and buy it along with some avocados.

12:35-1:00 – Drive home and I listen to Today Explained.

1:00-2:00 – I have my remaining taco and read the Nature Fix. Recall that this is a book club pick.

2:00-3:00 – I take the dog for a walk, listen to Air Talk Film Week and eat some dark-chocolate malt balls and some of L.’s vanilla wafers from Trader Joes for a snack.

3:30-6:30 – Gardening. I rake all the leaves in the Astroturf section, clean the beds, and sweep the leaves on the patio and in the red rock areas. Then, I trim the plants, clean out the pots, unclog the fountain, and water all of my plants. I listen to several episodes of The Double Shift.

6:30-7:00 – Kitchen duty and I ready my coffee for tomorrow.

7:00-7:45 – I do a 30-minute Insanity Max – Tabata Power workout.

8:00-9:00 – I heat up a turkey burger that I made a few days ago and add tomato slices and lettuce from a spring salad mixture. I also cut up an avocado.  I eat dinner while I read Nature Fix.

9:00-9:30 – Eating the turkey burger was a big mistake. I ate too much and it landed like lead in my stomach. I can’t move and remain in my chair, listening to podcasts.

10:00-2:00 – I spend this time grading Question No. 2 on the Socratic Seminar papers and taking intermittent breaks. It’s Daylight Savings Time and we have to set the clocks ahead, so I lose an hour.

3:00-3:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed.