So my website is still kind of messed up. I’m trying to keep it up though. As it turns out, I noticed it works OK with Chrome; Firefox not so much. Ten years ago I would have worked on fixing it until it was good with both. But, it ain’t ten years ago… I’ll just grudgingly use Chrome for now.

I can’t say that was most exciting weekend I’ve ever had, but it certainly wasn’t the most boring either. OK maybe Friday was the most boring day I’ve ever had. It happens. We were worn out from another big Halloween, and just kind of lazed around. Halloween was good, as it happens. We had a few people over, and hung out around our fire pit in the driveway passing out candy and eating chili. I’d say we probably had 75 or so kids come by, although we weren’t really counting. Seemed like a lot, and we did get rid of a substantial amount of candy. (Although, looking at the pile of wrappers in the trash can the next day, a significant amount may have been consumed by us.) And, for a brief moment, we thought we may have hit on a house to go check out. Alas, the more we looked at it online, the less appealing it became. For one thing, it was a good chunk of change over our self-determined “max price,” although we have very nearly conceded that price isn’t really going to work out. So, we overlooked that one for a short time. It also had a few bonus features that made it attractive, for instance a game room. I’ve never had a game room, and always wanted one. OK, OK, we’re looking good here. Then we noticed this little nugget of info under Lot Features… “Snow Line Above.” Wait, what? Like, the white messy stuff that falls from the sky? Well, yeah that stuff, up to three feet a few times a year. Scratch that one.

Saturday and Sunday were similarly low-key. Saturday we made a big Costco run Saturday, which is always an exciting time. Gassed up the car, picked up some groceries, that sort of stuff. Sunday, we went over to a friend’s house to enjoy brunch and watch the Chiefs game. We spent the entire first quarter trying to actually get the broadcast on the TV; Not as easy as we’d hoped. Success was finally achieved via a trial streaming subscription on a laptop, paired with my handy VPN service to make our location appear as Los Angeles. Geez man, is nothing easy? But, we did get to watch the majority of it on their back patio while enjoying pancakes and eggs so it all worked out.

Yay, Halloween season is here! That means it’s time for our annual “sit in the driveway and hand out candy” party! OK that sounds pretty lame but we look forward to it every year. Big pot of chili, fire pit, 15 lbs of candy and it’s a party. As close to a party as I care to get, anyway. Speaking of parties, we actually attended one this weekend. Our friends Michael and Alaina hosted the yearly blind-beer-tasting up at their house. Always a grand time. It has grown progressively larger over the years, as these things tend to do. This year featured 33 different beers to taste and rate. Well beyond my attention span, I might add. It was a great time as always, despite the fact that my entry did not win. Tasteless savages. Actually I do not recall what did win… Probably a Zima knowing this crowd.

That party pretty well ate up our weekend. In other local news is the big power outages, AGAIN. What a farce. Luckily (knock on wood,) our house has not been impacted yet, but it is uncomfortably close. I spent a good amount of time Sunday shopping for generators, just in case. You know, something similar to the one I sold for next-to-nothing in our garage sale last year. Because who would ever need a generator out here, right? Good grief. Actually the party hosts lost power the day of the event. How convenient is that; You invite 70+ people over and the lights go out. Luckily they were able to secure a loaner generator and get it hooked up in time, which performed admirably. In the “what a drag” news, one of our favorite wineries is no more, having burned down in the Kincade fire. We’ve been members there for a few years and always look forward to a visit when we get down that way. Actually, I think we have a shipment waiting for pickup; Something tells me we can write that one off. It was a very cool building too, it’s just really a bummer. To top it all off, the suspected cause is faulty power lines. Apparently these shut-offs aren’t doing a whole lot of good.

This whole website thing is a real pain. Something is broken, I don’t know what, and I really don’t care to put a whole lot of effort into figuring it out. Things should just work, you know? But, I guess sometimes they just don’t.

Anyway… What have we been up to over this extended down-time? Not a lot, honestly. Friday night we stayed in and made pasta. We haven’t done that in a while, and need to do it more often. Good wholesome fun, right? We made some linguine noodles, and served it with shrimp alfredo. OK, the alfredo sauce was out of a jar, but we added some basil from our garden and some good shrimp from the grocery, and it made a more than passable dish. After that I retired to the couch in the back yard to watch a movie… Something of an unfortunately common ending to my days anymore.

Saturday we did just not a whole lot. We were dog-sitting for the weekend, and the three of them together can be…. “challenging.” They take a watchful eye, to be sure. Mostly Quinn and his partner in crime, Renfield. I don’t speak doggy, but it is almost like they are communicating bad ideas to each other somehow. Alone they are “not bad.” (Which is not say “good” by any stretch.) Put them together and they dig holes in the yard, carry in random disgusting things and leave them around the house, and bark incessantly at nothing. Bad eggs. They do entertain each other, though, which is nice. I just wish they could be a bit less destructive about it. We did risk a venture out of the house around 5:00 to meet some friends for happy hour, which was fun. We headed down the street to Moto. I like that place, and we don’t get there very often. It hit the spot for sure. I think we ran through their entire appetizer menu, and doubled up on a few.

Sunday we watched the 49’ers game, and then did a little light house hunting. We’ve been “considering” moving, but so far it’s been one big disappointment. We set our price-point at about Way-More-Than-I-Ever-Thought-I’d-Spend-On-A-House, and we’ve been shopping for a few months. What you get in said price-point is disheartening to say the least. Most are somewhere between unlivable and total rehab. Add into the fun, you have to drive about 45 minutes out to find anything at all in that range. Might be stuck in the ‘burbs for a while longer at this rate. (Speaking of disheartening.)

Please bear with me…. This one could take a while….

Mostly quiet on the western front, with the exception of a few shows we made it out to. For our “opening act” we drove the motor home up to Tahoe to see Dave Matthews. Love him or hate him, it’s always a great show. Side note, if you hate him you are completely misguided in your musical tastes. I am not sure how many times I’ve seen him actually, but I always enjoy it. On the other hand, I do NOT enjoy the Harvey’s Outdoor Arena. I’ve skipped several shows that Donette went to, because they were at that place. It’s hard to get in and out, and for the bigger shows (like this one) it’s all General Admission. I got there a little early to secure a good spot down front, but once you’re there you ain’t moving until the show is over. This kid is entirely too old, not to mention out of shape, for standing in the same spot on blacktop for a 2+ hour show. Last year I actually bailed out a little early, but this time I stuck it out, and my back paid for it. To add insult to injury, the sound isn’t very good either. To be expected, since it’s a freaking parking lot, but come on; find somewhere else. Anyway, marginal venue aside, I enjoyed the weekend. The antique RV performed flawlessly, and we enjoyed several other “Tahoe activities” while were there too.

After that, we headed back down the hill for a mid-week Cake show. Well, it didn’t work out so good. It was down at the Golden One center, which I generally enjoy, and we had good seats. But, as mentioned above, I am old. After a good dinner at The Bank, we rolled over to the arena, found our seats, and enjoyed a solid opening set from Tall Heights. That was a nice surprise; Never heard of them but they put on a good show. After that one, and a short intermission, Ben Folds came out. Yeah, not a fan. Somewhere in the middle of his set I fell fast asleep. You might think this hard to do in a loud, crowded arena. But I guess the combo of dinner, exhaustion, age, and general disinterest formed something of the perfect storm. I was pretty excited for the Cake show, actually I’ve been looking forward to it for quite some time. Alas, I snoozed through the better part of it. Guess I’ll have to find my cassette tapes and listen at home.