RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
007. Maud Adams. Britt Ekland. The Man with the Golden Gun. What’s not to like?
Every New Year’s Day I always hear this song by Dan Fogelberg, and it gets stuck in my head. It’s a great song, with a great story. “Same Old Lang Syne” always sounds so good this time of year.
Monday the 26th – STILL NOT BACK! – I got up around noon but did nothing. I still wasn’t back to my old self again. I went on-line and paid for my health insurance for the coming year. I wanted to go for a walk with Roxy but it was too cold and cloudy. I just wasn’t into it. So I laid on the couch and slept on and off for the next 12 hours. My body was trying to tell me something. I got up and fed and walked Roxy, worked on my database, did a few auditions, worked on my computer and tried to deal with my lingering cough; which is very annoying!
Tuesday the 27th – GOOD NIGHT, SWEET PRINCESS! – When I woke up around 1 I got a text about the passing of Carrie Fisher. Good Lord we’ve really hit a rough spot in popular culture! But the day was sunny and warm and it felt good to get out for lunch with my pal Kevin Castro. He’s the producer/creator of my web series “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys” and he’s been dealing with a lot of junk of his own over the past year. We have two more episodes in the can, but he just hasn’t found time to cut them together with his crazy schedule. At lunch we discussed a few ideas for getting those done and hopefully we’ll have them ready during the beginning of the year some time. I went over to Staples to get supplies for my year-end tax receipts, dropped off my comforter to the dry cleaners, and picked up my packages at my mailbox. I got a male sitting mannequin which I’ll be dressing up as Hutch and leaving in my Gran Torino when I get it back. Not only will it make for a great display, it will give pause to those who may be looking to do my car harm. And I didn’t get it to be able to drive in the carpool lane, since I never take the Torino on the freeway anyway. It’s too dangerous to the paint, with all the flying rocks and crazy drivers. I went home to unload all my stuff and check my e-mails. My assistant Sara came over to start on some more scanning while I got a nap on the couch. I got up later to do some work, fed and walked Roxy, typed out Wally’s Week, and made some spaghetti so I could watch another episode of “Barnaby Jones” before bed. It was the first day I’ve kind of felt back to normal in several weeks.
Wednesday the 28th – NO H20! – The homeowners in our complex got a note late yesterday telling us that our water would be off from 9am to 5pm so that an emergency issue could be repaired. Well, with no water, there was no choice but to lay around all day. I couldn’t get a shower so I wasn’t able to go out anywhere. I had lots of things I wanted to do, but it just wasn’t possible. The water didn’t come back on until almost 6pm! Plus they sent us another note saying the work didn’t get completed and we wouldn’t have water on Thursday morning either. Ugh! By the time the water got back on I was itching to get out and eat. So Sara and I met at Ernie’s Taco House for some delicious Mexican food. I got home and rested on the couch, and then got up to work on my computer editing and re-labeling my personal log entries for 2015. I didn’t want 2017 coming on without my log entries for 2015 being archived and ready to go. I promised myself to get busy right away with editing, re-labeling and archiving my 2016 entries. I sent out my New Year’s Eve movie night invites, and I was really looking forward to having some people over after not having movie night for two weeks (one night I was too sick, and the other was Christmas Eve). I did some end-of-the-year bookkeeping stuff, made a pizza, and watched the final “Barnaby Jones” episode from the fourth season DVD set.
Thursday the 29th – GROOMING MY DOG…AND ME?! – Even though the water workers had said our water would be back on at noon, they lied. I got up at noon and the water wasn’t back on yet. But I had a lunch commitment at 12:30, so I threw on some clothes and walked with some of my neighbors over to the Studio Café for lunch. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. Even celebrities Lea Thompson and Ed Asner were spotted eating there. When we finished lunch I took Roxy over to my groomer’s to get her a much-needed bath. Heck, they had water! I wonder if they would bathe me too while I was there! But by the time I got back home the water was back on, thankfully. The gorgeous, warm, sunny day really had me feeling alive again and back to my old self. When I got back home I did some work on the computer; printing receipt e-mails from 2016 that I would need in my tax files before I closed them out for the year. My pal Natalie Duran was in the area so she stopped by to catch up. I hadn’t seen her in several weeks, with my bronchitis taking up all of my valuable time. I caught a nap until 2am, and then got up to feed and walk Roxy. I did some more receipt-printing and listened to it as it started to rain outside. I made some chili (appropriate for such a cool, rainy evening) and started in on “Lost In Space” Season 3 on Blu Ray!
Friday the 30th – E9! DEE-VINE! – I got about three hours of sleep in while listening to it rain outside (the best sleep) before it was time to get up for the maids. While they worked away I sat at my computer printing more receipts for my taxes. After they left I had Sara meet me at DuPar’s for lunch. Normally on a rainy day I sit in the same spot at DuPar’s and order the same thing. But the section by the window (where I like to watch it rain) was closed. So we had to sit at a booth a ways away. Not quite the same. After lunch I came back home to keep printing my receipts. I grabbed a short nap and Sara came over to do some work. I’m trying to get all my “orphaned” photos scanned before the end of the year. “Orphaned” photos are those pictures I have lying around in files and folders that don’t nice, cushy photo albums to live in. Once they’re all scanned, I’m going to have them all freshly mounted in brand new photo albums. I got up later (still trying to rest as much as possible) and fed and walked Roxy. I also finished printing my 2016 receipt e-mails for my tax files. Now it’s time to pack them up and store them to clear the way in my file cabinet for my 2017 receipts. To celebrate, I went to Denny’s to get some food to eat later. Just before I hit the hay at dawn, I checked into the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam again to see if one of the eggs had hatched. Sure enough, one of the babies had hatched just a half hour ago! He was tiny, wobbly, gray and fuzzy. And really cute! I sat there like a proud papa snapping screenshots that I could post on my Twitter and Facebook pages. They’re calling him E9, as that’s the 9th eagle this eagle mom has hatched since they started observing her. I watched “Lost in Space” and ate my Denny’s while watching it rain outside. Nice!
Saturday the 31st – BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! – It was amazingly relaxing to lay around in bed until 4 with the pets. Then I got up to do some work around the house. I had a new art piece I wanted to hang, which involved needing to move a few other pieces around to get it to fit in. Then I got ready for my New Year’s Eve movie night gathering. The New Year’s Eve day forecast called for rain all day, but clearing in the evening. So I worked away while listening to it rain outside. It was a great time with friends and movies, and we saw in the coming of 2017 together. We watched “The Secret Life of Pets” and it was really great. But while the movie played I caught myself mouth breathing. Why was I mouth breathing? I thought maybe I was having an allergic reaction to something, so I went upstairs and used some Sinex to clear my sinuses. But by the time everyone left, my head was hurting, my teeth were aching, and I was convinced that I had acquired a sinus infection. Damn! Just as I was getting better from my two week battle with bronchitis and the flu, now I have to deal with this! And of COURSE it happens when a doctor visit isn’t possible for several days! Just my luck. After everyone left I grabbed a short nap on the couch. I got up later to take some more pain meds, do a little work putting things away, and I made my traditional Saturday night salad. I don’t know if it was how I was feeling, or if it was really that bad, but the old BBC episode of “The New Avengers” I watched was really awful. It was made awful by the horrible lead villain in the episode. He was an awful actor, way miscast, and annoying to watch. It seemed like he was just out of high school drama class. He was a big, obese white guy who looked to be about 19. But he was playing an “ASIAN” villain with an annoying, low, raspy voice. (Though I suspect that his voice was dubbed by somebody else because his acting was probably so bad.) But it was really wrong on many levels. I’m thinking he was the nephew of one of the producers who needed an acting job. It was really terrible.
Sunday the 1st – WOKE UP NEW YEAR’S DAY WITH MY HEAD POUNDING! – No, it wasn’t what you’re thinking. I’ve never been drunk (heck, I’ve never even drank alcohol before!) but this must be what it feels like to be hung over. My left nostril was severely stuffed, and I had a severe headache that hurt every time I moved. I thought about going to an Urgent Care facility, but I’ve never had good luck at those places. So I took more nose spray and pain meds, and laid back down again. My doctor won’t be back in the office until Tuesday, but I called his office and left a message with his scheduler that I needed to get in at some point on Tuesday. I got up later in the afternoon to feed the pets, then took some more meds and went back to bed. I slept all day and all night, and it was darned painful! Here we go again…
Monday the 2nd – SHIRLEY RETURNS! – As expected, I laid around all day throwing back more painkillers for the intense headache, tooth pain and face pain. I also squirted more Sinex to keep my nasal passages open. When I got up around 5:30 I was feeling pretty good. I felt even better when I got a message from my “adopted grandma” Shirley, whom I hadn’t seen in over a month. She’s been having her own health issues, but her family got her moved into her assisted living place and she was glad to be back in the area. I woke up craving spaghetti at Little Toni’s, so I called Sara and had her meet me there. But I brought along a surprise for her…GRANDMA SHIRLEY! I stopped by her place and picked her up. She had a spring in her step again, though she now walks with her ever-present cane. Sara was really surprised to see her and we had a great dinner (though Shirley had just eaten with her neighbors at her facility.) But she had some coffee and ice cream while we ate. I gave Shirley her Christmas gift, and boy was she elated! It’s a perfume she likes that’s not produced any more. She said her relatives tried to find some for her but they didn’t have any luck. I told her you could find anything on the internet. What I didn’t tell her was how expensive it was; given the fact that it’s no longer being produced. But it doesn’t matter because she really loved it. She gave me my present too, which was a hand-made blanket. It was a blanket she commissioned by a friend, since Shirley’s been a little “too busy” to have made it herself. My pain meds started wearing off toward the end of dinner so I had to get home and get medicated again. So I promptly came home and used my new blanket for a nap on the couch. Not sure why, but it just seems a little warmer and more comfy than my other blankets. I got up later to feed and walk Roxy, and I turned on my phone in hopes that I can get into see my doctor tomorrow. Stay tuned!
And how was YOUR New Year’s week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
New Year’s Eve morning I sat on my computer getting screenshots of a newly hatched baby eagle that I’ve been watching on webcam. It’s been amazing to watch!
