July 4th

Today we are heading to cousin P&S's 4th of July barbeque where they welcome 250 of their closest friends and relatives! It's really a neighborhood block party that just grew and grew. It should be interesting to see how many of the folks who came in the past because they were friends of the grandparents generation will come again this year now that the grandparents have passed on. They provide the dogs, burgers and beverages and everyone is assigned a dish to bring. We were assigned dessert so I'm taking some cookies and cream cupcakes.

Fireworks

With all the risk of fire in California it seems rather odd that many towns permit the sale of "safe and sane" fireworks. This temporary sales booths have sprouted up all over the area. Ironically the booths are operated by non-profit organizations with the proceeds going toward programs for the organization. I find this practice all so puzzling. Here is an example of one of the booths - this one operated by the Christian Community School.

Polished up

A couple of years ago while visiting my brother and sister-in-law at the Cape I noticed that their front porch tile looked shiny and new. My sister-in-law said she had just used some product on it. It looked great. I've been meaning to do the tile in our front patio since last summer but never got around to it until today. I used a product by Trewax called Sealer Finish. The tile came out really shiny and new looking. Yay!

A new tooth

Forty five years ago when I was a freshman in college I had an abscessed tooth and couldn't afford a root canal. So I had the tooth pulled. Over the years I had many work-arounds to fill the space - initially nothing, then temporary bridges, followed by a removable bridge and finally a permanent bridge. Then 3 years ago one of the anchor teeth for the bridge cracked and it had to be pulled leaving me with 2 missing teeth in a row. We were getting ready to move to CA at the time and it didn't make sense to start the process of replacing the teeth until we got settled out here.

Well, the first dentist we had out here didn't think there was much of a rush to do anything about the missing teeth. Then we switched dentists and the current dentist explained that over time the teeth on the bottom would start to push upward because they don't have anything to chew against. After that discussion I decided to proceed with getting an implant. That part of the process was completed in December 2009. It took until now to get the go ahead to get the crown put on. They only replaced one tooth. The cost per implant in CA was about $1,500 less than the cost in CT. Go figure.

Zumba

The last two Mondays I've tried a Zumba class. http://www.zumba.com/us/about/ I had heard from so many people how fun it is. It is supposed to be an aerobics class based in latin dance. A week ago Monday a couple of girlfriends and I tried the new class offered in town. We enjoyed the class, worked off some calories and had a fun time. I went on my own this past Monday. There were only 6 zumbites in the class. I was a little disappointed as the music and the exercise program were identical to the week before. I have been really spoiled by our fitness instructors at our gym. The routines are always changing as is the music. The body doesn't have time to adapt much and you really get a great work out. The Zumba instructor is gone for 2 weeks and I'm not sure if I'll be going back when she returns.

Relay for Life

Yesterday my girlfriend and I walked our hour together so we walked for 2 hours. The sun came out and the track at St. Patrick's school was packed. There were competitions for decorated hats, cars, most raffle tickets sold, most ingenious booth. People were selling everything from organic vegetables to homemade chocolate bon bons. When we signed up to walk we knew nothing about the involvement required! Boy were we surprised. We stuck to our guns and raised money and walked. Lesson learned - before saying yes to any of these activities, ask what will be involved, how will it work etc. You'd think I'd learn after all my years but....anyway, we participated and the woman running our team did an awesome job and I think the team raised over $7,000.

Walk on the beach

It's June here on the mesa which usually means June Gloom. It's been pretty nice with little marine layer for much of the month. It finally arrived last week but it hasn't been all that consistent. Today T and I headed to the beach and the marine layer was drifting in and out as we drove to the beach. The wind was mild and the temperature was in the mid 60s. The sun darted in and out with the ebb and flow of the marine layer. When we got to Pismo the sun was out but on the return trip to the parking lot the fog was inching in again.