Phew!  I'm tired.  How about you?

We golfed this morning (not a stellar day for any of us but the Dobynses and the Morefields ALL had pars on the first hole...that's worth something. 

Somewhere. 

I'm sure of it.)

Then it was gardening day for me...planted two color bowls, weeded, trimmed and swept the front.  I love being in the garden, working.  It's the best combination of music (courtesy of Ipod), physical labor, nature and solitude that I can imagine.

Then I buzzed off to Orangewood Children's Home to get the tour and meet with various folks regarding how best to help their mentor program.  It looks like I'll be assisting their grant guru when I return from my early-June trip with Mom.

There are about 2500 kids (babies to high schoolers) in foster care in Orange County right now.  I saw a handful of them today at Orangewood and it shattered my heart to see each and every one of these displaced kids.  Thank God for the good folk at Orangewood and the many, many ways they help children navigate the already perilous waters of growth while under fire from above.

I'm so glad to become a part of this group.  It's humbling, scary, sad, and also full of hope that we will make a difference in these lives.  2,500 kids.

And their kids.

And their kids.

Pulled a muscle in my upper back while playing golf today, so I'm a couch potato today.  Thank God for vicodin, ice packs and loving caretakers!  (Not necessarily in that order...)

For the first few months of the year, I was stressed because I wasn't getting enough work done.  Not on the novel, not on the house, not on the ever-mounting-pile-o'-papers on my desk.  But these last few weeks, I've been settling into the idea that this time with Dan is to be treasured and enjoyed. 

Soon enough, there will be days and weeks and months when his work makes us hoard our moments together.  When time must be rigidly structured and diligently guarded.  We will have to share weekends with others instead of making them up out of weekdays (when things are less crowded...especially on the golf course).  I will have great swaths of time to write, to whittle down paper piles, to finish up household projects.  Soon enough.

So I've decided to enjoy this mini-retirement.  To that end, we're  golfing together once a week (in addition to my Thursday nine holes with Renee').  We spent a lovely morning on a local executive course--Casta Del Sol in Mission Viejo.  I shot an 86 and Dan shot a 72.  We played with two women (Sue and Hilda) who used to play at Lake Forest but have graduated to the 18-hole, 3,400 yard course.  I suspect Renee' and I will be doing the same thing soon.

After golf, we went to breakfast.  On the way to The Corner Bakery, American Express called, wanting to check on some recent charges.  None of which were mine.  So I should have a shiny new Amex card tomorrow.  Dan's happy because it means I can't buy anything today.

Although I did take him to Costco so he could buy things.  But if it's not on my bill, it doesn't count, right? 

We're home again!  Dan is fighting a horrible sinus infection.  I am catching up on laundry and nursing a sore back.  We're a pair, eh?  The trip home was uneventful, long and tiring.

We loved our last two weeks with Tom and Renee'.  Good friends, good times.  Nothing like travel to cement a friendship.

Tomorrow it's back to life as usual, at least until we head off for North Carolina this Sunday.  One of our family members is having surgery and we're going back for moral support, help, cheerleading, etc.

After that, I intend to batten down the Orange County hatches and get back to priorities--Dan, health, novel.  For today?  Laundry.  Laundry.  Laundry. 

Nice to be back in California (for however brief a stay). 

Slow news day.  So, I'll catch you up on my goings-on instead of ranting.  In terms of golf, I had an average 9-hole round today at the Lake Forest Golf & Practice Center.  41 for 12 over par.  But, I am not discouraged because of two things.

1.  It's okay to be average.  Especially at something as challenging as golf.

2.  I had an amazing opening hole.  On the green in one, two feet from the pin.  Sunk the putt for a birdie. 

Gardening was on the agenda for most of the afternoon.  I weeded, pruned, scattered "Critter Ridder" and planted two gardenia bushes.  I'm wiped!  No writing today.  I'll catch up tomorrow and Saturday (even Sunday if I need to in order to hit my maximum goal of 10,000 words for the week).  The good news is that I'm already above my minimum goal of 5,000 words per week.  Plus I've written an article for the Start Small Start Now website and blogged.  Phew!

As to good friends, I enjoyed breakfast with Renee' after golf and we had a great discussion about family, faith and recovery.  So much fun to have a woman friend nearby with whom I can relax and chat. 

Another friend thrilled me when she hit the "big time."  Ms. Kelly Bozza, recently published author, was featured in Borders "Rewards Shortlist."  Kelly and her writing partner, Matthew Emerzian, wrote Every Monday Matters and are spearheading a movement that's connected with the concept of making a difference every week.  Check it out.

I think Kelly and Matthew are onto something.

I thought I'd take a potpourri approach to today's entry.  Instead of writing about the day (which has gone swimmingly--thanks for asking), I want to touch on four issues.

1.  Send in the clones.  The FDA (those wonderful people who gave the nod to Vioxx) have given their two thumbs up to meat and milk from cloned animals.  My knee jerk reaction is "eww."  But then I read the article instead of just the headline.  (In my spare time, I might get around to reading the study...but don't hold your breath.)

In the LA Times article, it becomes pretty clear that what will eventually hit the food chain will be the offspring of clones rather than cloned animals themselves.  That's a little more, ahem, palatable.  Especially when you consider that the study shows there to be no difference on any level (biological, nutritional, toxicological) between cloned meat and milk and the real McCoy.

Still, it's a bit worrisome that there won't be any labeling required by the FDA to identify cloned meats or milks.  Eww.

2.  Rock the Vote.  I have a new button on the side of my blog-->  See it there?  I've done my bit.  I've pundicated on presidential candidates (see below for more), reviewed issues and propositions, made recommendations.

Now it's your turn.  If you're not registered to vote, click here.  And do your part.

3. Theocracy anyone?  Oh that Huckabee.  What a kidder!  Do you know he actually said we should "amend the constitution to fit God's standards."  What?  He wasn't kidding?

Seriously.  Which standards are we talking about?  Do we stop (if one agrees with Huckabee) with saying marriage is only between Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve; with saying that women do not have the right to abortion?  Or do we go the whole schmear?  Stone adulterers.  Quit eating pork.  Make women cover their heads with scarves.

I think they're trying out theocracy in parts of the Muslim world.  Why don't we stick with democracy in America.

4.  How much is that doggie in the window?  Meet Charlie.  Hal offered Charlie to me as a crow deterrent.  I said no.  Now I'm reconsidering.

Who's a good boy, huh?

Hey...maybe if we clone Charlie?  Nah.

We have a crow problem.  Every morning and evening, there are about 100 crows that fly through our neighborhood.  That's not the problem, of course.  The problem is they land in our yard and dig up the bedding material around my lovely new landscaping.

Which means that every day I sweep bedding back into the landscape areas and shake my fist at the sky.

I've tried sprinkling cayenne pepper on the bedding.  That worked for a couple of days.  Until it rained.  Then the birds were back to their digging.  I put some new cayenne down this morning, thinking that recent digging indicated the pepper's only effective for a day or two.  And the buggers were at it this afternoon.

Any other suggestions?  According to the Humane Society, I need to negotiate with the crows.  I'll be searching the web later.

As to Propositions, I am done with the California Voter's Guide.  Mosey on over there and check it out.  Arguments, disagreements, salient points and any other sort of feedback needs to be done via the blog for now.

The wonderful Weebly folks are getting back to me on how to have comments on non-blog pages.

My dinner's a cookin' so I'll sign off.  Wonder how crow cooks up?

Up until about 10 minutes ago, I had my day all planned out.

8:00  Drop Dan at the airport
8:30  Starbucks for my Latte
9:00  Brian here to wash/detail cars
11:00 Lunch with Lynne
2:00  Workout
3:00  Blog

However.

Lynne just called to say she's under the weather.  I am feeling a bit punk as well due to a sinus inflammation that really, really wants to be a sinus infection.  So I'm taking Lynne's cancellation as a sign from above (even tho she's agnostic...hmmm...ah well, I can still take it as a sign) and am going to have a day of reading, resting and hydration.

If I'm feeling especially energetic this afternoon, I'll go for a walk in the local park and research the last four propositions for my Voter's Guide.

Tomorrow?  It's all about the Chargers, Baby.  Go Bolts!

Nope, not talking about bridal things (although I am excited to be going along with my niece and sister-in-law when they look at her potential wedding dress next week).

The something new is Twitter.  You'll see it in the sidebar of my blog--a little nano-blog about what I'm doing that I will update as I get used to the concept.  Twitter is a social networking website that allows people to update their locations, activities and general state of mind via the internet.

You follow people.  People follow you.  You talk about what you're up to.  You read about what they're up to.

The last thing I tried along these lines (introduced to me by my friend Erik, as was twitter) was an SMS (Short Message Service) program based off my cell phone where strangers kept trying to befriend me.  I found that vaguely creepy.  Plus, I got text messages all day long.  I soon deleted it.

In Twitter, I have two people I follow (and who follow me).  I'm enjoying seeing what they're up to when they update and posting little snippets of my day.  We'll see how it goes but so far, it's a 5 out of 10 as new tech experiences go.  God forbid I ever do Facebook!

Something old?  I'm following someone the old-fashioned way as we go to visit our friend in prison tomorrow.  The visit will be on Friday and we'll be back Friday night so Dan can head out to be with Dotty and Dick this coming week after her knee surgery.  He's going to be one tired guy!

I'll try to remember to take the right clothes, appropriate shoes, see-through purse, dollar bills for the vending machines, etc.  19 more visits and a pick-up.  LORD willing.

No twittering from prison.  Nor blogging.  So I'll see you in a few days!

Dan and I are just getting ready to sit down and watch the final round of the Tour Championship, so I thought I'd sneak in a blog.  It's been a great day so far. 

A bit of a lie-in for me, getting up around 8:30 and then we were off to breakfast at a local bakery followed by a stroll through the farmer's market.  Today's purchases included some delicious figs, cheese, a zucchini mix, cherry tomatos, pears, some gorgeous lettuce and two loaves of bread (vegan...yummy!).  We took our reusable bags with us and also re-used one of the plastic bags from last trip.

It's a bit ironic to me that the farmers' market, wherein all sorts of greenies hang out, uses a ton of plastic sacks each week.  People give me strange looks when I say, "Oh, I don't need a bag," but I have gotten some positive comments as well.  More importantly, I save about 10 bags each time I go, since every vendor puts each group of like items into a separate plastic bag.

I went to the website for reusable bags (1 Bag at a Time) that has some interesting facts and comparisons in it for those who are interested.  They make their bags out of petroleum products, similar to the single use bags we get at the market.  But their bags are designed to be reused for up to two years.  They're washable, roomier than regular one-use bags, and recyclable at the end of their life.  I may pick up a few next time I'm at the store.  Right now I have 3 different bags from three different stores.  One's canvas, one's a sort of fiberous material (free at a store's grand opening and in need of mending after a year of use), one's of the same material as the 1 Bag at a Time brand.

I did remember one other green thing I'm doing (left off of yesterday's list).  Dan and I both are switching from drinking bottled water to drinking the filtered water we have in the house.  That should save at least 24 bottles per week from this household.

But I digress.  After the farmers' market, we went out for a long walk in the neighborhood.  Lots of hills around here!  The rest of today will be laundry (using up the last of the "less bad" soap before switching to green soap), watching the game and cross-stitching, barbequing with our friends Tom and Renee' and watching the Chargers win (I hope!) tonight.  I'm wearing my team shirt all day today...if that doesn't generate mojo, I don't know what will!