June Minutiae

It is that time of the year (almost 160 days into 2017) when summer is approaching in another week.

The temperatures are playing tricks with us again. It is predicted that next week it will be 30-35° higher than they are today and the last couple of days, here in Northern California.

It actually rained -- misted mostly -- yesterday and maybe again tomorrow. But coming up will be the heat. The flower bed out back is in full bloom.

While we do enjoy rainy days, it is so nice when the "lights" are turned on with full sunshine. Everything seems to look better -- even the less attractive houses around look presentable.

I think most graduations for this year have happened and now it is time for the schools to be closed for the summer.

This is the school behind our house and it is officially (I think) closed for the summer.

Maybe they will turn off the bell system. We sometimes are very much in tune with their schedule via the electronic sounding bells throughout the day.

It seems like school just started and before we realize it, it will seem like summer just started.Today the sounds of power mowers can be heard wafting through the air. When I go outside I'm sure the great smell of freshly cut grass will be there too.

So, what to do now . . . we are watching baseball, but the Giants just don't have it "together" so far this year. They rank very near to the bottom of baseball in standings, yet every once in a while they produce a fun game to watch.

Basketball, even though the local team --the Warriors-- are at the top, the games are pretty much predictable (except yesterday). They
are okay entertainment sometimes.

The Healdsburg Little League is going strong. They play on the two fields behind our house and we love to watch from the porch a bit and to hear the rousing cheers.

Somedays I think it might be fun to revisit LowBall Poker. That was a very enjoyable game along with several other poker games.

And then there is no ball at all . . .

We, lately have a puzzle out on the table ready to be worked on throughout the day. It is especially nice to work a bit on the puzzle and then return to it with a new perspective.

The other day we had the "Comey" hearings on in the background as we struggled with certain sections of the current puzzle, the areas that seemed to be all the same color.

After awhile the hearings all seem to be the "same color" and then they are played and replayed on every news show. To get away from hearing all the TV news rehashing the same things over and over, sometimes we turn on "Dog TV" for quiet relaxing music and sounds. This channel is designed to be of interest to dogs, however, Dino has only once in a while glanced at the shows.

And then we still read -- currently on our nightstand:


We just this week finished reading Megyn Kelly's book "Settle for More" which we found to be very interesting.

It gave a behind the scenes look at the election process this year. And of course the experiences of dealing with the candidates, mostly one in particular.

We also did watch the premiere of her new Sunday News show last week and the format is similar to "60 Minutes".

It'll take some doing to be on the same level as "60 Minutes" and probably some years. The nice thing for us is that since we record everything we watch, we can pick and choose which shows to watch depending on content. So we do not have to choose one show over another -- we can watch both.

How do the ratings companies keep track of folks like us who might watch both competing shows
and I'm sure that there are plenty of "us".

The new book that we are reading is so far fascinating. "150 Years Later"  chronicles the events regarding the breakup of family units during the periods of slavery and then 150 years later the reunion of some of those folks who descended from them. Amazing.

And finally, good old fashioned searching continues.

Every day I do "something" with the search. This week I heard from two "cousins" requesting info
regarding their specific branch and my (our) connection to it.

Also, there were several DNA matches announced from each of the three services that we tested with. It is almost too difficult to keep up with the names and details of these.

Unfortunately, most of them are so far out there -- meaning 4th cousin and further, that trying to find the actual common person each is related to, is difficult if not impossible. But still, it all is very interesting.

That is a bit of our week. See you all "in a few"!