Fun and Games Dept

We are remodeling one of the rooms in our upstairs. On the blueprints this room is called “The Observatory”. It was originally designed to house a giant telescope. There’s counter level electrical outlets every two feet, the room is reinforced by concrete, and the room underneath contains a reinforced concrete pad to support a large telescope. The room never came to fruition as an Observatory; the previous owners of the house used it as a kid’s bedroom. It has my flight simulator and gaming computer.

We removed a shop-quality fluorescent light from the ceiling and two shop style LED lights from the walls today. Underneath, a very dark red paint. As we have seen throughout the house, when the previous owners painted a room, they left all fixtures and electrical or other coverings in place and painted around the accessory.

We now have to paint the ceiling and walls in this room.

It’s not a big deal, but it’s one extra step we didn’t plan on. Another fun discovery was the lack of an electrical box underneath the shop fluorescent lamp. We now need to fashion bracing up there so we can install a ceiling fan where the light once was.

It’s a good thing we’re all fairly good at home improvement projects.

It totally slipped my mind that my blog turned 20 years old on the 4th of this month. That’s right, I’ve been babbling in this space since August 4, 2001. Wow. I was 33 years old at the time. Where has the time gone.

I occasionally go back and read old posts, especially when I’m feeling a little lost. Looking back over various entries I realize that I like to think I’ve grown, I haven’t really changed that much. I was bald then and I’m bald now. My facial hair (when I let it grow) is a heck of a lot more grayer. The crows feet are nothing to be ashamed of and I’m still looking for the best way to get through life.

A lot can happen in 20 years. I look forward to writing about my 40th anniversary 20 years from now. Maybe it’ll be in 3D or something.

We went for a ride south of the city and ended up in Madera Canyon in the Coronado National Forest. It was our first time in the area and it was a beautiful ride. I mentioned to Earl that I’m looking forward to hiking in these parts once the weather calms down a bit and is a little cooler come autumn. He’s looking into cabin rentals.

I’m looking forward to our next experience here.

I’m not overly familiar with Thai food. Oddly enough, the first time I had Thai food was not some major city in the United States but rather in Greenville, SC during one of my work trips. My teammates wanted to go out for Thai food and I said “sure, why not” and off we went. It was a good experience and I enjoyed the food.

The family decided to go out for Thai food and we made our second trek to a restaurant that does that sort of thing here in Tucson. The restaurant is appropriately called “Tuk Tuk Thai” and while it can feel a bit crowded in there, we decided that going on a weeknight wouldn’t kill us, even though we are fully vaccinated, so off we went.

It was good experience. The restaurant was not busy at all on this Thursday night. With COVID-19 starting to ramp up in numbers again and a good number of state officials making idiotic decisions, I was curious as to if people are starting to get a little gun shy about going out to dinner again. Or perhaps Thursday nights are just not Thai night.

I enjoyed the meal and of course going out with the rest of the family. We opted to wear masks where appropriate. I wish more people would do that.

My husband and I went for a short ride around sunset. When one works from home and recreates at home it’s sometimes easy to forget that there’s a whole world out there. Once in a while Earl will suggest a ride just to give me a change in scenery. We drove to the smaller town of Corona de Tucson and back. It isn’t a particularly long jaunt, but it was a pleasant ride as we made our way across the desert with the windows down in 95ºF heat.

It was the breath of fresh air I needed.

Last night my husband and I made a trip into San Diego to explore Little Italy on foot. The vibe was energetic, yet a good share of the folks on the street were wearing masks.

We ate dinner on the street at Farmer’s Table Farm to Fork restaurant. It was very good. I even had dessert, as did my husband. Crème Brûlée and Chocolate Bread Pudding. Delicious.

The entire meal was very good.

In 2013 I traveled to San Clemente, California for training for work. I found the oceanside city to be quite charming and I vividly remember eating alone at the Fisherman’s Restaurant and Bar. On the linked blog entry I mentioned that I would enjoy bringing Earl to San Clemente.

I did that today. We had a lovely lunch on the pier in San Clemente, at the same table I sat at for dinner in 2013 (this was just a coincidence).

My husband and I are on our first non-moving related road trip of the summer. After work today we headed west across the desert. Tomorrow we will have a nice day and dinner together.

I like little adventures like this. We need to do this sort of thing before COVID-19’s latest folly slams the country too hard.

I was very pleased with this shot. I snapped it after last night’s storm had moved to the southwest.

We tried out a new (to us) Mexican restaurant this evening. It was near the downtown area and the five of us had a great experience. I appreciate being able to eat outside, in the fresh air, where mask use and such is less worrisome.