Us, December 25, 2021: Leo, Roy, Ondine, John, Shadow
Us, December 25, 2021: Leo, Roy, Ondine, John, Shadow
The Wonderful May Gray continued, making for a pleasant week, weather-wise. (We don't like heat, and actually dislike even the relatively mild San Diego summers; to us, anything over 85 is just too hot.)
John worked in Oceanside and Santee. The Oceanside project is a long drive away, so he listens to the Classic Ghost Story podcast. Speaking of ghost stories, some of the books he ordered arrived: The Giant Book of Ghost Stories edited by Richard Dalby and Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories, both highly regarded mixed anthologies; Night Terrors, a collection of E.F. Benson stories; and a print-on-demand copy of The Alabaster Hand, a very rare collection of A.N.L. Munby stories. He's already read several stories in each. (He's been finding ghost stories, with their themes of justice or vengeance, rather cozy in these times.) Still coming - possibly tomorrow - is another mixed anthology.
Also, he forgot to mention last time that he ordered, used, from the UK, a hard-to-find combined collection by Andrew Caldecott, two collections in one, and that is still in transit.
In other archaeology-related news, John resigned one of his on-call positions because the company didn't have work for him beyond ad hoc one-day gigs. When they hired him, they thought they'd have projects coming in that would assure him of full weeks of work, but those projects fell through. Saturday afternoon, he attended the San Diego County Archaeology Center's annual barbeque, with food, free-flowing drinks, and live music. He connected with some former classmates and even a fellow former U.S. Superior Court jury member, all of whom are doing excellently!
Ondine went to Sei Sushi with Lucy, a birthday treat for Ondine!
THE BIG NEWS here is that Leo received his letter of acceptance from UCSD . . . and UCLA! Both have highly rated electrical engineering programs, some of the most-competitive in the country. UCSD's financial package looks like basically a full ride, while UCLA's has some costs that are nominal enough to not be considered. Both include accommodations and meal plans. Wow! So now Leo is deciding between two internationally ranked electrical engineering programs. Of significant weight right now, is the strength and cost of the two master's programs.
Shadow is picking at his forelegs a lot less; we're not sure what it was, but it seems to have passed.
But, speaking of dogs, we haven't mentioned it before, but there's a second dog next door, one of those tiny, highly aggressive dogs, and it barks all the time, even through the night. The barking has gotten worse over the past few weeks, and we think the owner has given up trying to train it. So it's pretty much feral.
We have new neighbors across the street! We haven't met them yet. One of the first things they're doing, is removing the palm trees, which really opens up their front yard.
Today Leo came by for breakfast! In the afternoon, we saw a musical at Lamplighters: The 25 Annual
Putnam County Spelling Bee! This is the final show of the season, and Lamplighters' musical productions are
always a highlight.
Neighborhood gas prices range from $5.59 to $6.29, with the low end anchored by two warring gas stations. Elsewhere it's above $6 a gallon.
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