October 15, 1998
Dear Everyone:
Well, everyone is back now more or less where they
belong. Mother spent
most of last week at my
place. On Wednesday, our old
friend, “Mame Diamond”, came to collect Mother and take her to
Hayward
for the day; but she was back after dinner.
Other than that, she played couch potato (pronounced “res-ting”)
and walked over to the shopping center across the street from my place
if she wanted a little exercise (and a sandwich from the deli).
On Friday, “Jeannie” and Mother drove to
Fresno to
spend some time with “Marshall”, returning Sunday night.
I kept “Jeannie’s” cat, Monroe, with me as she needed to be fed
tiny white pills twice each day.
Near the end, I had become quite adept at poking those little
pills down her little kitty throat.
Or so I thought, until I discovered that Kitty had become quite
adept at holding the pill under her tongue until such time as she could
discreetly spit it out.
Monday morning, I dropped Mother off at the
airport. Then I went home to
clean. Washed all the fur
balls out of the bed linens.
Vacuumed up all the fur on the carpets.
It’s amazing how much one small cat can shed in just two and a
half days.
In other news...
Home Improvements.
Last spring, I discovered a way to put a
motion sensor
on the patio light that required no wiring.
You just screwed a special socket into the regular socket and
then put the actual light bulb into the special socket.
A coiled wire connected the special socket to the motion sensor,
which works off a simple 9-volt battery.
So when I’d get home late, and it was already dark, when I
entered the patio from the carport, the light would automatically come
on so I could see to get the key in the lock.
I liked this a lot.
As winter approaches, I had decided that I wanted
to do the same thing with the porch light over the front door.
This way, the light would come on when someone approached and
they could see to press the doorbell (if I had a doorbell -- more about
that later). So, while
Mother and “Jeannie” were out of town, I went to The Big Orange Hardware
Warehouse Store, looking for wireless motion sensors.
I was also looking for wireless doorbells.
While in
Canby, I’d discovered that Mother has a wireless doorbell on her
front door. I never knew
such things existed until then.
Mother got hers out of a catalog; but I figured, if catalogs
carry them, I’ll just bet
that The Big Orange Hardware Warehouse Store does, too.
I got the deluxe model, with a second doorbell for the back
(patio) door; although “Jeannie” is about the only person who would come
to the back door and she has a key.
No sooner were the doorbells installed (i.e., glued
to the door frame with double-sided tape) than the kids in the
neighborhood started the old “ring-the-doorbell-and-run-away” game just
as if they had invented it themselves.
On the second day, I learned that my new next-door neighbors, on
the left side, had also just installed a new, wireless doorbell system
and guess what? We were on
the same channel. I changed the
channel on mine and the doorbell has been pretty quiet since then.
And when “Jeannie” and Mother arrived from Fresno
Sunday night, “Jeannie” rang the doorbell automatically, without ever
realizing that it hadn’t been there before.
So now I’m all set for
Halloween.
The little nippers won’t have to stand on each other’s shoulders
to reach the brass knocker.
I just have to confer with my neighbors on how many kids to expect in
this neighborhood.
Judging from the number of decorations out already,
they take Halloween seriously around here.
Love, as always,
Pete
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