31 Jan: How did another day sneak by without us noticing? This getting old stuff is rediculous, the things that happen when you aren't watching. I guess I do remember that we rushed out the door after our walk to drive to Oscar's to eat, and were greatly surprised to find Jon there ahead of us, since he was hungry and decided to eat before dinner time crowds appeared. Then we picked up packages for Cynthia from his house and grocery shopped before arriving back at the condo in the fading light of evening.
30 Jan: Another month is rolling to an end, and we are happy to be alive, thankful to God for whatever still works, and very thankful for our life together. Thunderstorms in the forecast and reports of nine stalled cars on I-45 convinced Cynthia to cancel her appointment with a foot doctor today, but we did walk and splashed through a rivulet from something burst somewhere. 4.51 Miles
29 Jan: MEDICAL ENT (40 miles) appointment for Cynthia's hearing aid adjustments after we dropped Ron's recycling in Spring. The rain, foggy windshield, and cloudy skies made driving unpleasant until the return trip when Cynthia's iPhone connected to her hearing aids and she was able to hear the iPhone GPS instructions. Ron walked in the evening with more trail maintenance, but his knees and hands are complaining that they are overworked, so he might have to take a break for a week.
28 Jan: Ron FINALLY managed to get the kitchen counters cleared so that Cynthia could wax ecstatic cleaning them. Then we walked out the door before noon for our walk across the peninsula, hoping that Mauricio would be able to fix the microwave while we were absent. No such luck, so our popcorn consumption habit is awaiting a new microwave to be ordered, delivered and installed. Until then Ron will have to be content eating carrots. We were delighted and surprised to run into Jon in Walmart. 4.39 miles
27 Jan: We walked together for 4.45 miles, and Ron walked again after dark night. (Trail maintenance is much more difficult when you cannot see the trail.)
26 Jan, Sunday: We drove to church in light rain and were surprised to see a good attendance despite the rain. After church, we enjoyed lunch with Bill and Merry at Oscar’s Bistro. Ron told them he had the perfect life as a bachelor, but leave it to God to improve upon perfection. Son Jon is mostly over his cold, but decided against subjecting us all to possibility of contagion. The rain seems mostly over, but the fog is so thick that we cannot see the boats in the marina 200 yards away.
25 Jan: Cloudy and cold, but we ventured forth to walk 4.96 miles. Cynthia made oatmeal/banana cookies. Ron walked a second time ar dark.
24 Jan: Friday, Today we woke up feeling wonderfully fine and well rested. Hallelujah.!! 4.45 miles for the two of us, then Ron walked a second time while Cynthia watched the movie Bonhoeffer.
23 Jan: After awakening, exercising and eating, we set out on our usual walk and then went grocery shopping, ate dinner at Magnolia Diner, and suddenly the day was over. How does times fly so quickly? At least tonight we got to bed a bit earlier (11 pm). . 4.54 miles
22 Jan: Jon said that he was happy to have his mom in his house, so we stayed until Oscar's opened at 11 am and went there for lunch. Ron had enjoyed the flounder, vegetables and rice so much yesterday that he ordered the same meal again today. W were honored that Oscar came out to deliver a plate of food and stopped to chat with us briefly. He is a great chef. Once back in our condo, we walked our usual and returned to our usual activities (genealogy for Ron). Despite good intentions, we seldom get to bed early enough. 4.76 miles
21 Jan: We awakened to a cold house, 53°, and no electricity, so after exercises, Cynthia called son Jon to come rescue us from the cold. He did, and we discovered that many restaurants are closed, particularly the Magnolia Diner that we count on for our egg white veggie omelets made without oil. The local ABC news channel is reporting NOTHING but the snow; kids are sledding, and highways are slushy and empty. The official advice is stay home; stay off the roads. We had a text message the electrical problem was resolved at our condo. On the way home we stopped for lunch at Oscar’s new Bistro (click here). During lunch, we had a new txt message the electrical problem returned. We are back at Jon’s house for the night.
20 Jan: Our heat and the electric outlets on one side of the condo go on and off sporatically. The power company is still working to fix it tonight at 8:31. Cynthia made yummy chili and watched the Trump inauguration; indeed many of the speeches were very inspiring. Ron walked twice today and thoroughly enjoyed snow flurries after dark. As he returned home, the shrieks and noise of children playing in the snow warmed his heart.
19 Jan: We enjoy watching the Trump rally. For those of you that missed it, you failed to see the numerous women he placed in cabinet positions and the many "persons of color" similarly honored. It was too windy for Cynthia to walk, so Ron had to walk twice.
18 Jan: Disappeared in the usual fog of genealogy. But we walked 4.5 miles.
17 Jan: Despite our best intentions and commitments, we lounged inside all day without walking because the forecast was rain, which never actually materialized. Maybe we will walk now at 4:40 pm. Ron spent the day on genealogy again after first tending to QQQ and the LA fire briefing at https://www.youtube.com/@calfireimt2390. Then, since Cynthia's sister, niece, daughter and granddaughter are all realizing a need for and are motivated to engage in better lifestyles, I looked for the Finnish studies we learned about at the Pritikin in 2021. I discovered that I was searching for Dr. Pekka Puska and North Karelia, Finland. I found a couple of wordy papers and a great hour-long video of Dr. Puska, but I needed a short summary and eventually stumbled across a fascinating fifteen-minute U-Tube video about Dr. Scharffenberg espousing much the same mantra in fifteen minutes. It was time well spent, even if no one out there is ready to consider changing their diet and lifestyle. Tonight, Cynthia encountered a fraudulent News Nation website, entered her credit card for a free subscription and stopped when a price appeared. She received a fraud notice from Visa to phone them. She had encountered a fraudulent website. Thankfully, she escaped being a victim of fraud. 4.48 miles.
16 Jan: Our 13th great-grand baby, a boy named Theo, was born last night to Samantha and Adam, joining three-year-old Noah in the family. He is very big and so cute! It was exciting to see Ron’s QQQ Call prove fruitful. We are glued to our computers doing genealogy, but we walked 4.57 miles, doing trail maintenance en route. Cynthia prepared salmon baked with blueberries and raspberries for dinner. The spring flowers Ron bought made a festive date night.
15 Jan: MEDICAL. (40 miles) Cynthia had a 2:30 appointment with Allergy Dr. who refilled her nasal spray RX and said to come back next year. Our day was so fine. We enjoyed a lovely, pleasant walk with Ron doing trail maintenance. 4.76 miles.
14 Jan: The LA fire is shifting. It is three miles east from Cynthia’s nephew in Westwood and five miles from her niece in Montecito. Today, we housecleaned. 4.54 miles
13 Jan: was a great day! The sun was shining, the weather comfortable for walking without jackets. The warning dash lights in the car went out after getting air in the tires and the oil change completed. We shopped for groceries, Ron watched a helpful video from the LA fire department, and we responded to genealogy email. 4.5 miles.
12 Jan: Sunday… we worshipped at Grace Lutheran; friends were happy to see us again. Jon joined us for brunch at Magnolia Diner. After taking him home, we walked to the lake and back. We met the Iowa Couple, Chris and Connie, in the parking lot next door and enjoyed the chat. The deer were out and about in droves! Ron is working on Rambo lineage. Cynthia is writing the SCS committee report 4.5 miles
11 Jan: We moved at a snail’s pace until afternoon working on genealogy. Cynthia checked the LA fire frequently, concerned about her nephew who lives minutes from UCLA. At two PM we walked 4.53 miles. The temperature at 52 degrees felt warm because the sun was bright.
10 Jan: Today dawned dry, cold and windy, so Ron is walking by himself again while Cynthia sits inside to allow her cough more time to disappear. Ron bought a QQQ call option, but jumped the gun and bought while it was on the way down. Instead of turning around, it went down further.
9 Jan: It rained a lot today, so we only ventured out for groceries. (Although Cynthia indulged in some sort of feminine facial enhancement. Cf: she dyed her eyebrows.) Ron addressed the remaining cards he plans to mail out to friends tomorrow. (The goal was to reduce his footprint in the storage locker.) Now he is cleaning the kitchen a bit to assuage his weefee's ruffled feathers. Tomorrow beckons as a day to straignten up the condo.
8 Jan: Our appointment with the electrophysiologist, Dr. Dougherty, is today at one PM. The wildfires in Pacific Palisades are too close for comfort for Cynthia’s nephew. Both of his sons attended high school and junior high in Pacific Palisades. The high school burned down. Robbie evacuated his in-laws from PP last night. Ron is delighted to have discovered DNA that comes from a Peter Rambo born in 1751, thanks to new GEDmatch users.
7 Jan: We are excited today to see Sasha . . . and to eat at Jason's Deli (although Salata was a better choice and cheaper). The Uber ride worked nicely. Cynthia is very happy with today’s haircuts saying: “Ron is exceedingly handsome, and Sasha capitalizes on Ron’s good looks with a great haircut.” We walked the Rice University perimeter once again, but our days mileage was only 4.5 because we did not have the long morning walk. Our lab results are returned with excellent results. Cynthia’s triglycerides were slightly elevated due to eating more bread than normal this past month. Too bad! Dave’s thin-sliced sprouted grain bread is so good. Ron is working on Rambo Genealogy with plans to begin the Lea appendices in a few days. The photo is a view of downtown Houston from our 17th floor hotel room in the medical center at sunset.
6 Jan: BRRRRR! 30 degrees with a real feel of 16 really wasn’t terrible walking five city blocks to our medical appointment at 7:30 AM, but it seemed colder walking back to the hotel at 10:30. The Dr agreed we are still alive. He had no changes to our lifestyle, our weight, nutrition or exercise. We will see him next year. Back at the hotel, we ate oatmeal before walking 5.5 miles around the Rice campus perimeter until we reached a needed necessary room in Dr Gould’s office building. We next stopped at Salata Restaurant (click here) to enjoy a huge salad with salmon. Cuddled up to watch Bill O'Reilly, we called this our date night. Cynthia is not over her cough.
5 Jan: MEDICAL (250.00) Jon gave us a ride to the medical center for a 3-day stay for annual checkups with the cardiologist on Monday and the electrophysiologist on Wednesday. Hilton staff delivered a microwave to the room ASAP, so we are off to walk around Rice University on their delightful gravel path stepping around and sometimes in rain puddles. We turned too early and wandered around lost on the university grounds for a while. 5.25 miles! Woohoo
4 Jan: Ron Beatty: “Time is a luxury. Why waste it in pursuit of "luxuries" that mean nothing? Instead, enjoy experiencing the luxury of time (to do genealogy?.” We have luxuriated until 3:30 PM. Ron walked at 5:26.
3 Jan: This new year Ron has taken to lying in bed for hours until his back warms up before beginning exercises. It might not be most helpful and is certainly not productive, but he enjoys this little bit of luxury. We had a nice walk to the lake, trail maintenance included, and drove to get groceries. Ron finished transferring numbers from his account statements into his spreadsheets. Next is to find all the numbers for QQQ transactions, and then we can wait for 1099s to arrive.
2 Jan: Cynthia kicks in a New Year’s resolution to arise early, walk soon, and eat light. Instead, she kicked that can down the road to begin the original resolution Jan. 3. Ron went for a second walk after dark.
1 Jan. 2025: Wishing all of our friends and family a happy, healthy, and WISE New Year. Today’s weather is lovely. We walked to the lake and met the three of the nicest young people who were preparing to grill a lunch. It was great fun talking about hiking and national parks. The young lady was named Marya. I did not catch the names of the guys. 4.0 Miles
30 Jan: Another month is rolling to an end, and we are happy to be alive, thankful to God for whatever still works, and very thankful for our life together. Thunderstorms in the forecast and reports of nine stalled cars on I-45 convinced Cynthia to cancel her appointment with a foot doctor today, but we did walk and splashed through a rivulet from something burst somewhere. 4.51 Miles
29 Jan: MEDICAL ENT (40 miles) appointment for Cynthia's hearing aid adjustments after we dropped Ron's recycling in Spring. The rain, foggy windshield, and cloudy skies made driving unpleasant until the return trip when Cynthia's iPhone connected to her hearing aids and she was able to hear the iPhone GPS instructions. Ron walked in the evening with more trail maintenance, but his knees and hands are complaining that they are overworked, so he might have to take a break for a week.
28 Jan: Ron FINALLY managed to get the kitchen counters cleared so that Cynthia could wax ecstatic cleaning them. Then we walked out the door before noon for our walk across the peninsula, hoping that Mauricio would be able to fix the microwave while we were absent. No such luck, so our popcorn consumption habit is awaiting a new microwave to be ordered, delivered and installed. Until then Ron will have to be content eating carrots. We were delighted and surprised to run into Jon in Walmart. 4.39 miles
27 Jan: We walked together for 4.45 miles, and Ron walked again after dark night. (Trail maintenance is much more difficult when you cannot see the trail.)
26 Jan, Sunday: We drove to church in light rain and were surprised to see a good attendance despite the rain. After church, we enjoyed lunch with Bill and Merry at Oscar’s Bistro. Ron told them he had the perfect life as a bachelor, but leave it to God to improve upon perfection. Son Jon is mostly over his cold, but decided against subjecting us all to possibility of contagion. The rain seems mostly over, but the fog is so thick that we cannot see the boats in the marina 200 yards away.
25 Jan: Cloudy and cold, but we ventured forth to walk 4.96 miles. Cynthia made oatmeal/banana cookies. Ron walked a second time ar dark.
24 Jan: Friday, Today we woke up feeling wonderfully fine and well rested. Hallelujah.!! 4.45 miles for the two of us, then Ron walked a second time while Cynthia watched the movie Bonhoeffer.
23 Jan: After awakening, exercising and eating, we set out on our usual walk and then went grocery shopping, ate dinner at Magnolia Diner, and suddenly the day was over. How does times fly so quickly? At least tonight we got to bed a bit earlier (11 pm). . 4.54 miles
22 Jan: Jon said that he was happy to have his mom in his house, so we stayed until Oscar's opened at 11 am and went there for lunch. Ron had enjoyed the flounder, vegetables and rice so much yesterday that he ordered the same meal again today. W were honored that Oscar came out to deliver a plate of food and stopped to chat with us briefly. He is a great chef. Once back in our condo, we walked our usual and returned to our usual activities (genealogy for Ron). Despite good intentions, we seldom get to bed early enough. 4.76 miles
 |
| selfie, Jon, Mom, & Ron |
20 Jan: Our heat and the electric outlets on one side of the condo go on and off sporatically. The power company is still working to fix it tonight at 8:31. Cynthia made yummy chili and watched the Trump inauguration; indeed many of the speeches were very inspiring. Ron walked twice today and thoroughly enjoyed snow flurries after dark. As he returned home, the shrieks and noise of children playing in the snow warmed his heart.
19 Jan: We enjoy watching the Trump rally. For those of you that missed it, you failed to see the numerous women he placed in cabinet positions and the many "persons of color" similarly honored. It was too windy for Cynthia to walk, so Ron had to walk twice.
18 Jan: Disappeared in the usual fog of genealogy. But we walked 4.5 miles.
17 Jan: Despite our best intentions and commitments, we lounged inside all day without walking because the forecast was rain, which never actually materialized. Maybe we will walk now at 4:40 pm. Ron spent the day on genealogy again after first tending to QQQ and the LA fire briefing at https://www.youtube.com/@calfireimt2390. Then, since Cynthia's sister, niece, daughter and granddaughter are all realizing a need for and are motivated to engage in better lifestyles, I looked for the Finnish studies we learned about at the Pritikin in 2021. I discovered that I was searching for Dr. Pekka Puska and North Karelia, Finland. I found a couple of wordy papers and a great hour-long video of Dr. Puska, but I needed a short summary and eventually stumbled across a fascinating fifteen-minute U-Tube video about Dr. Scharffenberg espousing much the same mantra in fifteen minutes. It was time well spent, even if no one out there is ready to consider changing their diet and lifestyle. Tonight, Cynthia encountered a fraudulent News Nation website, entered her credit card for a free subscription and stopped when a price appeared. She received a fraud notice from Visa to phone them. She had encountered a fraudulent website. Thankfully, she escaped being a victim of fraud. 4.48 miles.
16 Jan: Our 13th great-grand baby, a boy named Theo, was born last night to Samantha and Adam, joining three-year-old Noah in the family. He is very big and so cute! It was exciting to see Ron’s QQQ Call prove fruitful. We are glued to our computers doing genealogy, but we walked 4.57 miles, doing trail maintenance en route. Cynthia prepared salmon baked with blueberries and raspberries for dinner. The spring flowers Ron bought made a festive date night.
15 Jan: MEDICAL. (40 miles) Cynthia had a 2:30 appointment with Allergy Dr. who refilled her nasal spray RX and said to come back next year. Our day was so fine. We enjoyed a lovely, pleasant walk with Ron doing trail maintenance. 4.76 miles.
14 Jan: The LA fire is shifting. It is three miles east from Cynthia’s nephew in Westwood and five miles from her niece in Montecito. Today, we housecleaned. 4.54 miles
13 Jan: was a great day! The sun was shining, the weather comfortable for walking without jackets. The warning dash lights in the car went out after getting air in the tires and the oil change completed. We shopped for groceries, Ron watched a helpful video from the LA fire department, and we responded to genealogy email. 4.5 miles.
12 Jan: Sunday… we worshipped at Grace Lutheran; friends were happy to see us again. Jon joined us for brunch at Magnolia Diner. After taking him home, we walked to the lake and back. We met the Iowa Couple, Chris and Connie, in the parking lot next door and enjoyed the chat. The deer were out and about in droves! Ron is working on Rambo lineage. Cynthia is writing the SCS committee report 4.5 miles
11 Jan: We moved at a snail’s pace until afternoon working on genealogy. Cynthia checked the LA fire frequently, concerned about her nephew who lives minutes from UCLA. At two PM we walked 4.53 miles. The temperature at 52 degrees felt warm because the sun was bright.
10 Jan: Today dawned dry, cold and windy, so Ron is walking by himself again while Cynthia sits inside to allow her cough more time to disappear. Ron bought a QQQ call option, but jumped the gun and bought while it was on the way down. Instead of turning around, it went down further.
9 Jan: It rained a lot today, so we only ventured out for groceries. (Although Cynthia indulged in some sort of feminine facial enhancement. Cf: she dyed her eyebrows.) Ron addressed the remaining cards he plans to mail out to friends tomorrow. (The goal was to reduce his footprint in the storage locker.) Now he is cleaning the kitchen a bit to assuage his weefee's ruffled feathers. Tomorrow beckons as a day to straignten up the condo.
8 Jan: Our appointment with the electrophysiologist, Dr. Dougherty, is today at one PM. The wildfires in Pacific Palisades are too close for comfort for Cynthia’s nephew. Both of his sons attended high school and junior high in Pacific Palisades. The high school burned down. Robbie evacuated his in-laws from PP last night. Ron is delighted to have discovered DNA that comes from a Peter Rambo born in 1751, thanks to new GEDmatch users.
 |
| Houston sunset from the 17th floor |
6 Jan: BRRRRR! 30 degrees with a real feel of 16 really wasn’t terrible walking five city blocks to our medical appointment at 7:30 AM, but it seemed colder walking back to the hotel at 10:30. The Dr agreed we are still alive. He had no changes to our lifestyle, our weight, nutrition or exercise. We will see him next year. Back at the hotel, we ate oatmeal before walking 5.5 miles around the Rice campus perimeter until we reached a needed necessary room in Dr Gould’s office building. We next stopped at Salata Restaurant (click here) to enjoy a huge salad with salmon. Cuddled up to watch Bill O'Reilly, we called this our date night. Cynthia is not over her cough.
5 Jan: MEDICAL (250.00) Jon gave us a ride to the medical center for a 3-day stay for annual checkups with the cardiologist on Monday and the electrophysiologist on Wednesday. Hilton staff delivered a microwave to the room ASAP, so we are off to walk around Rice University on their delightful gravel path stepping around and sometimes in rain puddles. We turned too early and wandered around lost on the university grounds for a while. 5.25 miles! Woohoo
4 Jan: Ron Beatty: “Time is a luxury. Why waste it in pursuit of "luxuries" that mean nothing? Instead, enjoy experiencing the luxury of time (to do genealogy?.” We have luxuriated until 3:30 PM. Ron walked at 5:26.
3 Jan: This new year Ron has taken to lying in bed for hours until his back warms up before beginning exercises. It might not be most helpful and is certainly not productive, but he enjoys this little bit of luxury. We had a nice walk to the lake, trail maintenance included, and drove to get groceries. Ron finished transferring numbers from his account statements into his spreadsheets. Next is to find all the numbers for QQQ transactions, and then we can wait for 1099s to arrive.
2 Jan: Cynthia kicks in a New Year’s resolution to arise early, walk soon, and eat light. Instead, she kicked that can down the road to begin the original resolution Jan. 3. Ron went for a second walk after dark.
1 Jan. 2025: Wishing all of our friends and family a happy, healthy, and WISE New Year. Today’s weather is lovely. We walked to the lake and met the three of the nicest young people who were preparing to grill a lunch. It was great fun talking about hiking and national parks. The young lady was named Marya. I did not catch the names of the guys. 4.0 Miles
