Greg Smith Lays One in There

I had another terrific time at the Oakland A's Booster Luncheon. It really does help when there's someone to talk to, someone who likes baseball as much as you do.

Ellen and her aunt, Joy, joined me again to welcome Shooty Babbitt and Greg Smith. Shooty is a celebrity in his own right, a second baseman who played for the A's, but who also has the gift of gab. Shooty is an intelligent questioner, which helps a lot, especially in interviewing a rookie. Shooty is also smart enough to know that he's not the main event here -- the current player is -- but I would love to hear more from him in some future date. I've seen him occasionally before or after a game on local T.V., talking about the match-ups, and he's much better than the other broadcasters they have in the pre- and post-game, except for Ray Fosse.

Greg Smith is the rookie I'm talking about, a left-handed pitcher whom we acquired in the Dan Haren trade last off-season, and what a gem he is. But who knew he'd be such a dynamic speaker? Everybody at the table was in awe of not only his speaking ability but also his knowledge of the game and his ability to impart that to us.

In fact, prodded by Shooty's questions, Greg gave us a pitch-by-pitch description of what he threw to Beltran in the last game (the day before), and his reasons, and it was so dynamic. I really felt as if we were part of his process. I'd love to have the same experience each time at these luncheons.

I mean, you really have to like the teddy-bear quality of a Jack Cust, but his process is mainly see-the-ball, hit-the-ball. There's nothing he's going to explain to you. We get from him the overall joy of being in the major leagues. And he's not going to worry about his strikeouts. He's just not.

Greg Smith is a thinking man's pitcher. I read this morning where Brian Wilson, who plays for the San Francisco Giants, and who closed out the game yesterday, said something to the effect that he was throwing strikes and they were hitting them, so he threw as hard as he could, saying, in effect, "here, hit this." Smith is not like that at all. He has a game plan, and if he can execute, he's sticking to his game plan with the help of his catcher.

We're heading into what I term the dead area of baseball: The All-Star break. As usual, we have one player in the All-Star game (Duchscherer), and if he pitches one inning, I'll be really pumped.

Henry Robinson Lunches - Assembly & Delivery

Today was the day. I got rid of Ernie and his workmen, watched them get started, and then plunged into assembly by clearing off the table and cleaning it.

The photos below showed me hard at work, but Sweetie was there every step of the way. Believe me, it turned out to be back-breaking work. My leg muscles are especially sore this morning from over-extending when I bent over to put fruit packages or plums into the bags.

First we assembled 120 pieces of bread ...oops, couldn't do that because the table isn't big enough. So we did three-fourths of that, and then continued when they were done. We had to have a place to put the bagged sandwiches, though, so I opened up all the paper bags and placed one sandwich in each bag. Soon the bags were taking over the kitchen, then, as I transferred them, the living room.

After the bread we placed two slices of breast turkey on them. Then we placed a slice of cheese on them. (I'm skipping the cheese the next time -- too much extra work!) Then another slice of bread, then bag them in ziploc bags.

After the sandwiches are placed in the bags, we placed plums in each one. Then we placed the fruit snack bags, followed by the chips bags in each paper bag, each time checking to see if everything was in each one. We found a few that weren't complete, and corrected them. Then we placed a napkin over everything after once more ensuring that everything was in each lunch bag.

We didn't have enough cardboard trays, so we took a break for lunch (this is after working 3 straight hours), and then swung by Costco to pick up more boxes to act as carrier trays.

We loaded the remaining bags in the trays and put them in the car... soon recognizing that they wouldn't all fit in the car. Oy vey. So, Sweetie was kind enough to come again to the rescue and volunteer her car to transport in addition to mine. We counted one last time as we loaded them in the cars: yep, 120.

We loaded them all in and headed for Clay and 16th.

We parked illegally, as there was no parking on that street. I couldn't find anything with an address (but then again, I didn't look across the street). We finally found the place, and the friendly guy at the desk called a guy named Glenn to come down and bring a cart. Glenn never showed up, but he told us to circle around the block and take the two spots (white curb and blue curb) that just became open. We did, and he and another helper came out to carry them in. We got them all in, they thanked us and we took off.

Whew. Six-and-a-half-hours later we finished the job.

Karmacally worth it, but exhausting. And we do it again next week! This time we'll go over to Sweetie's place with the big table and less bending over. Still, there will be issues. But we think we know better ways to do this.

Good luck, you folks at Henry Robinson Multi-Center. I'm glad we could help out for today's lunches.

New Hot Water Heater Arrives

Ernie arrived at about 7:30 am yesterday, ready to go. He called Phil the Plumber, who had just purchased the new 50-gallon hot water heater, and would be here in an hour.

In the meantime, Victor arrived, and Ernie showed him what needed to be done, including straps for the new water heater, working with Phil to vent the new pipes, replacing the insulation in the storage room there, and shoring up the three holes plus pouring mortar in the cement cracks of the storage room.

The huge cracks were missed by Rat Man, and are the most obvious place rats and other vermin were getting into the storage room.

The photos here are of the old hot water heater (left), and the new one (right).



Also there are photos posted of three of the holes fixed, including the big hole where the heating ducts (insulation) went into the house, the broken mesh on the back of the house, and latching the electrical cabinet on the south side of the house.

I am very pleased.

Getting Ready for Lunch

I have always wanted to volunteer in a soup kitchen. But along with that want were many fears, like how do I handle food, how do I deal with the men in the shelter, etc. I finally found a way to help that didn't involve much of that.

Temple Sinai has a program that supplies 120 lunches every Wednesday at the Henry Robinson Multi-Service Center in downtown Oakland. It only has 33 beds, so I wonder where those extra 90 come from. I'm assuming they come off the street, eat lunch, and go back to the street. They offer:

* 28-Day Emergency Shelter for Families
* Transitional Housing
* Food Services
* Day Drop-In Services

The program is well-run by Temple Sinai coordinators. Jennifer sent me several attachments, including a shopping list, directions on how to put the sandwiches and lunch bags together, and how to deliver them. They were very helpful today as I did the first part of this: shopping.

Here's the shopping list today -- and note that the shopping list assumes we'll be shopping at
Costco, and we did. Also note how specific the instructions are.

120 Paper Lunch Bags - Buy these in bulk. Use brown paper ones marked #6. (I already had plenty of these.)

120 Napkins

120 Plastic Sandwich Bags - Use Sandwich sized Ziploc bags (125 per box / 4 boxes per carton).

120 Pieces of Fruit - Usually Apples or oranges are the best buy and transport and pack well. Oranges can be used as is, but Apples should be washed and dried before placing them in the bags. Fruit prices and bag sizes vary throughout the year, so you need to compare to find the best deal. Take a calculator.

240 Pieces of Bread - Buy the Costco Kirkland brand Split Top Wheat Bread. It comes packed two loaves per bag and you need 5 Bags.

120 Small Bags of Chips - These come packed 30 bags to a box so you will need 4 Boxes.

120 Snacks - Look for Nature Valley brand Granola or Trail Mix Bars. These are usually a good buy and come packed 48 bars per box, so you need 3 Boxes.

15 Pounds of Roasted Turkey - Look for Butterball brand roasted Turkey Breast. These are double packs weighing 40 Ounces each. You need 6 double packs.

I bought double of most of the nonperishable goods here, as I'll be doing this next Tuesday as well.

Note in the photos that the whole kitchen has been taken up with bread, fruit, chips, fruit snacks. And in the fridge are the turkey slices and cheese.

Some of the residents had hinted that they wanted some variety. I found that hard to do, as the only two sliced meats, in bulk, that I could get at Costco were turkey and ham. And ham is out. And I didn't want to go anywhere else. So at least I will be adding cheese. And I tried to substitute other things, like plums for apples, a fruited snack for granola bars.

Assembly is tomorrow.

"Now Use the Word 'Idiot' in a Sentence..."

I got the call at about 9 am. She was a nurse for the Federal Long-Term Care Insurance program,. She was wondering if I had 20 minutes to complete a survey over the phone. “Uh, actually, no,” I said. “I’m at Disneyland.”

And so I was. I was expected in a few minutes by the other 11 family and friends, I explained. In front of the castle. She sounded a little annoyed that she had to call back when I returned home, but we set up the appointment for three days later.

This phone call came as a result of the application for LTC insurance that I had sent in 3 weeks prior. I had carefully written down (mostly on an attached sheet) an explanation of all my diagnoses, medications, my surgeries, the names of doctors involved, etc. And the last page was a survey of which choices I wanted included in my program. I spent a lot of time figuring it all out, and I chose what I thought was the best possible plan:

The Comprehensive 150 Pre-Packaged Plan, which includes:
Daily Benefit Amount - $150
Benefit Period – 5 years
Waiting Period – 90 days

I included an Automatic Compound Inflation Option.

And I authorized them to take the premiums out of my annuity/pension.

Those are a lot of decisions for a program that hadn’t even accepted me. That was to come after the nurse’s call.

When the nurse called 3 days later, she went over my entire medical history with me, including the names of my current medications. As she was doing that, she gave me a test, if you can believe that, although she didn’t frame it that way. She told me that she was going to give me a list of words, have me repeat the word, and then use it in a sentence. I wrote all 10 words down on a sheet of paper, all nouns.

After our conversation about doctors and medications, she asked me to repeat the words to her. I looked at my list and started repeating the words. After two words, I finally realized, Oh! This is a memory test! She doesn’t want me to repeat something I’ve written down, but to recall each word from memory!

I was shocked. She had never said, “This is a memory test.” I looked quickly at the list, and then away, and figured, I’m never going to pass this. I’d better give her a passing grade but not ace this test. So I gave her seven of the words, right off my written list. And not in order.

I feel guilty about that. My gosh, you should be able to trust a government employee, even one who’s retired. And even one who failed this I.Q. test.

I thought this might be the end of the story, but I got a letter the other day saying that they will not approve my application for federal long-term care insurance. I’m still kind of in shock and slightly depressed about it. I guess I won’t be spending that money. The premiums would have been $163.71/month. I’m surprised they don’t want my money.

I guess the only thing I can do is live a long life, die suddenly at age 92 without any complications, and not need the long-term care insurance program. That’ll show ‘em. Oh, and go back to Disneyland every chance I get.

The Rat Man Cometh Revisited

David from Capable Pest Control showed up, looking eager for the job. He had taken great pains over the phone to explain what would be covered in the charge, including two return visits. Also, he said he would try to find places where the rats are coming in, and suggest that we shore up those places.

Here's a photo of David with the traps. He explained that, because we moved everything out of the room, they have probably fled (perhaps to other parts underground, or even into the house, ugh). But he set two traps inside the storage area, and I think more inside the crawl space. He did find droppings inside the crawl space under the house, so they are definitely getting in.

And the surprise of all....I saw him put a sticky-like brown substance onto the trap. I asked, "Is that the bait?" He said yes, and pointed to a large Snickers bar that he keeps with the traps. Unbelievable. He uses Snickers as bait! Hell, I told him, I could be tempted. He laughed.

He showed me 3 places where they could be getting in: (1) there's an electric box on the side of the house and the door doesn't fit any more; that needs to be fixed. (2) There's broken mesh on the little window in the back leading into the crawl space. (3) There is a large hole where the heating duct goes. However, if I can get rid of the rats in the storage space and close the door, they shouldn't be able to access that.

I really appreciate the assessment. I just hope that there's enough time to catch the rats, if they're there, before the plumber shows up on Tuesday and disturbs the traps.

The game begins.

The Rat Man Cometh, and Other Wonderful Stories of Home Ownership

The water heater exploded Tuesday morning. Or was it Monday? Or was it last week?

Water, water everywhere. Along with that: rat feces everywhere.

I headed off to Fairfield to help Shawn with her procedure, as I promised, and left Sweetie here to deal. And deal she did.

The plumber from Honey Do temporarily fixed the problem by re-lighting the pilot light to the water heater and installing new pipe. He recommended that we replace the water heater (it's now 10 years old), and shore up the ventilation and strapping systems to it.

With all the water, our issues became:

1. Call an exterminator for the rats who have obviously taken up residence in the storage room downstairs.
2. Call contractor to fix what's been damaged, involving:
a. replacing heating duct insulation,
b. Paint wood inside unit with mildrew-resistant coat.
3. Prepare framework for new water heater, including venting outside up to current code and bolting frame to foundation.
4. Buy new water heater and install.

Ernie from Dan Martinez Construction came out this morning and will give me an estimate later today. The plumber will come back Tuesday; Phil will supply the water heater and parts and install.

The insulation and mildew prep will take place after the side panel has dried, probably in another week if good weather holds. In the meantime, we have 3 fans blowing in the room; they are now facing the wood.

Ernie restarted the pilot light and declared that we will have hot water in about half an hour. I had only taken one shower off-site, and wasn't looking forward to another one.

Another side project: everything in that room was destroyed, and will have to be sorted into hazmat vs. non-hazmat (that is supposedly happening today). Next week it will be hauled away; we just made an appointment for that. (See photos for sections of the yard where trash has been lain to dry out.)

Nice that Phil the Plumber helped remodel the bathroom a couple of years ago. He remembers the place. I remember his long hair.

I am now waiting for the Rat Guy. Hopefully he'll do his work and that process will be started this morning as he lays the traps.

I feel like I landed into another remodel project. Only without my permission.