SOME DEATHS ARE CELEBRATED; Coalinga-CA

Yesterday, I got a morning phone call 📱❤️ asking, "Are you guys okay?"  I said we were, then I asked, "Why?" He said, "3 of my friends here, are in the hospital this month, dealing with life & death issues, so I thought I'd better call 🤔 & ask if you guys are okay!" I laughed at the way he said it, and assured him we were 🤗; and we enjoyed a good, 20-minute or so convo … but, we  are also mindful that we are [in "that" age group] where people tend to drop like flies. This has been a hard year of deaths (and impending deaths), across the friend & relatives spectrum - these deaths were not, and will not, be celebrated 😔

Speaking of flies: we are having a bit of fly issue here 😱 - as are several people 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Disgusting fly infestation … like ants; hard to track down & hard to eradicate. It just creeps me out.

We're doing what we can to safely get rid of them - and hoping that by the end of 20 days 🤞, they will have died and faded back into the Fly Hell 👇🏻 they came from. Holland has set out dish liquid & vinegar "bait traps" for them in at least 2 rooms … and we are using Flying Insect Raid, where it can safely be used while we are in-house.

This morning, when I got up, I saw that the traps have been working while we slept - this is a death scene I can celebrate with no guilt, whatsoever 👏

The soap & vinegar 'trap' is working … repeat process again, today.

So, I made a cup of Hazelnut flavored coffee ☕️, grabbed a plain donut 🍪, scrolled through a couple PM's 💻 - and saw that one of my last week posts ✍️📸 has been featured on another Blog …

My Amaryllis Post was featured on 1 of the Blog Hops …

I felt spry enough to engage in some low-key toning 💪 … and, because I'd been so exhausted with asthma flare-ups all week, Holland insisted I use  my fingertip monitor ⚕️ before getting busy with working up a little sweat:

Morning reading on my Fingertip Monitor; very good.

Oxygen level was great; & my heart rate was good, too.

March in place for 2-5 minutes to warm up; do 8–10 twists per side for 2–3 sets; perform 20-30 arm circles each way, in both directions~Mini Stepper also put into action = 2–3 times a week for 10–15 minutes.

I like the Darebee exercises: this Darebee Whirlwind exercise routine falls into the cardio category. It is designed to improve cardiovascular fitness and aerobic capacity without exhausting your energy - which is good for people like me who (even if we downplay the limitations that directly affect of life experiences) have physical limitations that seriously deplete our physical energy = mine, is asthma & angina. So, I tone my body with exercises that will give me the results I desire without draining my limited energy battery.

The mini stepper home exerciser effectively replicates stair climbing. It simulates the motion of climbing stairs, engaging the leg muscles, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves: for people with healthy joints, mini steppers offer a low-impact cardiovascular workout that engages lower body muscles without the harshness of high-impact activities like running - the stair climber's weight-bearing nature also improves bone density while toning and shaping the legs and glutes … it also contributing to cardiovascular fitness and calorie burning.

You should start using a stepper 2–3 times a week for 10–15 minutes; the ideal frequency depends on your individual fitness goals, current activity level, and how your body responds, so listen to your body and adjust as needed. Listen to Your Body: if you feel intense knee pain while using a mini stepper, stop immediately.

If you choose to use a mini stepper in your home exercise routines, opt for a regular mini stepper with a direct up-and-down motion rather than a fancy twist stepper if you are concerned about joint stress.

When I was a young wife & mother, I did morning exercises with the #1 Exercise Guru, Jack Lalanne - almost religiously; it was fun, and Jack was entertaining. I missed him when he retired from his TV show; when he died in 2011, I felt his death as if I had truly lost a friend - Holland just remembers him from his juicer TV advertisements:

Always a good 'age' standard - no matter the decade ;-)

Jack Lalanne Dead at 96: 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL0nupqVjUc)

Tonight, we enjoyed steamed supper fare 🥗🥩

Supper. 

STEAMED SIRLOIN & VEGGIES~DIY Montreal Steak Seasoning w-Fennel:  (https://roadgypsiesvalandholland.blogspot.com/2026/01/steamed-sirloin-veggiesdiy-montreal.html)

After supper, I worked some more on my current WIP … and finally started a new Clive Cussler novel 📚

The other day, when WIFI 🌐 went missing during the rain storm 💧, I finally finished that Clive Cussler novel 📖 I started waaay back in August 📅 - while we were sitting in Ocean Park-WA. Normally, I will finish a Clive Cussler novel very quickly. But, lately, I have to admit that I have found it hard to get into a book since starting crochet projects, months ago. Quiet times that would in the past have been spent absorbed in the pages of a book are also valuable crochet times needed during pressing days: it has been so freaking cold and wet here in [sunny] calimexarabia, that we need the over-size afghan I have designed & am working on, hit-&-miss … hit-&-miss, because my phone started lighting up with responses 📱 to the queries I sent out months ago, so I needed to get busy working up 2 boxes 🎁 of promised preemie baby clothing designs (this last box still needs to be ferried to Hanford, before we pull stakes here). I enjoy making those little tiny things.

I also enjoy warmth upstairs to stave off the bone aching chill, when we go to bed - so, I am glad to get back at it.

MOD Afghan design; Coalinga-CA

I had put the afghan aside, and worked quickly & practically non-stop on the baby items ✨ because every month 📅, we had thought to pack up and move to warmer climate 🚘🗺️ - even If the dust devils would be a bother. But, the month of November unleashed hellish floods in every region 😳 we had planned to travel through 😒; even where we had planned to set Independence up 🤔: so, we stayed put 🙏 And the unfinished afghan waited, while we waited to see if, when, and how the flooding would recede … and how we could progress forward. All travel access to Quartzsite-AZ is pretty much blocked off by flood damage that lifted blacktop off roadways, where landslides bypassed - dumping their muddy messes elsewhere along the travel roadways: repairs were sidelined by crazy storm patterns 😬 that seriously hampered everyone's holiday travel, much needed road repairs, as well as lengthy orchard harvest delays. Holland's Colorado cousin can't even get his bees into the orchards 🍯🐝; because they are lethargic almost to the point of hibernation in this cold snap blowing through.

Bruce will be coming here from Colorado on the 17th - and Brenda's funeral will be in Kingsburg-CA, on the 23rd: it's not clear if we will be attending, or not - that is Holland's call to make, and he's undecided at the moment. There are valid reasons for the indecision - mainly his pain level & how that will be affected by the long drive and lengthy standing/walking around, as gathering cousins visit and comfort one another. Funerals stretch into hours and he's debating the desire to go with the certainty if a burning pain fallout that will follow. Whether he goes or not, death will not be celebrated 💔 - but Brenda's Life, will be 💓

But, for tonight: I'm going to be avoiding the disgusting fly frenzy 🤦🏻‍♀️ (and gleefully celebrate their deaths 👏👍 when morning dawns), rest my hands after 20 pattern rows worked, & be tucked into bed with Clive 🛌📖; enjoying some down time and aiming towards ✔️ having that afghan finished and on our bed by this month's end.