Day 30 - Governor Newsom imposes new restrictions

L. is a virtual member of the audience on The Dr. Phil show…

12/15/20. Tuesday

7:30 – L. is scheduled to be an audience member, via Zoom, for the Dr. Phil Show from 8:00-2:00 so I wake up to the garage door opening because L. is en route to Starbucks for one of their novelty drinks. Since I don’t have doggie day care today, I go back to sleep.

8:30 – 9:30 - L. knocks on my bedroom door with coffee in hand.  How nice!! I tell her this is “true love” then jump in the shower and drink my coffee while I listen to The Daily. Lotion. Covid-19 winter uniform. Light make-up.

9:30 – 10:00 - I throw a few last-minute items in my lunch bag, like cashews and marshmallows, then go online to the Six Flags Magic Mountain website to see if I can purchase tickets for their “Holiday Drive Thru.”  Apparently, MM has converted the theme park to a winter wonderland for cars – customers drive through the entire park and never exit their vehicles. We will never see anything like this again for the rest of our lives.  Imagine!  Driving through a theme park? B. tried to book the tickets last week but was unable because he said the website was down.  Today, I actually book the tickets!  We’re going tomorrow!

10:00 – B. arrives for our 11:00 outing at Descanso Gardens.  Recall that these are free tickets that I reserved three weeks ago for  “Free Tuesday” [the third Tuesday of every month is free, but you have to reserve it three weeks in advance].  I tell B. about the MM tickets for tomorrow, at 6:15.

-Driving

11:00 – 1:00 - At Descanso Gardens. We explore several areas of the park that I’ve never seen before, including some hiking trails.  It’s a good time and perfect weather.  I think today counts as my daily exercise allotment.

1:00-2:30 – We’re done exploring the park so I propose we eat lunch at one of the tables in their picnic area, directly outside the Gardens – we’ve done this before.  B. goes back into the “park” and buys a sandwich from their grab-and-go kiosk, then returns to the picnic area. I have my insulated lunch bag, as always. We eat lunch then leave.

2:30-3:30 – Driving

3:30-6:00 – Home and B. and I watch the first episode of When They See Us, a mockumentary about the Central Park 5.

6:00 – 7:30 - B. leaves and I go to Home Depot for potting soil, flowers for three empty pots in my back yard, and a Camella bush for the space behind the fountain.  I also buy a watering can and three strands of white lights.  Still looking for an exterior Xmas decoration to put under my window at the front of the house, but there is  nothing left – the locusts were here, too.

7:30-9:30 – Home and I pot the flowers and place the Camella bush. As I remove the Halloween lights  wrapped around one of my tree trunks, a shadowy shape emerges and crawls up the tree.  I think it’s a rat and I’m terrified.  I manage to pull the strand of lights off the tree, but I’m done for the day.  I’ll do this task in broad daylight.

9:30-11:30 – I finish the book Wiving.

11:30-12:30 – L. tells me what it was like to be a virtual audience member on the Dr. Phil Show and provides lengthy descriptions of the two segments.  His guests sound as nutty as ever.  L. had a good time but says it was no substitute for the real thing, i.e., being a live audience member. It was interesting, hearing how Dr. Phil’s staff set everything up virtually.

12:30-1:00 – Night time routine. Bed.