Summer in Sacramento

This week, there was a really good article about living in Sacramento in the Sac Bee. Click here to read it. The article, by a San Francisco native now living in Sacramento, talks about how the hot summers really define the lifestyle here. Now I've been really lucky - since I moved to Sacramento we've experienced one of the most delightful summers imaginable. But there have been a couple of hot weeks and I totally see what he means about how the weather defines life here. The cool active mornings, the slow midday and the lively evenings. I also think he's right on when he says we can look at day with a high of 92 (for my European readers, that's about 33 centigrade) and marvel at how cool it will be. It sort of reminds me, in an opposite type way of course, of how when I was growing up in Ireland, we would head to the beach if it got remotely close to 70. That was some hot beach weather then! On a personal level, it's pretty amazing how quickly I've gotten into the if-it's-not-100-it's-almost-chilly mentality. Also, how quickly I've grown to love the shade. It's way different in the shade! And the air conditioning. I believe in A/C!!

There are a couple of things I would also note about how Sacramentans deal with the heat. First is the use of water. When it's hot, I come home from work and get into the pool. I've gotten into the pool at 9 or 10 o'clock. Then you don't even have to worry about the sun. Pools are a big deal. And of course, there's the river. When I drive over the American River, I always glance to see how many people are out on the river. On the weekend, there are hundreds of people, either just hanging out or floating down the river in rafts. I've done it myself. It is so much cooler on the water. And even though you're in the river with crowds of people, it's cool, because, really, everyone is just so nice. I don't know if the heat contributes to it, but people are so friendly here, it rivals Ireland! The first day we went out on the river, we forgot to bring paddles for the raft (well, we were rookies) and someone just gave us one. I am not making this up! He had a spare, and he noticed that we needed it, so he just gave it to us. That would *never* happen in the bay area.

The other thing that the heat brings out is a totally different sense of style. It sort of makes sense, I suppose, it's hot so we dress skimpier. All of us. I'm a 48-year-old grandmother and it's completely acceptable for me to leave the house in short-shorts and a tank top. Admittedly, I'm in decent shape, but hey, other places in the world have rules about that sort of thing. Not here! And the skimpier clothing leads to more display of body art. There probably aren't actually more tattoos per capita here or anything, it just looks like it because they're all on display.

The article also talks about how we lean toward evening activities because of the heat. That's so true. I go listen to live music in the village near my house every Thursday night. I walk down by the river and it is simply full of people biking and walking their dogs, or kids. Restaurants in midtown serve food until the wee hours of the morning. If only we could get a siesta in mid-afternoon, life would be perfect! Maybe that's the way we should be furloughing - a two-hour nap each day.

I don't know how it's going to be in the winter. There may not be sun, there might even be rain! I might even get an early night. But I guess I'll just wait and see.

More progress on the house and yard

We've been in our house in Fair Oaks for almost a month now, and Gordon continues to make progress especially outside in the yard. Last week, he finished painting the pool. This week, after it sat for 7 days, we were able to fill it and then use it. It took 36 hours to fill it. We got it filled in time for a visit from Dara, Zach, Aidan and Zach's sisters, the twins Ciara and Cheyenne. So, along with Aisling, they spent two days in the pool having a great time. When Dara was pregnant, I bought a child's wetsuit with built in floatation device at a second hand shop. They all made fun of me at the time, questioning when a toddler might use it. But I guess I was right! Aidan wore it into the pool on Friday and Saturday and it worked beautifully. He came down the slide once, and just bounced up to the surface, so it feels very safe to have him in the pool with that on.

I got in the pool with Aisling on Sunday. I must say, it's very relaxing to float around on one of those air mattress loungers. Dara thought it had cupholders, but I didn't find anything that fit a wineglass. Oh well! It also seemed that Aisling enjoys shooting me with the watergun, both when I'm on the air mattress and on the side of the pool. Hmm.

The other major development is the shed. There was an old shed in the back yard. It really needs some serious work. Basically, I think the walls have to come down and be rebuilt. The foundation seems to be okay. Also, it was pretty overgrown with ivy and other trees and vines. So Gordon has been cutting back the growth over the last few days. As he cut back the ivy, he found that there was actually another shed buried under there, connected to the original shed. I would guess it has been buried under the ivy for years. That shed (on the right in the picture) probably needs new walls and a new roof. There were also things in there that had obviously been there for years, including an old crib and bike. However, there is also an old 55-gallon drum full of something, we're not sure what. We're contacting someone with the county's hazmat department before we do anything with it, just in case. But it'll be interesting to see what's in there!

Update from our new home

Well, we've been moved in for a couple of weeks now, and it's feeling like home! We've unpacked many many boxes. I admit, there are still a ton in the garage, but the house is almost box-free, and furniture is where it should be. I can find all my shoes, clothes and earrings. Not quite there in the kitchen yet, we keep finding things we haven't moved or unpacked, like a can opener, or cooking oil.

We've even had visitors, Nan, Dara, Zach and Aidan have all come up from the bay area, and Maureen and Nate have come over from my office. The cats are completely comfortable here now, Gordon put a new door in with a cat door and they come and go as they please. I'm pretty sure they like the big yard and the neighbor's dogs don't seem to bother them. Saki has always been a big killer and now he is finding more things to kill! Last week, he brought in something that looked like a huge worm to me, however, Gordon told me that it was a small garden snake. Yuck! There definitely are more creepy crawlies here, including the dreaded spiders, but I am choosing to ignore them.

The other major development is the pool. It was quite a mess when we bought the house. We talked to several pool contractors, and we thought we would get it completely refinished. However, the cost for that is pretty high - for the finish that we'd like, it'd probably be close to $10,000. So it sort of came down to a choice between the pool and the roof, so we are going with a new roof. We decided instead to have Gordon clean and paint the pool. What a process! First, it had to be cleaned with TSP, and then acid washed. After washing, it needs to sit for a few days. Then it can be patched in the damaged spots. Then it needs to sit for a few days. Then it needs to be washed with TSP and acid washed again! Then it needs to sit for a few days, and then it can be painted. After that, it needs to sit for a week before it can be filled.

So last week it was getting close to the painting time. I had a business meeting with Women in Technology International in Sacramento, and when I came home at about 9:30, Gordon was in the pool painting. I actually could smell the paint all the way out in the driveway! He thought it would take about three hours, and when I got home, he'd been painting for about an hour and a half and he looked like he was pretty close to halfway done. Boy was that wrong! He had mostly done shallow end, and the deep end is much bigger! He painted until about 5:30 in the morning! But it looks incredible, as you can see from the picture. We are looking forward to filling it up, starting this week. We actually have a pool going on how long it will take to fill up the pool! I have 60 hours.

Now that we're really in Sacramento, we are starting to explore a little more. Nan came up last week, so we took her to lunch at Rick's Dessert Diner. Yum!! We also have spent a lot of time in Fair Oaks with the chickens. And yesterday, we went rafting on the Sacramento River. Nate and Maureen have an inflatable dinghy from their sailboat and the five of us went out in it. We met up at one or so and sailed down the river for about 3 and a half hours. Our theory that people are friendlier in Sacramento was again proven when we realized that we had forgotten paddles, and someone who had a spare paddle just gave it to us. Which was good, because otherwise we would have been up the river without a paddle. Ha ha!!It was a very mild day by Sacramento standards (about 88) when we were out on the river, but it felt even cooler down by the water, so on a hot day, that's going to be fabulous. It is bright and sunny, so lots of sunscreen is the way to go. The journey itself is very relaxing, only one or two "rapids" and even they're pretty lightweight. Lots of people out on the river, all friendly and all in a really good mood, so all in all, a good time!