Mature Life Features

It began innocuously enough with my Meals on Wheels circuit Monday a.m. I emptied Rosie in the afternoon to make room for stuff that would be taken out of the house during the termite tenting Wdnesday through Friday. We had to seal, using double bags given us by termite-exterminating company, “anything and everything you put in your mouth.” That included food, toothpicks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, straws, and any bottles or cans that had been opened. Unopened sodas or condiments or booze could be left alone, except wine with corks because those seals might not be enough to keep out the termite-throttling gas.
Moved all the outside plants into the center of the patio and disassembled the concrete-block wall at rear of the property between the neighbor’s fence and the garage. All this so the tents over the house and the garage will have a tight seal. On Tuesday, I put medicines and groceries into boxes and crammed them into Rosie – my little red 1997 Nissan 200SX parked at the rear of the house. And I called SDG&E to have someone come and restore gas service and reignite the water heater pilot light on Saturday. A.S.A.P. Termite people told us to request one for Friday p.m. but none were available. When Bev came home from her Tuesday at Oasis, she double-bagged the food in the fridge and freezer and then we toddled off to bed.
The exterminator truck pulled up shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday and we had to enlist last-minute help from Keri to house Bev’s indoor plants so they wouldn’t become collateral casualties of the tenting. We were told we could probably get back into the house about 10 a.m. Friday. They took Bev’s cell-phone number and said they’d call us about 15 minutes before they were through. We told them to put the house and garage keys into the mail slot before they left. Then we drove down to Chula Vista, where we were scheduled to check into Fredericka Manor after 3 p.m. We had toured this seniors’ independent living complex a couple of weeks earlier as part of the deal for allowing us to stay free of charge for these two days so we could experience the community. We were to have dinner both nights with residents and lunch Thursday with our marketing rep, Anita Peterson, to become acquainted with and have questions answered by folks who lived there.
Since we were way early, we drove around the South Bay a bit and then dropped into the shopping center on H Street directly across the street from the old Union-Tribune office. I worked there for more than a half-dozen years back in the ‘70s before moving to Mission Valley to become a business writer with the Union. We did some shopping (I got a couple of pairs of jogging pants for hang-around wear), had lunch at Panera and headed to Fredericka Manor a bit early but we were ready to sit down and take it EZ.
That’s when things took a dramatic turn.
Because a couple of residents suffered some sort of gastric attacks, all the dining facilities were closed down for a couple of days. The marketing director appeared a few minutes after our arrival and notified us of that development. She very apologetically said we had to be booked into a downtown Chula Vista bed-and-breakfast, had reservations that evening at Italianissmo Trattoria and would have lunch the next day at a Greek restaurant with Ms. Peterson. She joined us and also was full of apologies for having blind-sided us and assured us they would take care of everything and we should just turn in our meal tabs to be reimbursed.
Bev and I drove to El Primero Hotel, the B&B at the corner of Third Avenue and G Street. We were booked into 111 on the first floor at the head of the stairs just over the front desk. It was an all-white room, clean and quiet, and Bev crashed almost immediately. We called Italianisso and moved our reservation (we really didn’t need one) to 7 p.m. from 5:30. It was a short walk and the food was worth a much-longer walk.
Sleep was troubled all night but we did feel rested in the a.m. Had fruit for breakfast and chatted with innkeeper Mr. Roque. He’s writing a book on the history of his 84-year-old hotel. We also met and talked with his wife and one of his daughters before we drove to Bed Bath and Beyond in a shopping center on H Street immediately east of I-805. Bev ordered her collapsible hose from there and made a clutch of other purchases. We took a quick re-con drive to pinpoint Zorba the Greek Restaurant’s location and headed back to El Primero for a short respite. Mike called and invited to his home for Thanksgiving (next Thurday). Lunch with Ms. Peterson was enjoyable and the food was fine but the place was noisynoisynoisy. We took the rest of the afternoon off and did some reading and dozing. Lou called and we spent about an hour talking to him and Jean. Walked uptown about 6:30 p.m. and Bev thought she’d been to the Fuddruckers bordering the city park years ago so we tried it again since Thursday night football was being shown on one of the TV screens. It was OK but the place was NOISYNOISYNOISY!!! So we ducked across the street to a bakery to pick up dessert that we munched on the street. We bought a couple of lotto tickets at the 7/11 across the street from our B&B before heading “home” and did some reading before dozing off.
We were up and moving about around 7 a.m. Got coffee for the room, showered and moved some luggage down to the car. Chatted with Mr. Roque about his book. Then Bev and I took the rest of our stuff to the car and had breakfast before heading out. Said farewell to Mr. and Mrs. and drove by the house as the guys were pulling down the tents. They said we could get in in about 30 minutes so, as planned, we headed to Trader Joe’s to pick up some victuals. We returned just as the truck was pulling away and they told us everything went well, the place was ours and the keys were in the mail box. We were back into the house at 11:10 a.m. Friday.
Bev attacked the fridge and freezer and I unpacked the cars (There were some groceries and medications in Bev’s car as well.) That took an hour but Bev worked all day getting the fridge/freezer/pantry/medicine cabinet back in order. It took me another hour to get my office and bathroom drawers re-organized. After I cleaned out my email, I took a nap. Bev made pasta and shrimp for dinner and I passed the rest of the night TVing and chair-napping before tottering off to bed about 11 p.m.
Our cleaning lady arrived about 8:30 a.m. today (Saturday) and, right after explaining logistics involved with the arrival of the SDG&E representative who is going to turn our gas meter and pilot light back on, he rang the doorbell and put everything into order.
Off we went to Walmart and Sam’s Club to re-stock our necessities and let the water heat up. It takes about 30 minutes. Weather’s been cooperating all week. Days have been warm and nights cool but not cold. WE returned home shortly before noon and I reinstalled fences at the northeast corner of the property between the garage and neighbor’s fend and on the south side of the house between our house and the neighbor’s fence. Then I wrote this memo, showered and sauntered off to Saturday p.m. Mass at Our Lady of Refuge. – and said a few thank-yous for getting us through this week.

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