Wow last week was a wild ride! So I know I did a quick Friday Five, but this round up covers the weekend and some of last week.
Most important is Baby Girl — our new granddaughter!! (I’ll come up with a nickname soon).
She was about 6 lbs 9 oz when born, and I think 20 inches. She small but mighty! She’s super engaged when she’s awake and either looks into our eyes or follows voices. This pic she’s obviously sleeping 
And no they don’t leave the necklace on her in case anyone is worried. She makes the most hilarious faces, including one dubbed “Grandpa Face” by her dad (he’s evil — he gets it from his dad, LOL) I love her so much! I’m waiting for a chance to get a pic her of her and Turbo together. Her parents are doing great. My son took the week off from work and is not looking forward to leaving her to go back. My daughter in law’s mom will be staying with them for the week and that will help my daughter in law. I’ll be available too.
Then the fire: As of yesterday afternoon, it’s 19% contained and we are safe enough for now. Cooler weather with overcast mornings and evenings has helped too. But also — fire crews are amazing! They are inserting Hot Shot crews deep into the terrain to help with the fire lines too. Here’s a couple pics:
This is a picture a few days ago from my back yard.
And this pic below is one I took when we were coming back into town after storing The Mustang at my sister’s house. Our house is a mile up the road, and then we turn right to weave into our track of homes. Also notice the sun behind the smoke in the upper right side of the screen.
And a fun break — this is Phoebe when I watched her. Keep in mind, she’s 14 years old!! And very happy that I came over to hang out with her 
Over the weekend, we took food out to Middle and his wife so they didn’t have to cook while taking care of their baby girl. Then we spent the rest of the weekend cleaning up and catching up from the wild week. I did manage to get out to Trader Joe’s but going anywhere requires getting around road closures and dealing with traffic from a major highway closure. But that should ease up this week or early next week and it’s all for a good cause.
Oh and in the middle of all the chaos, UCI scheduled my endocrinologist appointment for this Friday. I was amazed they got it approved and scheduled so quickly! I know my surgeon wanted me to get in somewhat urgently just to make sure I’m adjusting well, and due to some genetic markers, but I didn’t think it would happen this fast. I was happily wrong!
How was your weekend?
September 16th, 2024 at 9:52 am · Link
First, awwwwwww. Baby Girl is precious! She is a beauty. I can’t wait to see her and Turbo together. He’ll be the best “big cousin” ever. 🥰 Second, awwwww. Phoebe! She’s a good dog! Smart to move the Mustang just in case. Murphy’s Law of Disaster: If you take precautions, the disaster won’t happen. That’s not always true but true enough in my experience. Glad the weather is cooperating a bit and they now have it 19% contained. Hot Shot crews are all kinds of awesome, as are all first responders. But hot shotters are just something special.
My weekend was bland. OSU won handily, OU had to fight for their win. Next Saturday will be tense. I got a LOT of work done on the book. I got 2 1/2 chapters done. The 1/2 was on a chapter already written but after figuring out a twisty loose thread, I need to do a bit of fixing. S’all good. Then I got all the other loose scenes lined up in order and figured out some transitional narrative needed to tie them all together. The End is looking that much closer. I know I said maybe by Labor Day, and then by last Friday, so no predictions but I am closing in on it!
No family time. The Kids were doing stuff but no soccer. It was hot so we pretty much just stayed in under the AC. LG watched movies. I stared at my monitor and played “jigsaw puzzle” with my remaining scenes. All in all, I have no commplaints.
Have a great week, all, and a whole lotta love to the Middles and Baby Girl. 🥰🥰🥰🥰
September 16th, 2024 at 10:36 am · Link
What a cutie pie! Thankyou for sharing her photo. I agree that a photo of Turbo with her will be heavenly. He must be excited to be the big cousin.
You had me laughing out loud this morning with “Grandpa Face.” Babies do make some of the best expressions.
Oh wow! The photos of the fire are so scary. I’m glad you are safe even though it looks like the fire is right there.
Do you and Wizard wear masks because of the smoke? It looks SO thick.
Phoebe is a beautiful dog. I love her smile.
That’s great having your endocrinologist appointment set up for Friday. I’m glad you have a good team that are on the ball.
I hope you have a great day!
September 16th, 2024 at 3:29 pm · Link
Silver, I’m huge subscriber to “Taking precautions will prevent disaster from happening.” I know it doesn’t always work, but if disaster had happened, we’d likely have gotten the other two cars out. The fire’s at 31% containment and I hope it keeps going that way!
Baby girl is so cute. Turbo got to see her once, but she was sleeping. He was a bit awed, I don’t think he’s seen a newborn that he can recall. Now for your weekend:
Two wins for your teams, yay!! But even better for you is all the amazing work you got done on the book! It sounds like you’ve worked out a lot of issues and tamed the timeline, so the end should be near!
Well the heat gets pretty tiresome this time of year, but you two beat it by staying in the AC
Much as we love family time, sometimes a quiet weekend is nice too.
Thanks on the love to Middle, his wife and baby. He had to go back to work today, so I’m sure he’s missing being home. DIL’s mom is there helping her.
Hope you are having a good Monday and the book is flowing with the end in sight!!
September 16th, 2024 at 3:36 pm · Link
Viki, Wizard asked youngest before we shared photos. That said, I’m going to be sparing to see if they get to the point where they’d rather we didn’t share. I’m a huge believer is parents should choose how to protect their children on social media — and Grandparents should follow those rules.
And thank you! She’s pretty cute to us! She really does make a “Grandpa face,” LOL!! Grandpa is being a very good sport about it.
Thankfully the fire is farther from us, although we are still on warning status. The crews have been working incredibly hard. A few miles from us lost some homes (so dang sad!) but we’ve been so lucky here. You know, I took our masks, but we never stopped long enough to use them. The last two days, we can smell the smoke but it’s not heavy and I felt comfortable walking Maggie closer to our normal distance. We just take each day as it comes and adjust.
Phoebe does smile! These days, she feels her age sometimes, but she’s happy and that’s what matters.
You didn’t really say, so I hope you had a good weekend. And that your week is starting off positively.