Nesting and Holy Heck

The cable technician arrived at 11:16 this morning.

"What seems to be the problem?", asked he.

I picked up the remote, turned the TV on, showed him how the cable box was not connecting to its source.

I then handed him the remote and, as soon as it touched his hand, the TV came on.

"What did you just do?"

"Turned the box on. It was off".

So that was embarrassing.

As to how it got turned off in the first place is a mystery. Maybe I hit a wrong button when turning the TV off the previous night.

He showed me how to tell when the box is off, how to turn it back on, asked if I wanted him to show me anything else; at which time I thought about asking him to show me how to get to Netflix on the TV, so I won’t have to watch on the phone, but thought I’d better leave well enough alone. Stick to the basics and not confuse myself further.

There’s just too much technology.

Heading out later to pick up mail, I found the front drive full of rescue vehicles — not one, but two fire trucks and an ambulance.

The ambulance was loading up the gurney, but no one was on it.

Turned out, they were here because a resident had fallen in the office area.

Two fire trucks AND an ambulance seemed overkill for a fall, and proved to be so because, as I approached the mail center, the gentleman who’d fallen was being escorted back to his unit by Head Maintenance Guy.

He looked fine and, in fact, told HMG that he could make it to his unit on his own from there.

Maybe he was embarrassed by all the hoopla.

While chatting with others there to pick up mail, my attention was drawn to a naked tree.

I've never seen it like this before. It's lost all its leaves overnight, but looks quite beautiful this way.

One of the guys pointed out a bird building a nest on a bare branch.

The bird flew away before I could capture a photo of it tending the nest, so I’ll be checking back from time to time to see how the nest goes, if/when any babies appear.

Seeing flyovers around my patio lately, I figured it was nearing that time again when I’d have to chase birds away from nesting in the eves over the patio door.

There was all that drama last year, when I had to keep chasing birds off, telling them not to build and that one couple began building and settling in when I wasn’t looking, then got upset when I blocked off the entrance.

Having since purchased holographic scare tape, I’m ready for them this year.

So, that was my day — the TV got fixed, I finished another photo book for the family ...

Watch Me Grow No. 4

.... and, when I settled in to watch TV a little while ago, all hell broke lose.

The couch began shaking up/down, dishes and other items began rattling and the entire building felt like it was being lifted off the ground, then dropped.

It was the mother of all earthquakes we’ve had to date — a 4.4 @ 7:43 pm centered a mile away in Fontana.

Nothing broke, but one more like this and the building is coming down.

Now I know why it was, just last week, I began rethinking what to save in case of emergency. I'd decided to grab important papers, the cellphone, as many photo books as possible and my makeup bag, of course. Figured anything else was unimportant, could be purchased again.

Besides, I keep wanting to downsize, go minimalist living. I'd like it not to happen by way of a disaster, but what will be is what will be.

I can feel something big is coming. In fact, I'm hearing a rumbling, and small shakes, as I'm typing this. Aftershocks?