Morning walk
Posted in random on February 20, 2026 by jefferyrnNot much happening here
Posted in random on February 20, 2026 by jefferyrnThis month has flown by so quickly. Not a lot happening. I’ve been to several happy hours at the clubhouse. One was for Valentine’s Day. We celebrated a neighborhood’s birthday on the 12th and tonight we are having a small dinner party for another.
There have been the usual struggles with insurance. The latest is a rejection of my CPAP supplies claim. Now I have to visit the doctor and get an approval sent in to the carrier. Since I changed insurance everything requires a prior authorization. I suppose I went through this with the last company as well, but it never gets easier.
Spring is in the air for a day or two, hopefully longer. While I know the mountains need the snow, I am not a fan of rain and wind. I prefer bright sunshine.
We have no plans in the near future for any trips. Our new friend from South Carolina is coming to visit in late March. It should be nice weather by then.
I had an echocardiogram yesterday. Just routine, unless they see something a miss.
The world is as insane as ever. The news had one glimmer of hope today, the supreme court shot down the tariffs.
I lead a simple life …
Kidnapping my evening
Posted in Netflix, tv with tags entertainment on February 5, 2026 by jefferyrnI know I am supposed to care about a woman in Tucson that was kidnapped. But the coverage is ridiculous. They have nothing to say that is new. Pure speculation.
It has been a small break from the ICE murders. The Epstein files do not get much attention except on the Internet.
And Trump keeps saying crazy things about the 2020 election being corrupt and stolen. Good grief…,
I need a break. I’m watching the Game Show Network out of desperation. For some reason I think you can’t watch Netflix before 8 pm.
We watched the four new episodes of Bridgerton. The lead this season is so handsome. But it is far fetched that he does not recognize the maid from the maskarade ball. They only wore silly little masks over their eyes. And he has kissed her.
The next four episodes are out at the end of the month. I shall have to search for something else to watch this evening.
More cleaning
Posted in cleaning, random with tags cleaning on February 4, 2026 by jefferyrnYesterday and today I spent some time scrubbing baseboards. I don’t think it has been done fully in four years. The first day I did the ones that were exposed. Today I moved furniture to get them all, in the great room at least.*
It really reminds me of “Mommie Dearest”, down on my hands and knees with a tooth brush and rag, spraying them with 409. Of course, Christina was scrubbing a tile floor with a can of comet cleanser and a tooth brush and she wasn’t 65 years old trying to get up and down.
Yep! I am that bored. Maybe this afternoon we will do something fun after lunch.
*I found more broken glass under the TV.
Picture dump
Posted in random with tags cleaning on February 2, 2026 by jefferyrnWe spent the morning scrubbing the floors and the area rug in the living room. This was the result of me stepping on a glass fragment and cutting my foot. A few weeks ago Ricky dropped several votive candles on the floor in an attempt to move them from the coffee table to the dining table.
It was kind of a strange accident. I’m usually the one breaking things. And just a few days earlier he dropped a water glass on the floor in the kitchen. I was more concerned with him and his new lack of coordination than the item which can be easily replaced.
Anyway, no more incidents till my bleeding foot this morning. Hopefully all the glass is cleaned up. We even moved the coach. What a mess we found underneath. We probably need to add this to our cleaning routine. Once every three years is too long a wait. Granted the cat used to lose things under there and he has been gone about that long.
I know this cleaning is a boring subject so here are some random pictures.
This egret has been hanging around lately.
Hopefully, I will come up with something interesting to write about soon.
Happy hour with a theme
Posted in food, random with tags happy hour on February 1, 2026 by jefferyrnThis week’s happy hour had a theme, Spain. One of our residents and his husband volunteered to make Paella for an appetizer. Other homeowners were encouraged to follow the theme.
We had a nice turnout and Rick and I got to know our hosts Gonzalo and Jon. Gonzalo is from Spain and most recently had a restaurant in San Francisco on Noble Hill. But after four years of barely turning a profit he decided to go back to being a corporate lawyer. Needless to say the food was amazing.
Jon is from England. To add some spice to the gathering he handed out flyers with instructions on fan language and fans were on all the tables so we could try them out.
Supposedly Jon found some naughty fan language signs too but thought better of bringing them to the gathering. Of course after a few drinks we were coming up with our own. He also taught us how to properly snap the fan and make the noise. Some of my friends were naturals at this maneuver.
It was great fun. We talked about coming up with more themes for future events. Maybe a pride party, but disguised as something else. We could even parade around the park before the start. Probably doesn’t sound as good of an idea this morning but we were having fun with it last night. A one float trip around the complex and all of us in drag.
Not going to happen or will it?
Counting calories
Posted in health, weight loss with tags weight loss on January 30, 2026 by jefferyrnHere is what I’ve learned. I started out in the morning meticulously putting down everything I eat. After all in the morning you have a clean slate, a new quota for the day. It goes well. I even list my fiber gummies, 20 calories. By lunch I am not as careful.
Sure, I log my meal, but I start to gaming the system. I put in the sandwich and the bag of chips. Then the fudging begins. Well I didn’t finish the sandwich so I can reduce that to .75 of a serving. There was a lot of ice in that drink so it wasn’t a true 20 oz. Etc.
I get home in the afternoon and I snack on some nuts before dinner. They don’t make the record at all. Maybe I have a slice of cheese. I feel guilty so I put that down. But then there is the chocolate chip cookie. Hmm sometimes I put that down but not always
Dinner is served. I put this down but I am not very honest about portion sizes. After dinner I am watching TV and snacking again. This never gets recorded.
Then there is the biggie. I see that I went over my budgeted calories. So, I stopped eating right. No, I come up with calorie credits like vacuuming the house for 30 minutes, or walking. Still over budget. I drown my sorrows in a bowl of ice cream and told myself I will do better tomorrow.
This is the cycle of failure. The fix is to be more active and find things to do besides snacking out of boredom.
Today I will do better!
Bearing it
Posted in random with tags random on January 27, 2026 by jefferyrn
I’ve had the bear for over twenty years. I bought it in a gift shop on the Riverwalk in New Orleans pre Katrina. It is hand made by a local artist. It is a memorial to victims of AIDS. Originally, I had it on display on a shelf in our bathroom in Reno. It was probably was not the best place for it with all that moisture. It had been in a box in the closet since we moved to Palm Desert.
I was considering putting it up somewhere. But I don’t have any of that New Orleans theme in this house. It remains a memory stored away in the closet. It almost seems appropriate as we are all feeling less free under the current administration. I feel like hiding in the closet too.
I love all the little do dads that are attached to him. I have a cross on the wall with a similar concept by a different artist. I purchased it in Morro Bay, before my parents passed away.
As you can see it has a New Orleans vibe about it too. New Orleans is one of my favorite places.
A night out
Posted in Theatre with tags night out, play on January 26, 2026 by jefferyrnA month ago we purchased tickets to a play in Palm Springs at the Prizm Theatre. It’s a new theatre and we had tickets for opening night. Well the opening got postponed and the venue changed, but we finally got to see it last night.
They called me on the day of the original premier asking me what seats I wanted for the following week. There were problems getting their theatre open in time for the show so they had rented another venue and the show would go on.
Apparently, I had missed an email from the CEO explaining this a few days earlier. I told them I had received no such email. They told me to tell them what seats I wanted and they would issue new tickets. I said can’t we have the same ones? Unfortunately, someone had already taken those seats. (I later found the email in my spam folder.)
So after much hoopla we ended up with those seats on Sunday night instead of opening night. It worked out because our neighbor decided to go with us and I was able to get him a seat at our table. He was busy on the original night.
We decided to make a night of it. We went to dinner here in Palm Desert. Then we took an Uber to the play and went to the Street bar afterwards.
The play was an off Broadway musical called “Camp Morning Wood.” It was about a nudist camp that was going to be taken over by a reverend and his church. Plus the land was to be used for fracking. This opened itself up for a lot of sexual innuendos.
Anyway, it was funny. The songs were hilarious, though the singing was not that great. Still it wasn’t bad considering the material they were working with, it was fun.
There was quite a bit of nudity. In fact I think someone was in almost every scene, nude. I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much if it weren’t for the audience having such a go time laughing. Our neighbor was enjoying himself immensely.
We had fun at the bar too. It happened to be karaoke night. They were terrible but isn’t that the point? Plus after three drinks, one at the theatre and two at the bar, everything was hilarious.
Most importantly my mind was not focused on the news for once.
No photos were allowed at the performance but here are some publicity shots taken opening night.
The photo shoot
Posted in random with tags acting on January 25, 2026 by jefferyrnHaving never been a part of an actual photo shoot and more importantly being the subject, I wasn’t sure how to prepare. I picked out several different outfits, mostly casual, some trend, some sporty, some a little more formal. I put them all in the car and headed for the studio.
First thing to remember is that it’s hot in Southern California. My car’s air conditioning was on the fritz. So all the primping I did before leaving home was for nod. By the time I got to the studio, I was wind blown and sweaty. The studio was not air conditioned either. It was an open lofty space with barn doors.
As I cleaned up a little for the shoot it became apparent that I brought too much stuff. It’s a headshot. Shoes don’t matter. Really nothing below the waste matters. The photographer was a nice man and he didn’t laugh at me. He shot some full length just to make me feel better, I think
Also I had a shirt with a logo across the front for my college. No logos. I turned it inside out for the pictures. I brought some trendy sweat shirts with zippers every wear. I brought some colorful clothes too. The shoot was black and white. My eyes were bloodshot. Thank goodness for airbrushing, I thought to myself.
The whole thing took maybe an hour and cost me 500 bucks. That was a lot of money in the eighties. But I needed a headshot and thought it was a good investment.
It took a week before my agent called me to go over the proofs and pick a shot to use in the magazine.
The magazine came out a month later. Faces International threw a big party at a theatre in downtown Los Angeles, I think it was the Ahmanson or the Pantages. At any rate it had a huge lobby for the reception. I was totally insecure. My agent wasn’t there to show me around and I left early.
As you can see I was buried in a sea of faces. Some people “paid” for larger pictures. Some were in color. Some even had a full page to themselves. It depended on how deep your pockets were and what your ego could handle.
When all was said and done, I got one call from this picture. It was another talent agency and what I surmised to be another money pit.
In the acting class I learned that you needed to go to cattle calls for extras. You needed to go to open auctions. You needed to do a lot of leg work.
The class also taught us about TV commercials. The instructor was currently in one for a major diner chain advertising its pies. The commercial had one line. They showed all the menu options and at the end he was featured saying, “And pie?”. Two words bought him a little fame and recognition.
My two words were “I’m tired”. After working till 1 am, I really couldn’t make a trip into Hollywood everyday for those open auctions and cattle calls.
My dream faded fast.
Life Beyond the Casinos 