Broken Mail Box? What’s Up With That???

Citrus Heights, CA – sister’s house

Above is your typical US Postage Mail Box…open the door, put in your letter or small package, shut and walk away.  It has three moving parts…the door slot to drop the mail, the lock on the door for the postal service employee to open, and the door this lock is in.  Three moving parts.

This mail box above only has two moving parts….the slot to put the mail in has no door, so you have a lock and door for the mail person to open when they gather the mail.  To the right you can see a mail person getting the mail out of the mail box.  These mail boxes have been around for most of my life…although they were an “Army Green”, and I vaguely remember seeing a few mini boxes on a post, but they did not hold very much mail.  I have also seen some that look like they are twice as big as the ones shown…but the bottom line, they are all very simple…two or three moving parts to them.

So how funny was it when I pulled up to the mailbox in front of the post office near the local grocery store and saw this sign.  “Don’t Drop Mail!!!  Mailbox not working drop you mail inside.  Sorry for the inconvenience.”   Yep, not only can’t the post office keep a simple mailbox in operation…the person who made the sign to notify that it functionally is not working, could not even make a simple sign that made sense.  I was not the only one who thought it was funny.  A couple pulled up near the box to address their letter and put on a stamp, and as I walked in to mail my letter, they pulled up next to my car.  “One would think that they could keep such a sophisticated piece of equipment in operation,” I said.  They laughed.  Saw them both in the store a few minutes later shopping, and we had another laugh about it.

Speaking of mail…have you ever watched the tracking of one of your Amazon orders?   It is 1,750 miles by car from San Antonio Texas to Citrus Heights.  My last order originated in San Antonio…went to Erlanger Kentucky, then Stockton California, then Vacaville California, then finally to Citrus Heights.  By car that is 3,640 miles.  But hey, I ordered on Thursday, got it on Saturday…can’t beat that, can you?  Well, yes you can.  On Tuesday, August 29th, I finally remembered that Marcia needed a new mouse for her computer…she has been having problems with it for a good month.  We had been back in Sacramento for about five days, and I promised I would get her a new one as soon as we got to town.  Seeing her “mess” with her bad mouse again to get it to work, I got online with Amazon, and ordered two…one for a backup.  As I was checking out, I saw that if I spent 9 more dollars, they would deliver TODAY, before 8 pm.  So I upgraded the mouse she was going to use, and the other mouse is similar to the one I use. Sure enough, around 7:15 pm, the package arrived.  It too came in from San Antonio…but it flew directly to Stockton, then to West Sacramento and delivered by Amazon Delivery truck (like the one shown here to the right…no name, just a plain white van).  With Amazon buying Whole Foods, and plans to build more (or take over other stores and convert them), I am sure the delivery options for same day service will grow and grow.  They already give you the option to have your order (not large items) sent to a Whole Foods Store, so you can pick up your Amazon package after work, and pick up some eggs, milk, and ready to heat up dinner on your way home.  And the great thing about that is that no one is going to rip off the package sitting in your mailbox, or at your front door before you get home.  Wow!  Everything sure has gone a long way since the days of the Pony Express…which, by-the-way, had its western terminal right here in Sacramento.

Fires, Cancer, Plan #2

Citrus Heights, CA – Sister’s House

There are SO MANY pictures of the fires in Napa, Santa Rosa, and down in LA…but this one is the most dramatic.  This is the Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa, with the top picture from Google Earth, and the bottom picture taken after the fire went blazing through on Sunday/Monday.  (click on it and it gets bigger)  The fires came so quick, with such fury…listening to the stories of people telling how they got out in the nick of time…how neighbors woke them up and they had 2 minutes to grab things…and then there is the story about Sara and Charles Rippey.  Charles was 100, Sara 98…they met in Elementary School 90 years ago.  They did not get out of their house, and though they slept in separate rooms, Charles tried to get to Sara’s room before the fire consumed their house and them.  Their son was content that they at least died together, he knew they would have liked that, though probably not from smoke and fire.

Much of Northern California is under a fire watch or extreme fire watch…including the Yosemite area.  This has changed our plans completely…though we are not yet sure what plan #2 is going to be yet, but I do have some ideas.  We are in no hurry…would sure like to have some rain come and soak the state again, but there is none in the foreseeable future, though the winter is suppose to have normal precipitation from what I have read. As we come up with plan #2, we will let you know.

Above is a picture of mom (right) visiting with Marcia and my Aunt Florence (dad’s brother’s wife.)  Well, mom was diagnosed with Lymphoma back in 1998 (give or take a year).  Two doctors told her that some day, it would be back.  Here we are about 20 years later…and it was time for extensive tests again.  I took her last week for blood tests, doctor’s appointment, and then a CT Scan.  The GOOD news came on Monday…the CT Scan shows no abnormities, and the blood tests are fine outside of her high sugar readings due to her diabetes.  (Perhaps I should put her on Skruffy’s diet!)  Now with that behind us…time to formulate plan 2….

F is for Fall and Family and …

Citrus Heights, CA – Sister’s House

Fall and Family get together for a Family Get Together…hard to beat that!  It has been many years since everyone of my 3 brothers (all older than I) and 2 sisters (both younger than I) and mom and dad all got together…and unfortunately, due to a wedding in the Santa Cruz area where one of my brother’s was the caterer, my brother Bob (#2 in age) was unable to be here for it.  However…we got him locked in to catering the Burdick Christmas Party in December…and the oldest brother (Jim) has committed to be there…so this Fall Party was just a prelude to the family getting together. 

   

Some of the family was inside, others outside, with many going back and forth.  The two pictures above include two ladies who are 190 years old collectively!.  Here is another picture of them to the right.  Fern is in the Blue sitting in the wheelchair…she is my Aunt Florence’s mother, and is 95 years old.  Arny’s mother, Euleda, is sitting in the big chair…she turns 95 in December. Toss in Mom and Dad who are on the couch, and well...that takes us back to the time of Columbus!  😜

I won’t bore everyone who is not family with the names and relationships of everyone else…let’s just say that we all had a good time, great food, and we are looking forward to the December gathering where both Burdick families will get together at a local church that is typically used for this type of gathering. 

Got an email from Yosemite Pines RV Park (Resort).  We stayed there back in 2012.  Yosemite is “ONE” of my favorite all time National Parks…and I have been debating with myself if we should go back there.  We talked about it a few days ago, and with the email coming yesterday, it seems like it is the thing to do.  The email was for a 3 for 2 deal…3 nights for the price of 2, October only.  “IF” we go, it will probably be next week. 

Stay tuned…