July ‘24
1st Week
Grandma
Well you’d think I haven’t had enough of all the things. But here we are!
Prepping for Vacation and finalizing things so I can have a slight break before coming back to my chaos.
On the 3rd, Grandma who’s currently wearing a boot because of her foot surgery, tripped out the door and literally ate concrete. She’s FINE! There is an itsy bitsy problem and now she’s not allowed to go on Vacation. So the Hearst Castle part next week will be just me and Mom. Grandma however, broke her right arm just below the shoulder. -_- And here she was gloating about never having broken a bone in her life. WHELP! You’re out of that club now Granny!
2nd Week
Vacation was awesome. Mom and I enjoyed the Castle Tour and spent some time at San Simeon beaches & Morro Bay Shoppes. I have a good number of souvenirs and pictures. They weren’t too keen on any video outside of personal use. My YouTube isn’t monetized yet, but if it does someday that would present a problem. So the best I can offer are pictures, but I do recommend you guys check out the Hearst Castle YouTube Channel for in depth looks at the location. We were also not allowed to use FLASH photography so if there are dark rooms, I am sorry.
As for Grandma, she went into surgery on the 12th. She completely split her humerus vertically so they need to put plates on both sides, and rods through it all to keep it together. It was a major surgery as they had to go through tendons and muscle to do it. She’ll be a bit out of commission for the rest of my stay. But I will be coming back for her checkup August 22nd. So I’ll just spend the last two weeks of August here at Grandma’s.
With that being said I will need to complete my Tutorial Projects ASAP before I return or else they’ll have to wait until Sept. It’s a stressful bit of taking care of Grandma, and preparing to get work done before returning. No pressure.
Mom is currently in Arkansas with her own bit of ordeals with family. I’ve been having migraines constantly trying to just take each thing on one at a time. Other than the migraines I feel like I’m handling it pretty well.
I went shopping for items for the mountain home. Dad has been redoing the electrical around the house & studio. Soon we’ll pull up all the carpet in the house for a deep clean, and have an unfinished floor for a few months. Mostly so we can get a new refrigerator and install it. FULL sized. For anyone who’s seen our fridge in vlogs, it’s a fairly small one, but it served it’s time and purpose. It’s time for an upgrade.
3rd Week
Grandma & Home
She’s doing a lot better! I’d show you guys pictures of her arm but honestly I don’t want anyone to get nauseous looking at it. It’s not bad, but regardless it was a major surgery and that’s a bit much for some people. Just know it’s all good! She promises to behave so that’s all that matters.
I had the busiest day driving home and then streaming after. It wasn’t my greatest moment, but I can say I’ve done it. HAHA! As soon as I got home I had to clean and build things in order to get boxes out of the way. We built a second kitty litter enclosure, same as the first. Now there’s one at each end of the house and it’s SO much nicer to clean without stepping all over litter. HIGHLY recommend. And it makes your place look more appealing and less like a mess.
Music Madness
For the first time in 20 years I have learned how to properly clean, maintain, disassemble, and reassemble my flute. Most people would think you’d learn to do this, but the truth is no, not at all. In school we learn to PLAY them. We send them out and spend HUNDREDS of dollars to have them maintained yearly. Music is way more expensive than people realize. They think it’s just a one time purchase and it’s good forever. HA! It’s a cute thought. I truly wish. Especially since I still have 5 instruments at home. So now one of my side goals is to learn to maintain them on my own. Which is so far going well! 1 down, 4 to go!
Office Upgrade
I’ve ALWAYS wanted a bigger calendar for my wall. I finally got one. I used to have this 14x14-ish one that wasn’t quite enough but I dealt with it. Now I have plenty of room for writing my schedule out and keeping with it. I love it SO much. It seems silly that a bigger one would make any difference, but it does.
4th Week
Borel Fire
As of July 26th at 5:52 PM Dad, the Cats, and I evacuated to Grandma’s House. A fire broke out in the major canyon road going to Lake Isabella. It rolled over two mountain tops and got close enough we decided it was best to leave. 1st indicator, ash falling from the sky like snow but in HUGE chunks of black debris. 2nd indicator, birds were falling from the sky as Dad climbed onto our Grandfather’s Roof to take a look at the raging fire across the mountaintop next to ours.
We made it out safely with some irreplicable belongings and the necessities. We past fire trucks at the bottom of the mountain and witnessed a great many unmarked normal vehicles headed towards the fire (Assuming Volunteers and extra help from LA Fire Departments) and fled as quickly as we could. GREAT news is that my Jeep can haul ass down a mountainside quite safely.
As of 10am July 27th far more than 30,000 acres have been burned. Many have already lost their homes, and others are stuck with no way to evacuate.
I trust in my Grandfather’s ability to clear out space with a backhoe. We can still see our place from satellite view and I’m checking our camera live feed every 15 minutes. So far the fire is not within camera view, but considering it’s still actively showing me the feed I’ll assume our battery house is up and running as well.
From what we know via Nasa FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) shows that our closest neighbor’s place is currently on fire. We can confirm that two places over, a house on the edge of the mountainside is burned.
At this point it’s all a waiting game.
