November 4--I had to take it to Apollo Bay

It was not so much a rainy day as a drizzly one, and most of the drizzle happened before I got up. It was good to open the door and smell the damp air, though, and feel the coolness of the morning. I was in no hurry to do much of anything, though I did have some things I wanted to do. Just not in any rush to do them.

I enjoyed my coffee and played with the cats. Gemma came by and said hi and I gave her a cat treat. Chocko didn't like that at all, and meowed at Gemma the whole time. I told her that Gemma was our new friend, and she better get used to it.

I did the laundry and cleaned up the house a bit. I've been keeping up with the house stuff, so it is not the train wreck one would expect when Malida is gone. The only real difference I can tell is that she likes to go around and straighten things up, and I don't. I picture her walking around next Sunday when she returns, moving stuff around.

I went out to the creek trail and walked for a while. It felt like fall. There was hardly anyone out today. Just the random old guy or two, like me. It felt good.



I walked to the other park and back, about 2 1/2 miles. When I got back to my car, a few raindrops started to fall, but gave up fairly quickly. I stopped at my new favorite taco place on the way home and had a couple of carnitas tacos.

I came home and messed around for a while, then went to work making some chicken soup. I used my electric pressure cooker to make it, just to see how it turned out. It cooked quickly--something like 12 minutes. It tasted ok, but 12 minutes is not nearly enough time for the flavors to mingle and get to know each other. Next time it's back to the dutch oven and a slow simmer over a couple of hours.