It's arguably not the greatest place for a family portrait, but when Roni needed emergency surgery for appendicitis in late July, the accommodations at Kaiser Antioch hospital's third-floor recovery ward had to do. Roni is home now and we hope will soon be back in the pink of health. Photo by Glenn.

Sea Ranch redux

July 30, 2019: When we were last in Sea Ranch, two years ago this month, we thought it might be the only chance we’d ever have to experience the luxurious accommodations of the Elbasani House — a spacious, custom-built rental home overlooking the rolling waves of the Pacific Ocean. It was a weeklong family vacation, coming on the heels of Glenn losing his job and our families mourning the loss of our Grandmother Henry just days earlier. It was a refreshing, healing experience all in one.


The Martinez Beaver Festival once was an early-August show, but this year it took place Saturday, June 29. Here we find artist Amy Gallagher Hall hard at work on her chalk mural she created during the show. Photo by Glenn.


Someone's having a birthday. We did things a bit different this year, honoring Glenn with a trio of baked confections from Nothing Bundt Cakes. We also went out for ice cream at Guanatos. Photo by Roni.


Among the birthday gifts Glenn received was a 2019 proof silver eagle coin. Perhaps symbolic of his interest these days in investing. Photo by Roni.


Glenn also received a Google Cardboard viewer, courtesy of Ben. It looks a little like an old-style Viewmaster, but it actually works with video apps that allow the wearer to experience virtual reality. Yes, he knows he's wearing it backward! Photo by Roni.


Fourth of July finds us in Gualala for the start of a weeklong getaway with Glenn's family at Sea Ranch. Glenn and Ben made the trip alone on the first day while Roni stayed at home to finish up her work week. Father and son get to enjoy some time on the beach at Gualala Point Regional Park. Photo by Glenn.


You're never too old to play on the beach, as Ben demonstrates by attempting to assist this beached log back to the ocean. The waves had other ideas, however, and the log remained ashore. Photo by Glenn.


Family members gather around the table for dinner on our first night at the Elbasani House in Sea Ranch. This was our second visit to the house in two years. Photo by Glenn.


Cousing Ben and Shannon are in their element as they take each other on in a game of Super Smash Bros. Ben brought along his Nintendo Switch to keep the younger folks entertained. Photo by Glenn.


Who is that masked man? None other than our family patriarch Norm, up from Hemet for a special guest appearance at the Sea Ranch gathering. A little sunbathing is in order after some time in the spa. Photo by Glenn.


Jenny looks like she's having a great time. You can see how close the ocean is to the vacation house. Photo by Glenn.


Friday is pizza night, as Sean baked up four pies for everyone to enjoy. Ben loads up a plate while his Uncle Tom supervises the serving line. Photo by Glenn.


Glenn and Ben have been taking evening walks together every other night at home, so the tradition continues around sundown in Sea Ranch. That's the Elbasani House in the background. Photo by Glenn.


Ben takes pictures of the setting sun along the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Photo by Glenn.


Glenn and Ben returned home on Saturday, July 6, to hang out with Roni at her booth at the Oakley Cityhood Celebration. The show is one of her biggest events of the year for the Ironhouse Sanitary District, which is why she couldn't come with us to Sea Ranch until it was over. Photo by Glenn.


The fireworks show is always the highlight of the Oakley Cityhood Celebration. This year marked the city's 20th anniversary since incorporating. Photo by Roni.


On a lunch stop at Stewarts Point we discover that Roni has a sandwich named in her honor. Actually this has nothing to do with her, but we were amused to see she was on the menu. She's definitely worth more than 11 bucks. Photo by Glenn.


We didn't order the Roni, but the two calzones we did order from Stewarts Point Store were large enough for three meals. Photo by Roni.


Now it's Roni's turn to enjoy some coastal spledor. After dropping Ben off back home, Glenn is making his second appearance at Sea Ranch. Photo by Glenn.


How's that hot tub, Roni? This is one of the most popular attractions at the vacation house, and for good reason. There's nothing like sitting in the bubbling water while gazing up at the dark sky filled with stars. Photo by Glenn.


Some Tuesday morning silliness is tinged with sadness as we say farewell to Mom and Dad, who will be returning to the Bay Area early to keep appointments. Tom is on his way out too, but he'll be back in the evening. We were having pancakes for breakfast. Photo by Glenn.


With the minus tide arriving Tuesday morning it's the perfect opportunity to check out the tidepools along Black Point Beach. Roni isn't afraid to get her shoes wet as she wades into the waves with her camera. Photo by Glenn.


A crab hides among the anemones on a rock exposed by the minus tide on Black Point Beach. Photo by Glenn.


One of our day trips included a visit to Salt Point State Park on an otherwise gloomy Tuesday afternoon. Roni stands near the mouth of Stump Beach Cove, where Miller Creek meets the ocean. Photo by Glenn.


Among the discoveries we made while combing the beach at Salt Point State Park was this colorful piece of abalone. Normally we'd take only pictures and leave only memories, but this bit of ocean treasure was too pretty to pass up. Photo by Roni.


Back at the Elbasani House, Glenn enjoys a bit of the bubbly in the hot tub. Photo by Glenn.


Pick your poison. Jenny isn't exactly tending bar at the hot tub, but she cheerfully displays just a small sampling of the alcoholic drinks that were on hand for our weeklong family gathering in Sea Ranch. Photo by Glenn.


It's Wednesday, a day before our departure from Sea Ranch, and Glenn at last gets to spend some quality time in the library. The room served as a spare bedroom to accommodate all the guests at the house, so most of the time it was occupied. Photo by Roni.


Another spot we spent little time in this visit was the game room. Glenn looks like he's engaged in a pretty intense game of pool, but actually he's just practicing his shot for the camera. (And he needs a lot of practice!) Photo by Roni.


There were so many room changes that we literally needed a scorecard to keep track of them all. Jenny devised this grid and placed it on the refrigerator to let everyone know their sleeping arrangements from night to night. Photo by Glenn.


A shrine honors Tom's late VW bug, which burned up on the road in a freak incident last month only days after its fuel line was serviced. Tom is still in mourning over the car, which was just a year shy of its 50th birthday. Photo by Glenn.


That blue line at the bottom of the monitor is Roni, who was admitted to Kaiser Permanente the afternoon of July 22 suffering from a burst appendix. She underwent successful surgery but had to spend a couple of days recovering in the hospital. Photo by Glenn.


Roni looks happier now that her appendix is out, but she's not really excited with her prescribed diet of soft foods and liquids like this chicken broth. She said once she is fully recovered she wants a big sandwich from Togo's. Photo by Glenn.


Home again on July 25, Roni sleeps off her hospital ordeal. We're glad to have her back, and want her fully recovered as soon as possible. Photo by Glenn.

So it was with great eagerness, upon learning this spring of another July family gathering planned at Sea Ranch, that we accepted an invitation to join the party. As luck or fate might have it, we would get to return to the same house that had us all in awe on our first visit in 2017. Glenn’s folks made the arrangements, and despite a mostly full schedule during the month of July they were able to book the Elbasani House for a week beginning on Independence Day.

One might think that Fourth of July would be the ideal week for a vacation, given a holiday thrown into the mix. With the Fourth falling on a Thursday, that meant most people would be looking ahead to at least four-day weekends. Surely we could count on getting everyone in the same place for a few days. But not so in our family. While Glenn’s schedule is entirely flexible these days, Roni had plans to work at a booth for the Ironhouse Sanitary District during the July 6 Oakley Cityhood Celebration, which meant she wouldn’t be able to visit Sea Ranch until Sunday at the earliest. And although we hoped Ben could join us, his work schedule meant that he could ill afford to be gone for more than a couple of days. Not saying that he wanted to go in the first place; the idea of a beach vacation, regardless of its promised beauty and activities, was far out of his comfort zone and something that he adamantly swore he wouldn’t do.

While there was nothing we could do to get Roni out of her commitment, we gave it our best effort to sell Ben on the idea that the experience would be a positive one. For weeks we lobbied, both subtly and more overtly, to win him over, and eventually he decided to give it a chance. It would only be for a couple of nights because that was all his work schedule and interest level could accommodate, but it was something. For him, a very big something that made us all proud. Now the trick was figuring out how to orchestrate our divergent schedules.

Because Glenn wanted to enjoy as much of Sea Ranch as possible and had the most flexible schedule, it was decided that he and Ben would go up Thursday through Saturday, then go home to drop off Ben and return with Roni for Sunday through Thursday. This unfortunately meant that none of us would be able to enjoy the trip together, but at least we’d all get some time there.

* * * * *

B

EN MIGHT HAVE gotten more than he bargained for, however, once he learned that he would be sharing the driving duties with Dad. Part of the decision boiled down to economics, as a tank of gas in a Toyota Corolla goes much further than in a Ford F-150. The other part came down to Ben, a licensed driver for nearly a year, still wanting and needing to gain seat time on the area’s freeway and highway system. This would not only be a high-speed road trip, but his longest yet on unfamiliar terrain.

On the morning of July 4, we got an early start just after 8:30 a.m. The idea being that Glenn wanted to arrive at Sea Ranch around noon, both beating any holiday traffic we might encounter and affording us more hours in the day to enjoy the destination. Ben took the wheel for the first leg of the trip — a 69-mile jaunt to Petaluma following nothing but freeways and a couple of two-lane state highways. He did a great job, and despite some traffic and being tired by the end due to lack of stamina for such long trips, he got us to Petaluma before 10:30.

This was where Glenn took over the driving duties, which was a prudent decision given Ben’s total lack of experience on the coastal roller coaster that is Highway 1. The twists and turns can be challenging even to an experienced driver, and add to that how long it has been since Glenn had to drive such a treacherous route, we were both pretty tired by the time we arrived in Sea Ranch around 12:15. No worries, because now that we had arrived we could kick back and relax to the calming sounds of an ocean breeze, except for…

There was a white minivan sitting in the gravel driveway outside the otherwise abandoned Elbasani House. We didn’t recognize it as belonging to any of our family members, so what did this mean? Did we arrive at the wrong house by mistake? Had someone told us the wrong weekend? Our confusion grew when an unfamiliar woman appeared at the back door. “I think we’re in the right place,” Glenn told her. “Our folks rented this place for the week?”

It turned out that she was with the cleaning crew and that check-in time wasn’t until 4 p.m. They were still inspecting the house and we’d have to wait until it was cleared to go pick up the key from the rental office in Gualala — a six-mile drive up Highway 1. Haha, joke’s on us! We just assumed that the house was available Thursday morning. We had no idea that it wouldn’t be until late afternoon, and no one had confirmed that minor detail with Glenn’s mom, so it meant we had several hours to kill until everything would be ready.

* * * * *

A

LTHOUGH WE WERE inconvenienced, it didn’t ruin our day. There are plenty of things to do around Sea Ranch, including hiking and picnicking in the woods and down on the beach. Glenn and Ben headed up the road to Gualala Point Regional Park, where we stopped to have lunch in the picnic grove before walking down to the beach for a couple of hours. By then, it was almost time to head to the rental office.

We had worked it out with Glenn’s parents to collect the key, seeing as they were still on the road and it seemed unnecessary for them to make the drive all the way into Gualala if they didn’t need to. But the house still hadn’t been released, and by the time it was ready Glenn’s folks had made the decision to come meet up with us in town. So ultimately they picked up the key themselves while we hung out to keep them company, enjoying some window shopping and poking around the interior of the Surf Market as we waited.

The key collected, we thought we would caravan back to Sea Ranch, letting Glenn’s parents lead while Ben followed to allow him some experience driving one of the tamer segments of Highway 1. But there is no cell service in Gualala, and so when our two cars became separated before we’d even left the parking lot, Ben wound up having to make the drive without an escort. He got us there in one piece, but it wasn’t the most pleasant trip either of us had experienced with him behind the wheel. It was enough to convince Glenn that everyone would be better off if he handled the coastal driving the rest of the visit.

* * * * *

T

HE HOUSE WAS little changed in the two years since we’d last seen it, except for a bit more wear and tear. Built in 2010, it was definitely starting to feel like a nine-year-old rental. Our little foursome was soon joined by Jenny and Tom and their kids, Shannon and Allen. Glenn’s brother Sean arrived in the early evening, and it was a full house with the exception of Roni. With Ben joining us for the first time and Shannon now an adult, plus the fact that people would be coming and going throughout the week, it meant that sleeping accommodations had to be adjusted. There weren’t enough bedrooms for everyone, so an inflatable mattress was added in the library.

Grandma and Grandpa took the master bedroom downstairs, Glenn staked out the studio bedroom on the north side of the house, Sean and Allen bunked together in the loft, and Shannon got the upstairs bedroom all to herself. Ben took the computer nook behind the studio suite, which left Jenny and Tom to sleep in the library. And that was just the first night!

Things got interesting after that, once we headed back to Oakley on Saturday afternoon. Allen wanted to try sleeping in every room in the house, while Sean quickly tired of the stuffy loft. Shannon, being a night owl, spent a lot of time walking around her bedroom, which made it difficult for Grandma and Grandpa to get their sleep in the bedroom below. And although the inflatable mattress in the library was okay, Jenny and Tom were eager to sleep in a real bed. And so began the game of musical bedrooms.

By the time Glenn returned with Roni on Sunday afternoon, there was a rotation sheet hung up on the door of the refrigerator that listed each of the rooms and who would be sleeping where. Somehow we managed to retain our spot in the downstairs studio, but it wasn’t without its drawbacks as our upstairs bunkmates changed a couple of times.

* * * * *

T

HE VACATION HOUSE comes equipped with most of the essentials, but food is not among them. Because Glenn has been trying to watch his diet and neither he nor Ben cooks, Roni sent her men off to Sea Ranch with a box of Blue Apron meal kits, with instructions so simple that even they could cook up the contents. But the road of good intentions was littered with potholes in the form of sumptuous feasts prepared by other family members, and so the Blue Apron dinners sat neglected in the refrigerator until later in the week.

Tom barbecued hotdogs for our Fourth of July dinner, and Friday night it was Sean making up four of his delicious pizzas. There were two fruit pies to tempt us, as well as a seemingly endless array of bottled beverages, many alcoholic and a few not. Tom kept his fire pit busy the entire time, stoking the flames at night to help people warm up after a soak in the hot tub, then using the dying embers to prepare s’mores.

Meanwhile, we also brought along our standby items for breakfast and lunch — simple salads, cereal and fruits that were easy to prepare and quick to eat. We had enough of the “fun” food to satisfy any cravings, but not so much as to say we’d overdone it.

And when we weren’t otherwise sleeping or eating, the rest of our time was spent visiting with each other or exploring the coastal splendor that is Sea Ranch’s main attraction. Ben got to hike down to Black Point Beach with Allen, Sean and Grandpa on Thursday morning to check out the tidepools during the low “minus” tide. He also had a chance to take an evening walk with Dad along the trail that runs through the community, becoming artistically inspired when he found a stand of cypress trees that had been shaped by the wind in unusual ways; he took a picture on his iPhone and used it as the basis for a drawing he did later that night back at the house.

Shannon and Allen were both excited to see Ben and his Nintendo Switch, and many hours were spent in front of the living room television set as they indulged in games of Super Smash Bros. and more. Jenny brought along an electronic reflex and memory game called “Bop It! Smash” that wound up being a hit of the week, with several people trying unsuccessfully to beat Sean’s high score of 198. Evenings found intense games of “Arkansas Bluff” being waged around the dining table. And of course there was the hot tub, which was a popular attraction especially at day’s end when you could stargaze across a completely dark sky.

* * * * *

I

T WAS TOUGH to have to leave on Saturday, knowing that we would miss out on most of the weekend in Sea Ranch while also being stuck in traffic to and from the coast. But Roni was back home eager to see us, and Ben wanted to be back before too late so he could relax a bit before an early bedtime in advance of his Sunday morning work shift. We departed around noon and after trading drivers again in Petaluma, we arrived back in Oakley before 4 p.m.

Ben drove Glenn over to Freedom High School around 7 p.m. where the Oakley Cityhood Celebration was already in full swing. Roni was in her element as she greeted festival visitors at the Ironhouse Sanitary District booth, and although the district’s general manager and one of its board members were both there to keep her company and assist as needed, she had everything under control. The festival concluded, as it always does, with a big fireworks show at 9:30 p.m. Afterward, we got things packed up and hurried home to catch some sleep before the return trip to Sea Ranch on Sunday morning.

We made good time through traffic the next day, and had it not been for a lunch stop in Stewarts Point, which is just a few miles up the road from where we were staying, Glenn would have made the round trip from Sea Ranch and back in less than 24 hours.

Unlike Ben, Roni was an experienced Sea Rancher, so everything was old and familiar this time around. She was happy to sit and relax in the house for a bit after the long drive. All those Blue Apron meals we hadn’t eaten the first two nights came in handy now, and once Roni was able to figure out how to work the Elbasani home’s new electric stovetop and enlist Glenn’s assistance, we had some good gourmet meals to go alongside the comfort foods that were still being served in abundance — think lasagna and hamburgers.

Roni’s favorite activity on these trips is to take photos, and so we strolled along the trail around early evening to catch the sunset. Later in the week we made it out to Salt Point State Park on a gloomy Tuesday afternoon for a picnic lunch in the woods and a chance to comb the rocks at Stump Beach Cove. We also ventured down to Black Point Beach near the vacation house during the last minus tide to check out the tidepools; Roni braved the ocean waves to get close up to the rocks covered with sea anemones, crabs and starfish.

On Wednesday afternoon, we went with Jenny to check out the Gualala Arts Center, which was featuring a Porsche display in its small gallery. After that, we hiked in the woods on a trail that allegedly would take us down to the Gualala River, and although it did get us near to the bank, we never were able to reach the water.

* * * * *

T

HE ARRIVALS AND departures continued in the second half of the week. On Tuesday morning we had to say goodbye to Glenn’s parents, who were returning to the Bay Area so Glenn’s dad could keep a scheduled doctor appointment before having to return to Hemet, where he is still caring for our Grandma Sorenson. Mom didn’t want to have to leave Sea Ranch early, but she wanted to be with Dad before he left town again, and she didn’t want to have to face the drive on winding Highway 1 alone.

Our brother-in-law Tom also left that morning, although he would return by nightfall after making a special trip home to pick up his Pepsi display from the Alameda County Fair. He and the family had rented a minivan just for the Sea Ranch trip, mainly because they wanted more space to spread out and haul all the supplies they had brought with them. Now Jenny and the kids were a captive audience for the day at the house, so the beach was a welcome diversion.

Although he didn’t have to leave so soon, Sean nonetheless managed to turn the second half of the week into a working vacation. Trying not to burn all his vacation time at once, he opted to telecommute on Monday through Wednesday, turning the computer nook behind the studio bedroom into his own not-so-private office. We all did our best not to disturb him, although he was happy to find reasons to come out and join the rest of the family in the living room between work calls. This allowed him to stay until Wednesday night, when he finally had to head home so he could make an appointment in San Francisco on Thursday afternoon.

All of these departures led to more shuffling of the room assignments, and so on Monday and Tuesday night we ended up sharing the studio bedroom with Shannon up in the loft. By now Allen had camped out in the library, while Jenny and Tom had the downstairs bedroom and vagabond Sean finally enjoyed one night in the upstairs bedroom. Once Sean left, Allen moved into the studio bedroom while we took the upstairs spot for the final night. Is your head spinning yet? Best not to think about it too much!

Thursday morning arrived all too quickly, and the survivors of our family gathering made a thorough check of the house to collect our belongings and gather up what was left of the food. We’d done pretty good on that front, finishing all but one of the Blue Apron meals and most of the fresh fruit we’d packed. Then we said our goodbyes to Jenny, Tom and the kids, and we headed out by 11 a.m. We stopped in Bodega Bay to grab some clam chowder for lunch at the Spud Point Crab Company, but we made it home around 3 p.m. 

It is always difficult to leave Sea Ranch, but with so many neat places to rent there, we hope there will be other family gatherings in the future.

* * * * *

T

HE ACCOMMODATIONS WERE unfortunately much less scenic where we found ourselves at the end of the month. Two weeks to the day after returning from Sea Ranch, Roni started complaining of weakness in her legs and pain in her right side. We wrote it off to fatigue, considering that she has been on the go with work and her varied other activities. She tried to sleep it off, but to no avail.

It’s not like Roni to take naps during the day, yet she was out like a light for much of Friday the 19th and Saturday the 20th. By Sunday morning she decided she’d been feeling poorly for too long and made a call to the advice nurse at Kaiser Permanente. Our local medical offices are closed on the weekend, so we had to drive to Kaiser’s Walnut Creek hospital for a regular appointment in adult medicine. It was all Roni could do to get up the stairs and into the waiting room, and she needed to lie down until the doctor called her in.

About half an hour later, she returned with a diagnosis of diverticulitis — an inflammation of the intestine — and a prescription for a couple of horse pills that would fight the bacteria while she spent the next few days recuperating. Of course the doctor also wanted to check her blood tests, so we stopped by the lab before heading back to the car for the trip home. Well, all that pain and suffering to find out it was nothing more than a common infection that could be cured with medication and a temporary diet of soft foods and liquids; Glenn and Ben headed over to Raley’s with a shopping list while Roni went straight to bed and slept for the rest of the day.

On Monday morning, Roni received a call from her regular physician in Antioch who had looked at her test results and grew concerned about possibilities other than diverticulitis. He ordered up a CT scan and urinalysis that morning, so once more we dragged ourselves into the car for a visit to Kaiser’s Deer Valley Medical Center. Roni’s pain hadn’t improved at all over night, but she did her best to continue following the prescribed treatment for diverticulitis, and even had some Jello and crackers with her medicine when we got back home; that was about all she really felt like eating. She suffered through the rest of the afternoon until her phone rang around 3:30 p.m.

The call was from her Antioch doctor. He had reviewed the results of the latest lab work and CT scan and broke the news that we had speculated about but hoped was wrong — Roni was suffering from acute appendicitis and needed emergency surgery.

* * * * *

A

BOUT 4 P.M. WE found ourselves back at Kaiser’s Deer Valley Medical Center, only this time it was in the crowded waiting room at the ER. They checked Roni in at the triage counter and sent her off to wait until she was called in. We figured that appendicitis, being a potentially life-threatening condition, might be enough to buy her an E-ticket ride to the front of the line behind any heart attack or gunshot victims who might be lurking in the crowd, but apparently not. We sat for two hours as dozens of other patients were called, Roni growing increasingly uncomfortable having to sit up in the hard plastic seats, as there were no benches to recline upon. She willed herself not to use the green plastic barf bag that the nurse gave her when she was first admitted.

At last, just after 6 p.m., they took Roni back into the surgery prep room where we talked to the surgeon, anesthesiologist and billing department over the course of the next two hours. The surgeon, Dr. Chau, explained the operation and how the procedure would likely go one of several ways — either the appendix would still be intact and removal would be relatively simple, or it could have ruptured and would need more effort to clean out the infected area of Roni’s abdomen. But he was optimistic that she might be able to go home that night if all went well.

At 8 p.m. two orderlies transferred Roni to another bed and wheeled her up to the second floor operating room. This was the point where Glenn got kicked out and had to chill in an empty waiting room listening to a player piano in the downstairs lounge until Dr. Chau came out to give him an update on the operation. It was nearly 10:30 when that happened.

And the news wasn’t encouraging. Not only had Roni’s appendix ruptured, but the infection was so massive that it took the doctor extra time to get things cleaned up, and even then he wasn’t entirely sure he had removed all of the offending tissue. Because of this, he had closed her incisions with staples rather than sutures, just in case they had to go back in later for further treatment. Needless to say, she wouldn’t be going home that night. In fact, she might have to stay in the hospital until at least Thursday, depending on how quickly she recovered.

* * * * *

G

LENN MOVED TO the waiting room of the hospital’s third-floor ward until Roni was transferred to a private room just about 11:30 p.m. She was still very groggy from the effects of the anesthesia, and now those magic green plastic bags finally came in handy. Instead of heading home for the night, Glenn elected to stay after the nurses were kind enough to provide him with sheets and a blanket for a spot on the foldout couch.

Spending the night at the hospital rekindled memories of when Glenn spent three weeks there in November 2009 while being treated for valley fever. There are so many beeps and alarms during the night, along with frequent visits from the nursing staff, that sleep is difficult to come by. Yet somehow we both managed to catch some Z’s until the phlebotomist came by at 5:30 a.m. for the daily blood draw.

Roni was doing better by late Tuesday morning, the effects of the anesthesia completely worn off but the pain still persisting. She couldn’t keep liquids down, despite being given nothing but ice chips. When it came time for the nurse to take her on a walk around the hospital ward, Roni still felt nauseous although she was starting to get hungry.

Glenn left for home around 1 p.m., finally getting a chance to shower and have something to eat for the first time in nearly a day. He returned to the hospital with Ben about 6 p.m. so we could visit together and check on Roni’s progress. 

By Thursday morning, following a visit from Glenn’s mom, sister and nephew, Roni was well enough to go home. The doctor seemed reasonably confident that he got all of the appendix out and won’t need to go back in for more surgery. We settled up the bill (or at least the part we’ve initially been charged) and then Glenn drove around to the patient pickup zone at the front of the hospital to collect Roni from the wheelchair attendant. With the temperature nearing 100 degrees, Glenn told her she might regret getting discharged so early in the afternoon and having to leave that wonderful air conditioning.

As of this writing, Roni is back to taking short walks as she continues to recover, and although she still has pain in her side from the incisions, the meds have been helping. She ordered a walking stick through Amazon to help her get around, and felt just well enough by Sunday the 28th to make our annual pilgrimage to Courtland for the Pear Fair. While it was one of our shortest visits there in recent years, we still got to enjoy some pear goodies, check out the booths, and listen to the music of Jay Rolerz on the main stage. Even Ben got to come along because he didn’t have to work until the afternoon, so it was a good day all around. 

Now we have our fingers crossed that the final bill won’t break the bank, although our insurance plan these days is decent for its level of coverage. We’ll probably have more on this next month.

* * * * *

T

HE OTHER THING it appears we’ll have more of soon is laminate flooring. Last month we said that we had placed an order for five cartons of Lifeproof vinyl plank flooring from Home Depot as we near the final stages of our long drawn out kitchen project. Despite our months of looking at samples and comparing colors, we wound up buying sight unseen a color called Copperhill, which at least from the pictures online appeared to have shades of red and gray in it.

The order arrived while we were in Sea Ranch, so about a week after we came home we picked it up from Home Depot in Brentwood and took it home, eager to break open the boxes and see how they looked on our kitchen floor. We were… underwhelmed. Not only were there no shades of red or gray, but the floor was clearly brown — dark brown. And try as we might to like it, it just looked wrong in our mostly gray and white kitchen. Deep sighs all around.

We mulled the idea of returning it and possibly having to pay a restocking fee because it was a special order, or simply keeping it to use in another room. Glenn has liked the idea of replacing the old carpet in the Writing Sanctuary, so the Copperhill might work there if we add another box to cover the additional square footage. It turns out that we over-ordered for the kitchen anyhow, needing closer to four boxes than five, so once we settle on the “right” color for the kitchen we’ll lighten up the order.

* * * * *

O

N THE HEELS of a busy June that saw our retirement and taxable brokerage accounts rise significantly, it was back to shopping for new acquisitions for the portfolios in July. The first of those was Grocery Outlet (GO) on July 8. We haven’t generally been interested in stocks that don’t pay a dividend, and recent IPOs are sometimes tricky to price accurately, but this one was special to us because Ben is employed there. The shares debuted in mid-June at $22 and on the first day opened at $29, only to run higher.

Because Ben wanted to own a few shares for himself and didn’t yet have a brokerage account, we decided to purchase a small quantity ourselves and transfer a few to him at our cost at a later date. The problem was that the cost kept rising, even while we told him it was probably a better idea to wait for a pullback. We put in a limit order at $31.75, and on that Monday morning while we were at Sea Ranch, the price took a significant and uncharacteristic dive to reach our strike price.

In the three weeks we have owned the stock, the price rose by as much as $7.76, making us wish we had added more than just 15 shares. Ben had to jump through several hoops during the verification process as he tried to get set up at Vanguard, but just this week we learned his account has been approved. His Grocery Outlet stock is waiting for him once we figure out how to transfer it to him.

Our other purchases this month included more shares of Iron Mountain (IRM) on July 11, when the stock sold off on an analyst’s downgrade; a tiny position July 15 in AMC Theaters (AMC), which hit a three-year low on fears that fewer people are going to the movies this summer (not the case at all!); and nearly tripling our holdings in Umpqua Bank (UMPQ) on July 18, when a buy limit order triggered after a strong earnings report. That latter purchase effectively used up all our remaining capital in Glenn’s IRA, so August and September will likely find us in recovery mode as we wait for more dividend checks.

Glenn is dipping his toe into the world of options trading, starting by selling a pair of covered calls on stocks he holds in his IRA. It was nice to receive the premiums for opening those contracts, but now it will be a few weeks of watching and waiting to see if those shares rise in price and he is forced to sell them at the contracted amount — the potential downside of options deals. 

 

Glenn, Roni and Ben