DAY OFF
Cheryl and I take Tuesdays off. This one started off early 3:30 a.m. -- with a thunderstorm that sent the cat scurrying under our bed. Then at 6:30 a.m. the phone rang. No one said anything when I picked it up. Based on the background noise I suspect it was the hospital -- probably looking for a chaplain -- and then realizing that it was Tuesday. So they hung up and called someone else.

We spent most of the day at Turlock Auto Plaza negotiating to buy a rental return minivan. After six hours we drove away in a 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan with 12,000 miles on the odometer. This is our fourth such minivan over the years.

We went to State Farm to work on the insurance, to the AT&T phone store to take care of some business there, and headed off to Pitman High to watch Betsy play in a scrimmage volleyball game.

The sky was spectacular at sunset. Part of our valley is covered with smoke from a forest fire somewhere west of here in the Coastal Range. The setting sun turns the hanging smoke fiery red.

It was an exhausting day. Perhaps we should take another day off just to get some rest. But the new minivan developed a whine about two hours after we drove it off the lot, so tomorrow I've got to go back to the dealer. No rest for the weary...