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I’ve been listening to the Harry Dresden books for the last several years. The Latest, Twelve Months, just came out. Would you join me in a book club reading? That’s us reading a bit and talking a bit about the book.

When I first notice gopher holes, I get a rake and smooth them over. The next day, I go out and look for new, fresh holes. I use the gopherhawk probe (just a 2′ long metal stick) to find the tunnel under the ground; I stick the probe into the ground looking for it being really easy to push through. When I’ve found it, I use the wedge tool to open the hole a bit, stick the trap into the ground, arm it, and walk away.

If I don’t catch the gopher in a day, I start the process anew.

There’s a zillion videos of the Gopherhawk in action online. Here’s one.

Saturday, we went out to Abigail’s choice, Gran Milan Cafe in Richmond for breakfast. It is astounding how terrific their food is!

Then we went indoor skydiving with her friend, Q. Megan and I flew too and it was EPIC!
We made it to Habit Burger before chillaxing the night away, dreaming of flight.

Sunday we hosted 8 of her friends at Urban Air in Concord, where they had giant indoor ziplines, lasertag, obstacle courses, towering climbing structures, and trampolines! Instead of cake, we had an amazing selection of primo cupcakes from Cupcakin’.

After the ziplines, pizza and flashing lights, we chilled at home for a few hours, waiting for 3 friends to come over for a sleepover party! There was caramel popcorn popping, a Bluey mini-marathon, and a wedding in the hot tub! The party-goers had fun late into the night. The next morning, there were pancakes, sausages, and Wii Sports Resort. As the overnighters left, Abigail’s long time friend L arrived and they played Minecraft on a local server for a while, building a beautiful house in the mountains.

It was a great party weekend for our now-11-year-old!

A few weeks ago we went to a model rocket launching event called LUNAR with 4-H.

Our whole family had a fantastic time at the LUNAR launch! Seeing all the different types of big rockets was a blast. And launching our own smaller rockets (with giant-er engines than in El Cerrito!) was a thrill! The people were all nice and there was good a mix of old and young people. Definitely recommended.
Just the drive there was enjoyable: certainly more country than we’ve seen in a while. And stopping to see the “Really Good Jerkey” guy was fun.

If you’re going, remember that it can be cold so bring layers and BYO lunch.
The Hobby Lobby in Stockton was about 10 minutes off our route and had rocket engines, and getting lunch at the Togo Sandwich Shop was good.

I just got back from the best dentist appointment. (never thought I’d say THAT!)

My new hygienist, Bianca at Dentists of El Cerrito, was great.
First, she was nice.
She did a cleaning and…. it… didn’t… hurt! What????
I noticed that the ultrasonic tool she used sounded different… a bit quieter than I’ve heard/felt in the past. I asked her after the treatment and she talked about how some people turn the machine up or down and press harder or less. Well, whatever she did, I’m happy!

There were a few moments of zinging nerve pain, about a “6” on the pain-o-meter, but other than that, the pain level was all 1-3 on a scale from 1-10!

Of course, I popped 3 ibuprofen before the appointment, as normal. (call it a pro-tip?)

But the best part was that she said, “You don’t have to come back in 4 months. I want to see you in 6 months.” What?! It’s a good teeth day!

My brushing regimen:

• Brushing about 10 times a week
• Flossing about 5 times a week (I use a floss holder and almost never change the floss, I just wipe it on my tongue)
• Water pik about 5 times a week (set to 9 out of 10. Watching the food gunk fall out of my mouth is so revealing)
• High fluoride toothpaste about 2 times a week (my dentist said “why do you want that?” I said “’cause it can’t hurt”

My last hygienist, Sheena, was good too. But this visit was the most painless eva’. Before that, I went to a dentist where the hygenist used a different power tool and a lot more manual scraping and it hurt A LOT. I’d track the pain as a constant 5-6 with a few spectacular 7’s and 8’s. After I asked a bit, they gave me a lidocaine gel. That helped, bringing the pain down to 3’s and 4’s. They also tried giving me Cyclorinse but that didn’t help the pain at all.

I’ve got some gingival pockets from not flossing until I was about 30 years old. So I’ve been kind of obsessed with having not-that-bad teeth.

Tonight Megan and I had a really fun game night!
While Abigail played Minecraft all night, building fantastic worlds, we played Rummy 500 and Scrabble!

Yesterday we worked on the most enjoyable cluster puzzle with 300 Kawaii Creatures. The most fun was us having to identify the creatures to one another across the table, “I’m looking for a yellow teddy-bat about to hug.” “Oo! Here it is! heheh!”

And the other day, the three of us had rousing games of Sleeping Queens and Hive!

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