Holiday Walkway

Wednesday: (12/26) I decided I needed to get a haircut and beard trim. My trimmer is in the RV at the repair shop. I’m always having to move it from the RV to the house and back so I decide to get another. I like the one I have but they don’t make one like it anymore. I found one close enough at Walmart an headed there first thing this morning. I had pie with a sausage for breakfast and later a couple of roast beef sliders before I headed outside to start work on laying the brick walkway. I mixed some mortar and laid a few bricks on the edge then leveled some sand behind those and laid more bricks. I set about 10 bricks on the edges and about 30 bricks on the sand. Then I noticed I had laid them without the alternate row stagger that the rest of the walkway has. So, I stopped for the day since i don’t want to disturb the wet mortared bricks. Tomorrow I’ll pickup and relay the bricks. I headed off to Lowe’s in Sunnyvale to get more mortar and sand. My little car hauled 12 bags home. On the way home I picked up dinner at Super Taqueria in Sunnyvale. I left all the bags in the car. I hand mixed small batches of the mortar today. Tomorrow I’ll use the electric cement mixer for mix a big batch and lay a bunch of bricks at once.

Thursday: (12/27) Granola for breakfast. I was back outside laying bricks. Actually, i started by picking up bricks to change the pattern. It actually went better than I expected because I didn’t have to lift all of them just the bricks in the rows that were incorrect. I made a tool out of a piece of brazing rod to hook one end of the brick then lifted each brick in the row up and replaced in the correct location into the slot between the two unmoved rows. After that I laid the rest of the bricks to the edge of the back door and then cut and fitted bricks by the edge of the house. The end result was the first ten feet of walkway is finished. I never got to grouting more bricks due to the late hour. I did lay down a bunch of bricks as a path to Ernies door so he can now not have to pickup all the little rock particles and track them into his trailer. We have the same benefit in that we can now enter the house via the back door from the driveway without tracking stuff into our house. Roast beef sliders for lunch. Macaroni and cheese for dinner. Lou and Dawn were out all day thrifting with Dawn’s friend Andrea. They all returned fo dinner and Andrea spent the night. Lou and I dashed over to Grocery Outlet to restock our cheese.

 

 

 

 

Friday: (12/28) I made a quick trip to Sprout’s market to get granola and some vegetables for a nice hash later. Granola for breakfast. I did some final checks and cleanup where my edge bricks need to be installed. I decided did needed to chip off some more to be sure to get at least ½ inch of grout. I decided to use my cement mixer for the grout. I miked the previous group by hand. Much easier with the mixer and it didn't stick to the mixer as bad as I expected. I ran out of mortar with three more bricks to install by the garden. It was just before 1500 when I finished. After a shower, I was off to lunch. Lunch/Dinner about 1530 at Lucky Chinese Bistro in Mountain View. After dinner, I stopped by Lowe’s in Sunnyvale to get more bags of mortar.

Saturday: (12/29) I made some chorizo hash and eggs for breakfast. When I got outside I laid more bricks to just past the washer. I will likely need to pickup and lower some that I laid toddau. They are too high when they arrive at the top edge. Lou made stuffed tomatoes for lunch. For dinner we went to Marie Callender's for Lou and Dawn’s prime rib dinner. On the way home i picked up more sand for tomorrow. Lou and Dawn did some shopping on their way home.

 

 

Sunday: (12/30) Leftover chorizo hash with eggs for breakfast. I lazed a bit watching the Sunday morning news shows. When I got outside ot work on the walkway i started by removing half of the bricks I laid yesterday to get to a point I could lower them so they arrive at the upper drain at the correct level. Getting them back in place correctly took more than half my work day. I them laid about 7 feet of bricks. It may look like something is finished if i have a good day tomorrow. Lou made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and spaghetti for dinner.

 

 

Monday: (12/31) Granola and banana for breakfast. I managed to relax inside past 1000 before going outside to work. I mixed some mortar and laid the last three edge bricks by the garden, I then placed more bricks on the sand completing most of the way to Ernie’s door. I have the final row and a half to lay. I ran out of sand . Since tomorrow is a holiday, I likely won’t be able to get more sand tomorrow so I may have to take the day off. I could trim som bricks for the last row if I can’t take the rest period. Leftover spaghetti for lunch and salmon with rice for dinner.

Tuesday: (01/01) I managed to pick up some of the bricks I placed yesterday and relay them at the proper level. I managed to complete all the bricks beside Ernie’s trailer.  Breakfast at A Good Morning restaurant. Tomales for lunch and dinner.

Wednesday: (01/02) I took a walk around Stanford University Arboretum, Up into Menlo Park and around downtown Palo Alto about 11.8 miles. I checked out the construction of several buildings and did some shopping. Nice to get a stretch, Breakfast/lunch at Safeway Market. Dawn’s soup for dinner.

 

Thursday: (01/03) I drove Lou to an appointment in the morning. We dropped Dawn off at the bookstore in San Jose and went to the appointment. On the way to the appointment we got  call from Leale’s saying the RV was ready. After the appointment I was dropped off at Leale’s and Lou and Dawn headed out shopping. I took the RV out on the highway including the terribly bumpy highway 85. It handled the road well even at 70 mph. It was scary before at 45. At home I pulled in the wires for the RV power pedestal. Breakfast was an piece of apple pie from Walmart. Lunch was a roast beef and cheese sandwich. Leftovers for dinner.

 

 

Friday: (01/04) Granola and a banana for breakfast. I connected the downspout by the water heater that I disconnected when I laid the bricks. I also put some things away that were in the yard. We expect rain tomorrow. I worked on the RV electrical service panel. I finished the panels installation and the hookup of power to it. I had to make a run to Lowe’s for some additional parts and stopped by Dim Sum King for lunch. I finished the installation about 1600. Dawn made sausage and kale soup for dinner. She and Lou made a run to Costco earlier to get some supplies.