A Break At Home

Seems like we've been out and about quite a bit with several shorter trips recently. We'll be off again this weekend so I'd better get this post started.

Sunday: We headed back at checkout time from the RV park. When we arrived home it was easy to get back in the grove because this was just a long weekend trip of 4 nights. It's interesting that even when we're home, we tend to live a lot out of the RV going and getting stuff for dinner or clothes that we need. That's one big reason why, when we are preparing to leave, we need to check everything and try to restore it to readiness.

Monday: For breakfast Lou fixed French toast, sausage with fresh grapefruit.

Dawn went to work at the library at Stanford. She's been busy trying to learn all about how to use Zoomtext, a program that allows easier use of the computer for low vision users. She's also been using her camera and monitor there as well to examine the collection she's working on. I think she really enjoys the internship.

Lou's been very busy working with her dolls. She hasn't been getting much time here in her shop nor with her doll making class. She did get to go to a couple of classes the last couple of weeks.

Today was battery day. Seems like I spent all day locating and ordering batteries for stuff. My laptop battery has been bad for a couple of years. It now lasts only 10 seconds so I thought I might need a new one. The prices seems to vary from $60 to $150 dollars so I went with the $60 price I found on a website. Unfortunately, there is no single good battery source. I also needed to replace the batteries in the three UPS systems we have for the desktop computers, two CyberPower 720w, and a Conext 350w, Two types of batteries each from different vendors for the best price and most assured correct fit. Then there were the camera batteries for my Nikon CoolPix. They are just AA batteries so no problem there, just a short walk over to Fry's I also wanted to get a new charger for them that plugged into the cigarette lighter rather than the AC outlet. And finally there was a new battery for the remote for Lou's laptop. Her laptop is a dual function laptop that works as a DVD player as well and has a remote control that resides in the PCMCIA slot. When being used as a DVD player all the other parts are denergized for longer battery life.

I also spent a little time in the study continuing with the clean out.

Lou and I walked over to Mr Chau's to get a Chinese lunch. It's a fast food place. We got chow mein, vegetables with shrimp, and BBQ ribs, one order shared more than filled us up.

Lou's been hard at work trying to use leftovers. For dinner she fixed some noodles with Ikea Swedish meatballs from the RV pantry. There was also a nice salad from the RV fridge. It was a beautiful day all day.

Tuesday: Lou wanted a real breakfast so she fried some potatoes and served them with sausage and fried eggs.

Dawn's off to work and we're playing around here at home.


I finally modified the hubcaps on the toad so that the Pressure Pro tire pressure sensors would fit. We have yet to actully use them with the RV when towing which is why I bought them. We've been lucky to not have had a flat in the toad while towing.

I also installed a webcam on Dawn's desktop PC. She needs to practice for jo interviews so now she can record herself nd be reviewed by the job center. I also installed Skype so she can make VOIP video phone calls.

There was also a little work in the study going through stuff. That cleanout job may last for months.

Wednesday: I basically vegged today. I worked on a sick website without much luck. Looks like the server has some serius problems and the site may have to be rebuilt from the last backup. I hate computers!

I also wrote a nasty letter to the City of Santa Cruz regarding my undue parking ticket. They seem to believe that just because there were no signs indicating the limited parking period that drivers are still responsible to adhere to the unknown limit. Cute, The real problem is that there is no real recourse now that parking citations are no longer handled by the courts? They haven't heard the last of it even with my 5 page letter pointing out their deficient signage and what Caltrans actually required.


Lou went down to San Jose to her doll class. When she returned, she steam cleaned the carpet in the RV. It looks great now.

Lunch and dinner were Dawn's chili beans.