Tuesday, June 30, 2009

San Jose Computer Fixes

Tuesday: (06/30) Breakfast was interesting. Lou made an apricot cobbler last night and Dawn made apricot ice cream this morning. That combination was breakfast.

About 10am Daewn and I headed to San Jose. Dawn had an appointment in the morning. I dropped by her apartment to work on her computer. I updated ZoneAlarm and Windows. Installed Carbonite backup software and Installed a new wireless access point/router. I got the router at Office Depot for $14. Quite resonable and a very easy installation. And finally, I checked that everything worked and that Dawn could print via the wireless connection.

When Dawn returned from her appointment at San Jose State, we went to lunch at La Victoria Restaurant, the burrito place in a victorian house by the college. We shared a carnitas torta and a quesadilla with a horchata drink. Then Dawn went to work at the city offices for her internship. I continued my work on her computers. I finsihed up just before she returned then we returned home.

Ernie fixed a nice carrot apple and rasin salad. We had that with left over items like hamburger patties and hot dogs and Lou's Iranian chicken salad.

After dinner Ernie, Dawn and I took the dogs to the park for a walk. They enjoyed it and the romp in the creek was a highlight.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

A Visit To San Jose Flea Market

Saturday: (06/27) Ernie fixed egg, bacon and cheese muffins. I guest these must be called Ernie McMuffins. Today's was a scorcher, in the very high 90's. Lou and Dawn started the day with a visit to the Stanford University Auxillary Rummage Sale, their last. they've been evicted from their site on the University and haven't found a new site so are closing. Lou and Dawn will miss it.

Lou Dawn and I went down to the San Jose Flea Market. It was sure hot there. It would seem that in a down turned economy, it would be doing well. It isn't! Very few people, a lot fewer vendors. I did enjoy a very nice vanilla shake, one of the best I've had in a long time. I was quite surprised. Lou found a few treasures as usual.

We returned home and set up the misters for the dogs in the yard. They are usually locked outside all day and can only come in for the night after 8pm. We all enjoyed the cooler inside the house. Lunch was left overs. My selection was wieners and creamed peas with pearl onions mixed together.

For dinner, Ernie made another potato salad. The rest was easy. Warmed up BBQ meat of choice and green salad.

IDue to concerns for the birds, i clossed off the front door with some orange tape to try to keep down th traffic through the door. There are now 4 eggs in the nest and the bird should start setting soon. That, or we;ll have a good breakfast?

Sunday: (06/28) I started the day with a egg muffin sandwich. I'm not sure what everyone else had since I was doing my usual Sunday morning late rising and watching the Sunday Morning news shows. It was another scorcher today so sandwiches were cool for lunch.

I spent the day installing the online backup software Carbonite on all our computers. I've been using Memeo for our backup which is OK and I did like the multiple destination capabilities but I have had problems restoring files and with Memeo completing backups as scheduled. Then there is the limited backup capacity. Of course it's really limited by my desire not to pay too much. Memeo has a monthly fee and I only payed for 5GB of storage for all our computers. Carbonite only backs up to their site, not jump drives and external hard drives like Memeo can. However, it has unlimited backup capacity for a resonable annual fee. Carbonite also allows online access to any of your computer backups.That should help Dawn with here file access to her computers. Seems like the file you need is never on the computer your using. We'll see how it goes. I may continue to use Memeo for local hardware backups like jump drives and external hard drives since there is no fee for those tyoes of backups.

Another job was getting Lou's computer fixed. a few months ago when I updated ZoneAlarm, the firewall and anti-virus software we use the installation failed. It couldn't be removed or reinstalled so could be used online. After much tweaking of the registry and sneaking around I finally got it working. Frankly I would have preferred that ZoneAlarm's help system would have provided a fix but they only helped some. Still it's the best protection so I had to find a way to make it work, and did, finally.

Dinner was some smoked chicken cooked a few days ago at the big BBQ effort. Ernie also cooked some fresh spinach, and we also had cottage cheese.

Since our bird is setting, I closed off the front door with some orange tape across our porch to hopefully keep folks away. I also tied a ribbon on the inside handle. The eggs should hatch in a couple of weeks and the babies be gone after another 2 weeks so one month of using the back door for nature.

Monday: (06/29) Breakfast was Ernie's biscuits and gravy. Our neighbor dropped off a bunch of really ripe apricots so Lou and Dawn  worked on them. Our own apricots are getting close to being ripe as well.

Lunch was popcorn. I had a dentist appointment this afternoon so Lou and Dawn came along for a visit to the old Vallco Shopping Center. Dawn found some tops at Sears and I got another pair of my Sketcher shoes.

Dinner was BBQ ribs, chicken salad, and broccoli.



Friday, June 26, 2009

Guests Arrive, of the Fowl Kind

A Walk In Bol Park Goats At Bol Park
Friday: (06/26) We all started the day with walk in the park. We drove over to Bol Park. This park is on an old railroad right of way and leads through the neighborhood to the high school Lou used to work at. In fact, she usually drove to the park, left the car there and walked the half mile to the school each day. Better access, less traffic and less weird high school age drivers. There are a couple of farmettes along the path. The goats get to watch all the traffic going down the path.

Walk At Bol Park
This bike path goes on down th the high school and is a popular walk as well. A little ways down the path toward the school is a small pasture with a couple of donkeys in it. The small donkey is the inspiration for the donkey in the move Shrek. Ernie brought the dogs along and they enjoyed the walk with us. We also stopped to visit some goats in another yard along the way. Unfortunately my camera battery died so no donkey pictures.

With our exercise out of the way, we went to Denny's for breakfast. Their TV adds got to Lou. We haven't eaten there in a while. Ernie thought we had been replaced by aliens but we all had a nice, cheap breakfast anyway. Ernie doesn't have high regards for them, especially since they took over the restaurant at the Wild Wild West Casino in Las Vegas that he calls home.

Our Bird nest in Our Door Wreath
(Refresh for current picture)
Over the past week or so a group of three birds built a nest in the wreath hanging on our front door. Two males and a female. The nest now has three eggs in it. They aren't too bothered by our use of the door, fortunately. I installed a webcam on the porch today so that they can be seen on our website. I haven't used the webcam in a while and everything has changed with our systems since that time so setting up the camera was an exercise.

My IP camera is wired but fortunately I had a 100' cable already going from the study  outside that could reach the front of the house. Our DSL line used to have a static IP address (like the phone number to our network). Our new DSL connection has a dynamic IP, different each time its used. In order to allow easy access to a live video feed, I setup our router to use a dynamic IP address using dyndns.org. It's free and allows a simple domain name rather that a changing IP address for the URL (web address). All rather convoluted but now the address is easily accessible and it uses our domain rather than someone else's. The address is http://desine.blogdns.net. Log in as user: "guest" with the password: "bird" to see live video of the nest.

The nest is in the bottom inside of the wreath. Unfortunately, the camera doesn't have a zoom lens and the birds are quite small so you can't see too much but it's kind of fun anyway.

Ernie did his BBQ thing this afternoon. We had an early dinner of creamed peas with pearl onions, BBQ teriaki steak and seasoned baked potato wedges. he also prepared a lot of extra meat  on the barbie as well for later meals.

Ernie Lou And Dawn
Above Ernie Lou an Dawn posed for this group photo.

Wilton Fountain Flowers Bird Nest On The Fron Door Wreath
The flowers by the fountain are really prolific this year. Above right is an inside view of the wreath and the bird nest.

You Can't Believe What You See On The Web

Thursday: (06/25) Ernie fixed the standard breakfast, thick sliced potatoes hash browns, eggs and sausage with pan fried English muffins. It certainly is nice having Ernie here!.

I spent my morning completing the tax returns. At noon, the appraiser for our refinance was here. Ernie, Lou, Dawn and the dogs went down to the dog run at the park so the appraiser could work in piece and safety. The appraisal souldn't be a problem just a formality. We did learn that with the new financing rules, a broker or lender can't order the appraiser directly and must now do that through a management company. Another layer and evidently additional cost but possible takes some conflict out of the system.

My Neighborhood
After the appraiser left I checked the current value of our house on zillow.com. It turned out to be interesting. Most home values are lower. Fortunately they've been pretty stable here.

The House Across The Street Details On the House Across the Street
We were pleased to see that the house across the street went for the asking price and rather quickly. It is a typical post World War II returning veteran house as most of the houses in our neighborhood are, or started out as.

House On Neighborhood Street Details On Neighboring Street house
We were even more surprised at the new price of a house a couple of blocks North. The house looks bigger in the picture and supposedly is selling for $7,000,000. Evidently, Zillow.com has a sense of humor. The real house looks more like the $1,099,000 house across the street from us, shown previously. The house looks a little bigger than a 5 bedroom house and definitely bigger than any house in our neighborhood. I do wonder where the house really is but it looks something like the Carson Mansion in Eureka.

Lunch was left overs of the day.

Dawn fixed sausage and potator soup for dinner.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

The Calm Before The Work

Saturday: (06/13) Back home again, time to relax, and not drive. Ernie eats to a schedule now and he was up and at it before we were. He fixed eggs and bacon for his breakfast. Poor Lou and Dawn got my sausage, eggs and cheese sandwiches (No English muffins in the house) later at a civilized weekend breakfast time.

Lou went off to San Jose to a doll show at the fairgrounds. Dawn went with her to her apartment to work. Ernie and I went off to do a little shopping, mostly at Trader Joe's.
 
It was otherwise a very relaxing day doing much of nothing. Dinner was shrimp fettuccine, fresh asparagus, and a green salad. The weather is very nice here.

Sunday: (06/14) More Calm. I slept in, others got up. Ernie fixed breakfast of fried eggs, hash browns ala Ernie, with bacon and toast. After breakfast Ernie, Dawn and i went to the Farmers Market on California Ave in Palo Alto. We picked up some good looking asparagus, and some garlic cheese curds. Farmer Dawn bought a persimmon tomato plant, some wheat grass, and a taragon plant. She is really enjoying gardening.

One of the interesting things about doing things for yourself is that you can easily change plans mid-stream or any time. looks like the replacement shop and yard sheds are one of those things. They were originally against the house, were removed to install the siding on the house and intended to be installed along one side of the house but about 10' from the house. That is the 15-20 wide section of the yard that could provide for drivable access to the rear yard. It would have been close to where the shop was, just the opposite side of the space. Now we are reconsidering leaving the space open to allow bring things into the rear yard, like the RV, if needed. The new sites for the sheds are further back in the rear of the yard. The tricky part is to do it without ruining the look of the yard and still providing a usable shop area. It looks possible. The previous site where I removed the broken driveway will likely be converted to garden area. Dawn is going to start removing the bad dirt from the spot. So... That's the plan for today.

Lunch was leftovers from last night. Lou smoked a bunch of meat this afternoon. Guess what we had for dinner. Smoked pork, potatoes, squash with mushrooms, and a green salad.

Monday: (06/15) Breakfast, for those that ate was cereal. Our morning was interrupted by some noise from outside. Our neighbor was having some 40' tall cypress trees removed from bside his driveway. So we pulled up our chairs and watched the show. We're easy to entertain. Too bad the neighboir didn't also have the 8 trees along our fence removed. The needles are messy and since they are 50 or taller trees, they prevent us from installing solar panels on the house. Of course the rest of the roof or day our own oak tree causes a shadow.

Lou Dawn and I went on a Costco run. I really hate the place but we still go for a few things occasionally. We started with lunch from their "diner". We then picked up a couple of food items, some of Lou's "joint juice", and a DVD recorder (with an ATSC tuner) and a new wireless phone set for the house. All things we needed. One of the reasons i hate the place is the lack of customer service at the place. i also hate having the receipt check at the door. We just leave the register where the checker is supposed to have checked us out, we then had to have our purchase approved by the register manager, then we proceed to the door, have our receipt reviewed where then then call over another manager to verify our purchase. Four checks. Rediculous! I don't think it's our suspious looks, i think it's their proceedure. Fortunately, we don't visit too often.

For dinner, I fixed creamed fresh spinach, Spanish rice which we had with some of the smoked chicken.

Tuesday: (06/16) For breakfast we had latkas (potato pancakes) with apple sauce. sour cream and sausage. I worked on updating computers, always painful. Dawn went to San Jose for work.

About noon, Lou said it was to to go to lunch. We went out to the Crazy Buffet, Chinese buffet in Sunnyvale. When we were in Salt Lake City last week we did laundry at a laundromat next door to a Crazy Buffet. Unfortunately we had just finished lunch before we arrived so we couldn't indulge.

For dinner Lou used yesterday's leftovers placing them in whole wheat wraps.
 
Wednesday: (06/17) Breakfast was cereal and bananas at our front yard table. Lou went to PT this morning for here knee. Ernie is relaxing. Dawn is working. I'm playing.

Chef salad for lunch.

I went down to the Milpitas Great Mall, an old converted Ford Motor Plant. The Traffic Signal Association I belong to had a meeting about an adaptive traffic control system. The meeting was at Dave and Busters. They have a good restaurant/bar along with a huge game room. Our buffet dinner (chiken, pasta, salad and mixed vegetables) at the meeting was pretty good. Lou and Ernie went out to dinner as well. They went up to Redwood City to Harry's Hoafbrau.

Thursday: (06/18) We enjoyed an Ernie breakfast this morning, hashbrowns, eggs and bacon.

After lunch I called my dentist and arranged to see him at 2:30.One of my teeth was bothering me. I stopped by the Mountain View Light Rail station and picked up Dawn. I dropped her off at the Valco Shopping Center while I went to the dentist. The dentist fixed me up and I picked up Dawn and we went home. The Valco Mall has been failing for years but has made some progress recently opening a bunch of movie screens, a too modern bowling ally, keeping it's ice rink and the three main anchor stores Macy's Sear'a and Penny's but loosing almost all the other tenants. Half of it is totally closed off. Maybe it will get going but the recent downturn has to be really bad for them.

Ernie fixed corn on the cob, I fixed asparagus and Lou fixed some of the smoke pork roast. A real team dinner.

Friday: (06/19) Lou fixed pancakes and sausage for breakfast.

We all went out grocery shopping this morning with stops at our veggie stand the Milk Pail, then Trader Joe's, and finally Safeway.  Lunch was cold cuts and cheese.

I request a Sungevity Solar quote for the house. You can request an estimate online and they use Google aerial photos of your house to make an initial estimate . I got the  quote today in the email. They can supposedly provide a 4Kw system finstalled or about $18k our cost after rebates and tax credits. That almost sounds doable and is about 1/3 of our last quote. The problems are that the Google photos evidently don't adequately show the shadows that will cover much of the panels if installed as shown in their example photo. In order make a system on our house useful, we have to get the neighbpr to agree to remove his eight cypress trees and we need to remove our old oak tree. Getting  neighbor to agree to do something like that is rare and getting the city to agree on the removal of our oak tree and even in our wanting to remove our oak tree are problems. So, likely we won't be going soalr right away but it's nice to know it would be cost effective now days.

Later, Dawn and I went out to Best Buy and got a couple of more DTV converters. A problem with having a older TV's in most rooms is getting them digital. The house TV's are now done but only half the recorders are. We're waiting for a sale.
For dinner, Ernie fixed Pork Chow Mein. For desert Dawn fixed homemade Basil Lemon Ice Cream.

Saturday: (06/20) We all went to Menlo Park to Ann's Restaurant for breakfast. Lou and Dawn shared a salmon Benedict and i had my own. they were different, I'm glad I tried it but probably would pass on another.  Ernie had eggs, bacon and hash browns.

Ernie and i didn't do much else all day. Lou and Dawn went back to Ann's for lunch for Lamb shanks which Ernie and I don't could as food. Dawn then went to the Kepler's bookstore there in Menlo Park while Lou cvame back home. When Lou retuirned to pick Dawn up the did a little shopping, thrifting and then stopped at FedExOffice to make some copies.

Dinner  was a chicken white bean soup that Ernie made in the crock pot.

The high temperature today was 10 degrees cooler at about 79 degrees. it actually felt cold in the evening. Great!

Sunday: (06/21) Father"s Day! Ernie and I got to take it easy, I took it too the extreme. Lou and Dawn fixed and delivered breakfast (eggs, bacon and hash browns)  in bed, where I remained all morning watching the Sunday morning shows and playing at the computer. Ah, what a life, at least for a day. They even delivered lunch (Dawn's artichoke soup). The weather is quite nice today with the high in the hi 70's.

Monday: (06/22) Cereal for breakfast.

I worked most of the morning reorganizing and cleaning up my study. It was a total mess and now is just partially a mess. In the afternoon I started the too long deferred tax preparation. Our extension will run out soon so i had to get started. The easy part was done before filing the extension to assure we would owe anything. Part of the problem was the loss of the previous years info in both the TaxCut software and the Quicken files when the hard drive failed in the old laptop. The rest of the problem was just finding the paperwork to prepare it. All dreaded activities on my part. I completed all but the medical cost part.

Sandwiches for lunch. Dawn returned home in the evening. Lou was busy rebuilding an older vacuum that is self propelled. Using the existing vac is hard on her knee and she feels if the vacuum does it's share of the work her knee won't be bothered as much.

Ernie is doing the cooking and baked a nice apricot pie He's on a Chinese path and cooked chow mein for dinner with smoked beef and orange carrots.

Tuesday: (06/23) I fixed potato pancakes, eggs and fied bologna.

We have a new tennant here at Wilton. A couple of birds have decided to nest in the wreath on our front door. (Yes, we still have a wreath on the door.) Our regular use of the door doesn't seem to bother them.

I managed to find most of the stuff i need for the taxes.

Lunch was sandwiches again.

Ernie's dinner was Chinese fried rice. I think he's missing his ocassional visit to Bill lee's Chinese restaurant in Bakersfield, Ca.








Tuesday, June 9, 2009

On the Road to Las Vegas

MM88 Rest Area.On I15 Utah A Nice Pet Area At The MM88 Rest Area
Wednesday: (06/10) We're lounging in the rest stop here at MM88 on I15. We have a Vet appointment for Wolfie at 4pm in Las Vegas. He has kennel cough from his stay at animal control a few days ago. Ernie needs to pickup a few things there as well. Since it will be warm in Las Vegas, expecting 88 degrees, we'll hang here where it will be cooler until later in the day so we arrive shortly before Wolfie's appointment. It's overcast and trying to rain with an occasional light sprinkle for now. The view here is quite nice in the middle of a green valley with mountains all around and no close development so, other than the highway and its traffic, we're out in the wilds.

Tar On The Wheel
Prior to stopping here for the night at the rest area we traveled through miles and miles of construction zone with little more than eight feet of pavement. Unfortunately, much of the way the oil on the road single lane we were in was still wet and we picked up a lot of debris. After we cleared the construction zone we traveled at least another 50 miles before stopping for the night. When I checked the wheels before we took off I noticed our tires were now 15.5 inches instead of 15 inch. It was all gone by the time we arrived in Las Vegas.


About 1230 we stopped at the Eureka Casino parking lot in Mesquite for lunch of hot dogs.

Arrived at the Wild Wild West Casino in Las Vegas about 2pm, too early. Ernie picked up his car and the doggies were moved to it. They might be more comfortable in it since it's home and air conditioned while Ernie is driving. Ernie dropped by to get his mail then went to the Vet appointment. I moved to The Orleans Casino oversized vehicle lot for the night. There are a lot of cars coming staying a while then leaving at the Arena next to the parking area. It turns out that all the Clark County (Las Vegas) schools have the graduation ceremonies at the Orleans Arena. Kind of neat. A good facility, air conditioned, seats and views for everybody. What more could a parent ask. For one thing making it free. Each attendee pays $30-35 to attend, more expensive thn a movie?

Ernie was debating a motel room but decided to spend the night in the RV since it cooled down nicely in the evening. It's 88 degrees here now (5pm) but seems cooler, quite comfy with a fan. We may finish up here by tomorrow afternoon then be off towards home?

We had dinner in the casino at Don Miguel's restauarnt. I had a chili relleno and a pork enchilada. Ernie had a taco and a beef enchilada. All very good.

Thursday: (06/11) Breakfast of ceral and bananas. Ernie went over to his storage shed to get a few things. I walked over to harbor Freight to look but wound up getting a few things. It's hard to not get something there. Tools are always justifyable. When I retruned to the RV Ernie was ready to go. we hit the road a little after 10am. I15 leaving Las Vegas is really nessed up due to construction. in fact all of I15 near Las vegas is fouled up, mostly unnecessarily. Typical pour traffic management. We stopped for lunch in Baker. Chili size for me, a turkey sandwich and ranch beans for Ernie.

We arrived in Bakersfield about 4:10. Ernie dropped by the Hall Of Records to get a birth certificate. I dropped by EZ Lube at Ashe and White Rd to get an oil change in the RV and the toad. They've done the RV before. They have wide and tall  enough doors.

We followed instructions from the home front and stopped by Winco Foods to pick up a few things. We don't have Winco Foods in our area but have like shopping at them when we happen upon them. We then stopped at the Original Roadhouse on Rosedale Highway for dinner. I had the smaller grilled beef and Ernie had the smaller bufalo meat loaf. We both had too much even with the senior sized portions. Good food. We called it a day and stayed the night in Walmart's parking lot next to the restaurant.

I hope to get around to posting a couple of pictures after we get back home.

Friday: (06/12) We were up by 7am and on the road to Buttonwillow for breakfast. We stopped at the Willow Cafe. Ernie had the typical breakfast eggs sausage, home fries, and a biscuit. I had a couple of pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage. We both had leftovers. We had our showers after breakfast and were on the road again by 9am.

We stopped in Salinas at the Borango Shopping Center for lunch. Leftovers in the RV and a walk for the dogs. We arrived home around 3pm after fueling. Our toad has a Remco driveline disconnect which has been working well byt the last two times has been very difficult to re-engage. I guess I need to crawl under the car and check the cable linkage again.

The doggies enjoyed checking out the backyard but are having a difficult time understanding why they are not allowed in the house except at bedtime. Normally they have the run of the place using the doggie doors but with the expected length of this stay and with Lou's knee problems, they have been banned to the yard to reduce Dawn's allergy to them and Lou's potential of tripping over them. Poor guys!

The weather is finally nice. It's rained on me since i left and all the time in Salt Lake City. Las Vegas was mildly hot as was Bakersfield. Now we're home and it's slightly overcast but a perfect temperature.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Hanging About Salt Lake City

Thursday: (06/04) Breakfast of Don McMuffins. We moved up the street a short ways to a nice city park for the day. After looking at potential campsites and RV parks we decided the the Flying J and city parks were actually nicer and fit the budget as well.

Jordan Park Day Camp River Behind The Peace Garden
Our day camp at Jordan Park. There is a nice International Peace Garden at the Park. There is a river just behind the garden that meanders through the area and has a bike/hike trail next to it. There are even boat docks every now and again so it might be nice for a canoe trip some time. Why is there so much water in the desert?

Walter At Jordan Park Wolfie At Jordan Park
Walter and Wolfie enjoying our day camp. The dogs were put outside tied to trees for the day. The weather was nice but overcast all day except for a short period of gale force winds. After retrieving chairs and putting the dogs back in the car, we adjourned to the RV after which the weather almost immediately returned to the way it was. Lunch was chef salads.

We lallygagged around the park until about 1030pm. It's a nice place to hang around. We took turns going shopping. the doggies quite like hanging at the park.

We watched some TV in the evening. It's kind of nice having it start an hour earlier so one doesn't have to stay up until the wee hours to see Letterman.

Before we left the park and just before dark a little after 10 pm, I took a stroll around the park. Surprise, there is a beautiful garden there which we'll have to explore tomorrow.

Dinner was BBQ ribs, baked potato and corn.

Friday: (06/05) Up early and enjoyed the quite usual Don McMuffins. After breakfast we went in to Flying J's for showers. Their showers are very nice very clean and plenty of hot water. A person could be spoiled when comparing these to the usual RV park or campground showers. But, unfortunately for us commoners, they are only for use by CDL (commercial driver licensed) folk, ie: truckers so I was a trucker for the day. After breakfast we moved back to Jordan Park.

The dogs evidently finally recovered from their stay at animal control. They were drinking OK but weren't eating until this morning. We enjoyed some time at the park but the weather wasn't too nice. Today is supposed to be stormy all day and it was during our stay at the park so no pictures of the International Peace Garden. Lunch was hot dogs and salad.

Ernie had a doctors appointment in Magna in the afternoon after which we did some more shopping. I fixed spaghetti for dinner and cooked up some pork chops and Italian sausage for quick future use.

We then returned to Jordan Park for the evening. The doggies got a shower while we were there. We then headed over to our nightly roost at Flying J just before 11pm.

Saturday: (06/06) Cereal and grapefruit for breakfast.

Entrance to Peace Garden Japanese Garden Entrance
After breakfast, I got to walk through the International Peace Gardens and took a few photos. it's a nice garden.

Intersting Flower Delicate Flower
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A Bouquet At The Garden Switzerland Garden
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Peace Garden Arbor Japanese Bridge In Peace Garden
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When I returned to the RV, Ernie got his chance at the gardens and probably snapped many of the same pictures. We take turns leaving so the dogs can remain outside and enjoy the park as well.

After lunch of leftover BBQ ribs and spaghetti we went to find a laundromat so Ernie can get some clean cloths. We found a nice but expensive laundromat and completed the task. Too bad we had lunch just before coming over here. Right next door is a Crazy Buffet, a Chinese buffet like the one of the same name in Santa Clara that we dine at occasionally.

On our way home (to the park where we left the RV) we stopped by a Home Depot store and got some steel cable and fittings to make short lanyards to stake the dogs outside with. Ernie's 25' lanyards give the dogs too much area to terrorize.

Ernie fixed garlic pecan green beans for dinner with a couple of the pork chops cooked up the other night and some left over spaghetti. The beans were excellent.

We're all enjoying some time on the lawn after dinner playing at the computers. About 10pm we returned to the Flying j for the evening.

Sunday:
(06/07) Ernie started the day walking his dogs but the walk was called short because it started sprinkling. Breakfast was fried eggs, Italian sausage and home fries with toast. More elaborate than most recent breakfasts but one of my favorites. Sprinkles turned to a pretty good rain. Ernie had his first RV shower this morning. he survived, so did the RV. We're hanging at the Flying J this morning as there is no reason to head to the park since it's raining.

Still raining, we headed out to the Golden Corral for lunch. it was good as usual. When we got back home, it was dry, clear and sunny. The doggies finally got a little time outdoors tied to the trees next to the RV. i also finally got an opportunity to roll out the awning to let it dry from having been rained on a couple of days ago. It was out about an hour when i felt a chill in the air and decided to roll it up. unfortunately the decision was a couple of minutes late and it got a few sprinkles on it again. it's a geeky day at home in the RV. Time to do some computing.

Chef's salads for dinner.

Monday: (06/08) Cereal for breakfast. The weather man promised a morning without rain but we are expected to get more this afternoon. It didn't look too promising when we got up, still full heavy overcast but dry. Monday is mowing day heare at the Flying J so there was a little more activity than the average morning. It was also the end of Sunday night which evidently is the busiest night here. There were trucks and campers parked against any curb.

We headed to the park after breakfast. Shortly after our arrival the sky was mostly clear. After putting the doggies out on their stakes I put out the awning again. I'll get it dried yet. The dogs enjoyed their time outside.

About noon the rain started so we packed up and stopped by the Magna Walmart for a few things then headed South toward Jordan Valley. Ernie's doctor's appointment tomorrow is in Jordan Valley so we ended up in Draper a little further South at the Camping World for the night. We had a pork chop and an Italian sausage left over. We added some rice and some fresh spinach for dinner.

We have one more night here before heading off to Las Vegas after Ernie's doctor visit tomorrow afternoon.

Tuesday: (06/09)For breakfast Ernie had cereal and I had some of the leftover rice and we each had a grapefruit. After breakfast we pulled out of Camping World and went over to the hospital where Ernie's appointment will be. It was raining most of the morning. We lounged in the parking lot.

Our Day Camp At South Jordan Medical Center
We waited here in the parking lot at the South Jordan Medical Center for Ernie's afternoon appointment.

Lunch was fried white fish, fresh steamed broccoli and leftover rice or corn. We'll have to learn how to grill sometime but for now it was fish fried in a little olive oil.

We watched TV most of the time while waiting. That gets to be interesting because of the mosaic picture from new DTV signals when the received signal is not really strong, which is most of the time. This is made worse by the fact that our TV antenna can't be raised due to a stripped gear shaft. I picked a replacement shaft up at Camping World last night but haven't installed it yet. I may not if it keeps raining.

Ernie finished up at the doctor by 2:45 and we were on the road by 3:15 as another rain flurry arrived. We headed South on I15 stopping at Cabela's sporting goods store in Lehi. We needed a look around the store and took advantage of their free sanitary dump. They had a nice dog run area so the dogs got some time out of the car while we had dinner of steak, baked potatoes, and cleaned the frige out of leftover carrot and celery sticks and a bit od green salad.

We hit the road again about 6:15. There was less rain as we headed South. We stopped for the night in the I15 MM88 rest stop a few miles before Cedar City. Ernie says this is one of the doggie's favorite stops because they have an off leash fenced dog run here. it's also a nicely maintained stop with a endless view.

Monday, June 1, 2009

We're Getting Older

Monday: (06/01) When I was young, the adults around me always seemed old or older. Youth was reserved for the really young, like me. Over the years, old seems to have been a moving target, always someone older than myself. That idea only holds out for so long. On our fall trip last year I had a heart attach scare. It was not heart related just physical strain. Still related to getting older though.

This morning, I got a call from my brother Ernie saying he was in the hospital and had had a minor heart attack. His two dogs are now with animal control while he recovers. Lou can't travel right now but I'll head that way this evening to see him while he recovers. Since this was unexpected, I had some business to finish up before leaving.

Dawn fixed a middle eastern rice with raisins and lemon peel. She is adventurous when cooking and it was good. It was served with my leftover pork chops and fresh broccoli.

I departed around 8pm after finishing packing and after traffic had died down. There was VERY little traffic all the way. I stopped in Tracy for a walk. I didn't stop again until Boomtown. I tried to stop in the nice rest area above Donner Lake but it was jammed packed with trucks and no place for me. There were a lot of detours Eastbound on Highway 80 including a possible 20 mile detour by Rollins lake.

Tuesday:
(06/02) After Truckee the road became wet. Evidently it rained shortly previous to my arrival. There was some fog in Truckee. I pulled into Boomtown about 01:20. Lots of fellow travelers parked outside, very few people inside the casino when I walked through. Evidently business is bad. the buffet is gone. Nicely finished walls cover all former access to where it was. That seems quick. The do still have a cafe and that's where I'll have breakfast in the morning.

Awoke about 9am, had corned beef hash and eggs at the cafe, got fuel and hit the road by 10:30.

It was overcast and traffic was light. Just before Battle Mountain and for about 20 miles there was a deluge with heavy lightening and variable direction winds almost like whirlwinds pushing the RV first one direction then the other. Fortunately they weren't too strong and traffic was light so a little lateral movement wasn't too bad.

I stopped about every hour for a walk. At the Beowawe rest stop I read all about the Snyder-Reed Fight. This is the route known as the California Trail used by wagon trains from about 1843-the 1860's. The Snyder-Reed fight was by members of the Donner Party. Synder attacked Reed lashing out with his knife and injuring Mrs Reed. Mr Reed then killed Mr Snyder. He was banished from the train without food but his daughter smuggled food to him. In California, he is the one who returned with a rescue party for the Donner party when they were stranded in the snow. Dawn would have loved to have stopped at the many interpretive centers along the highway about the California Trail. Too bad I'm solo on this trip.

i also stopped in Elko at a market for a couple of things including dinner from the deli, chicken fingers and fries, otherwise known as health food.

I stopped in Wendover with the intent of a walk and then back on the road but I had had enough for today. Ernie won't be released from the hospital until about noon tomorrow so I'll cover the rest of the distance tomorrow morning.

Wednesday:
(06/03) I was up early, Nevada time at 0500. After my shower i headed in to the Rainbow Casino, in whose parking lot I spent the night, for breakfast. Not a cheap but it was a good breakfast. I think cheap has left the casino buildings. Cheap was my favorite part of casinos since I rarely gamble. My pancake sandwich was good.

I was back on the road at 0630 Nevada time which became 0730 Utah (Mountain) time within a minute or so. Wendover is a divided city in two states. The weather was nice all the way to Salt lake City, or West Valley City actually. I made a quick stop at a PetSmart store to get a dog barrier for the back of the Volvo. I'll be carrying Ernie's dogs around later and they don't get to get in the RV due to allergies by Lou and Dawn.

I then went over to Ernie's hospital and he was in the final efforts to be discharged. He looks quite good for someone who had a heart attack a couple of days ago but that shows how getting it early is beneficial. We were out a little after noon. Ernie is feeling good and drove his truck a few miles to his company yard for storage. Makes ya think, doesn't it.

Then we were off to pick up the dogs from animal control. Next stop was a pharmacy. Then we moved him out of his truck which will remain here in Salt Lake as he convalesces in Palo Alto. He has a couple of more doctor's appointments within this week before we leave this area.

We need to find a good campsite but tonight we are staying at the Flying J in Salt Lake