Monday: (07/26) We all went out to breakfast at Ann's restaurant in Menlo Park. We took two cars and Ernie and I went over to Newark to the Harbor Freight Tool Store so I could buy a jackhammer. With all the work I have still to do and the fact I'm doing it in small pieces it's cheaper to buy a cheap jackhammer than it would be to rent one four times. I wish I'd done this years ago. I can now retire my breaker bar. After I got it home I welded up a card to transport it and hold the bits. I also stripped the forms from the fence post bases and did some digging for the fence base. I had a chili size for lunch. Lou and I went out ot dinner at LUU Noodle House. We shared our usual #21 Chow Fun Combination with a couple of egg rolls.
Tuesday: (07/27) Homemade sourdough bread with peanut butter and jelly for breakfast. I spent much of the morning in the office. Leftover cabbage with onions and a wiener for lunch. Ernie and I assembled the forms for the base of the fence, basically a 6" concrete wall. I also collected the concrete for pouring the wall tomorrow from the hardware store. Lou had an appointment at Kaiser then went ot San Jose to meet Dawn. She found people in our yard trimming the neighbors huge tree. They weren't being too carefully so she set them straight and remained to watch them. Open faced oven baked ham, onion tomato and cheese sandwich on more of the spourdough bread.
Wednesday: (07/28) Ham and cheese on toast for breakfast. Ernie and I poured the fence base, the concrete between the post anchors. Bologna, cheese and pepper soup for lunch. I made a trip to Home Depot for more material and a bunch of 5 gallon buckets to haul dirt in. I've always used compactor bags before due to size and strength before but the buckets should bold up better. The bags rip out their bottoms quite often. When using the Volvo to haul dirt and concrete its easier and cleaner to contain it. Lou went down to San Jose to watch the tree trimmers work on our neighbors tree. Tomorrow we haul a lot of dirt to the dump. Dawn's vegetable soup for dinner.
Thursday: (07/29) Cereal with yogurt for breakfast. Ernie and I loaded and hauled a bunch of dirt to the dump. The new buckets made it really easy. I still have 3/4 of a load to go but will wait until I have a full load since the dump fees are getting quite high. The stationwagon hauls a pretty good load. 21 five gallon buckets and 3 three gallon buckets add up to about a third the load our long bed Toyota pickup used to haul (it was about a cubic yard) but about the same as our neighbors 1/2 ton Toyota pick hauls. The buckets make loading and unloading really easy. I stripped the forms off the fence base. After it dries a bit more I can rebuild the fence. The post anchors will be dry enough for the posts tomorrow. Lou fixed s chorizo and brown rice salad for lunch. The gardener fertilized the lawn today so I spent the afternoon doing the quite pleasant task of watering the lawn really well.
Friday: (07/30) Oatmeal for breakfast again. I rebuilt the fence onto the new base. I then was able to remove the temporary fencing that kept the dogs in. I relocated temp fencing to the next area to be rebuilt. Ernie and I had lunch form our local taquiera. I had a burrito and Ernie had enchiladas. I started digging out the gardens bad clay soil and baserock and hauled a load to the dump. Lou fixed white bean and sausage soup for dinner. Ernie and I went shopping at Walmart and Target. I found some DVD's at Target to be viewed when we're on the road later. Two seasons of the detective show Hunter and a buch of old western shows. Since we don't have satellite TV and often can't get over the air TV, we watch a lot of DVD's when we're out in the middle of nowhere. Have to stock up. We also enjoyed hot fudge sundaes at McDonald's.
Saturday: (07/31) It's the weekend but that doesn't mean much to someone who isn't employed. I tend to take my days off when convenient rather than by the calendar. We started the day with a nice breakfast that Ernie fixed, waffels and sausage. Ernie and I poured a section of sidewalk by the garden. Lou and Dawn were out looking at rummage sales and selling books back to used book stores. Lunch was leftover bean soup. Lou fixed gyros for dinner.
Sunday: (08/01) Another month gone. Summer's passing quickly. Lou fixed biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. i thought I'd capture the yard with it's summer glow.
The arbor is looking green. the garden is in pots everywhere including on the swing.
Lots of tomato plants perched here and there. I stripped the forms and temporary fence from the sidewalk I poured yesterday.
I also relocated the water fountain by the arbor. We pulled it out when we got home two months ago and Ernie stripped the paint off planning to repaint it. Half the old paint was gone. But, pool paint is too expensive for the value of the pool so it will just remain raw. The pond now features some new frogs as well.
I had leftover chicken fried steak and some chorizo rice for lunch. After lunch . Lou and Dawn had been out selling books and shopping. When they returned, I headed to Lowes and bought a new water softener for the San Jose house and I looked at sprinkler valves and such. For my next section of fence replacement I need to first move some sprinkler valves. This time I want them put in such that they never need replacement again. Lou fixed a nice tri-tip roast and baked potatoes with slice cucumbers for dinner. The weather has been really nice for the past week or so rarely getting above 75 degrees with usually cook overcast mornings.
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