Between Holidays

Monday: (12/26) Granola for breakfast. Pad Thai with egg rolls at LUU Noodle House for lunch. In the afternoon I did venture out to the shop with the intent of doing some welding but found that both my gas tanks were empty. Of course it's a long holiday for my supply house so I guess can take the rest of the week off as well. Leftover cranberry roast with cranberry pistachio rice and broccoli for dinner. Lou was busy sewing and I tinkered on the computer most of the rest of the day.

Tuesday: (12/27) I cooked eggs, sausage and toasted dinner rolls for breakfast. Leftovers du jour for lunch. Lou had an appointment at Kaiser Santa Clara in the afternoon so I dropped her off and then went to the Cupertino Library nearby. I tried to get a wiring diagram for the old car which was supposed to be available per their Internet site. The service manual couldn't be located, neither one of the two copies that were supposedly in their reference section. They did have some information available online so I'll have to see if the ignition switch diagrams that I got help any. Dinner was baked chicken.

Wednesday: (12/28) Latkas with apple sauce and yogurt and some Canadian bacon for breakfast. After breakfast I tinkered at the computer to link my Facebook and Twitter accounts to this blog. Now when I post a Travel category item to this blog an excerpt and a link will appear on my Facebook wall as well and a tweet will be sent to Twitter. That should make my ignored Facebook and Twitter accounts have more posts from me. we had soup for lunch. Lou went up to Redwood City to the DMV but the crowd was out the door. They must really be putting on a show to try to justify a bigger budget. That or an awful lot of people got new cars for Christmas? I assisted in capturing a little lost dog running around the neighborhood and then took a walk and visited Fry's Electronics store. For dinner I prepared Spanish rice with Italian sausage, an international meal.

Thursday: (12/29) I made Don McMuffins for breakfast. Lou and I read the two local free newspapers out front with Wolfie, Ernie's doggie. He really likes to visit. Dawn and her friend Andrea visited. Lou and I left about noon and headed to San Mateo to the DMV. She had an appointment at 1:35. We were out by 1:40. We stopped in downtown San Mateo for lunch at Poncho Villa's Taqueria. We shared a dinner of chili relleno, enchilada and a flauta and added a fish taco. The food was excellent and we were stuffed. We took a short walk around downtown then headed toward home with the mandatory visit to several thrift stores on the way home. In Redwood City we found a nice futon mattress that we can use to replace the foam in Ernie's dinette cushions. The cotton cushion should hold up better than the foam. For dinner Lou made macaroni and cheese with pineapple rings and some of Dawn's fresh cranberry bread. After dinner I took Dawn and Andrea to the used book store in Mountain View.

Friday: (12/30) Leftover rice with milk for breakfast. Leftover Spanish rice for lunch. I tinkered at home while Lou did the laundry and some shopping. We cut the futon mattress we got the other day into RV dinette sized cushions for Ernie's dinette. The cotton material isn't easy to cut but we rigged up a way to do it. Lots of plywood pieces to clamp it and leave a slot for a bread knife to cut it. It turned out with a nice edge when we were through. Macaroni an cheese leftovers for dinner.

Saturday: (12/31) The last day of the year. How the time flies. I prepared Canadian bacon Don McMuffins for breakfast. For lunch we went down to Mountain View to the Lucky Chinese restaurant and shared a couple of combos. While there, we stopped at Target and bought something I didn't think we'd ever get again, an alarm clock for our bedroom. We haven't had a clock in our bedroom for possibly 20 years. Dawn brought one in while we were gone when she stayed here and it was still there when we returned. We got used to being able to check the time so when Dawn recovered hers, we decided to get one of our own. Lou's been busy working on the cushion replacements.


We video Skyped with Courtney's mom in Massachusetts.

Sunday: (01/01) The Rose Parade should happen on the morning of January first, shouldn't it. It didn't today. It's only happened to me, un-noticed, eight previous times. The parade actually never happens on a Sunday because it might scare the horses in front of the churches. I understand the reason for the official New Year's holiday being on a Monday when it actually falls on a Sunday like today. Who wants to miss out on a day off. This shows how much I pay attention.


Lou fixed cheese omelets for breakfast. We tinkered around all morning. Lunch was leftover pizza. After lunch we headed down to the Great Mall in Milpitas. It was an old Ford Motor Company assembly plant turned discount mall. When we returned home we had chicken with a cucumber salad and corn on the cob for dinner.

Our Pin Map Is Updated

I've been busy posting the GPS coordinates to our map for this past year.  We were too busy traveling to keep up.

There are several ways to see the maps. Most posts with geocoded locations have a link at the bottom of the post which, when clicked, takes you to this page zoomed in to the location for the post. There is also a Location map on the right sidebar that shows the location of geocoded posts on the current page which may be a single post or a list of posts.

[geo_mashup_map]

Where Am i?

I thought I'd try out the Google Lattitude tool to update our location. I've added this to the bottom right sidebar of this page as well.




 

RV Repairs

Monday: (12/19) I got up early and drove the RV down to San Jose. Traffic wasn't bad at 7am. I arrived at Leale's by 0720, disconnected the Jeep and relaxed until they opened. After checking the motorhome in I met Dawn at here apartment and we had breakfast burritos at La Victoria downtown and enjoyed their wonderful orange sauce on them. The orange sauce is a hot sauce that has nothing to do with oranges but is a mild hot sauce. Dawn and I thrifted our way back up to Palo Alto. Our neighbor had a crew working on landscaping his yard. That's nice. It will look much better when he's finished with the landscaping. But, there was a down side. They are reworking the soil and a major part of that is manure so the air was rather heavy after they started. No dining outside today. I made a doctors appointment for a checkup tomorrow and worked in the office the rest of the day. Lou made grilled tuna and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Dinner was steak with spaghetti squash and broccoli. Courtney brought over her DVD of Ratatouille which we watched in the evening.

Tuesday: (12/20) Lou made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I headed off early to my doctors appointment. After the appointment I tried to goof off but Lou called to remind me we had an appointment for lunch so no fun. We went with our neighbor Meile and her daughters Ping and Anan and with Ernie to lunch at the Sunny Chinese Buffet in Sunnyvale. Quite a crowd there today. Must be Christmas lunch day. Lou Dawn and I went out to the Baylands Park and took a walk by the bay after lunch. No need for much dinner after our lunch so just some leftover munching for dinner. Lou managed to complete all the laundry today as well.

Wednesday: (12/21) Leftover biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I did a little yard work this morning by cleaning the leaves off the green house and shop roofs. Super nacho chips for lunch. Lou was busy sewing this afternoon. I took a long walk out to the Town and Country Shopping Center in the late afternoon. I haven't looked it over good since it was remodeled a couple of years ago. Garlic Parmesan cheese chicken with wild rice and corn on the cob. I also finished getting the map features on this blog working more like I'd like.

Thursday: (12/22)  Chicken and corn salsa burritos for breakfast. I pruned the apricot tree and fixed a broken sprinkler. Lou was sewing. Leftovers for lunch. Lou and Ernie went out grocery shopping for the Christmas dinner. BBQ ribs, with baked potatoes and green beans for dinner.

Friday: (12/23) Another cold night and morning. Dawn made strawberry waffles and sausage for breakfast. I called Leale's about the RV status. The idea was to see if it would be ready today since Leale's will be closed until January 2nd after today and I needed to know if I'd be going down to San Jose. The word from Leale's was that they'd have the RV for about another week since there was lots to be worked on, more than I wanted to have to do but nothing really unexpected. Lou and Dawn headed down to San Jose but dropped me off In Los Altos when we got gas. They were meeting Dawn's friend Andrea. I enjoyed a walk-about Mountain View.

I stopped for lunch at Los Altos Taqueria, which oddly isn't in Los Altos but in the middle of Mountain View. I enjoyed a chili relleno lunch which was very good, thus explaining the crowd there. I managed to use the entire afternoon and had a nice long walk. 

Saturday: (12/24) PBJ waffles with sausage for breakfast.

We drove over to Bol park for a walk to see the donkey's. I continued the walk back home and Lou and Dawn headed back to the car. Lou's knee still doesn't like longer walks. In the afternoon I decided to walk down to Walgreen's (.5mi) but they didn't have what I needed so I had a delema. Walk back home with nothing or walk on to CVS (another 1mi) to get what I needed. I walked on. when I returned, Lou wonder why it took so long to visit Walgreeen's. Shepard's pie for dinner. 

Sunday: (12/25) Merry Christmas! Darn, no snow, but it is nice and cold. Lou made a nice bacon eggs and potato breakfast. Ernie fixed a nice dinner. I was busy setting up Dawn's new label printer and Dawn tried out some writers software tools. Our neighbors Melie, Ping and Anan joined Courtney, Dawn, Lou and I for dinner. Cranberry roaast beef, cranberry and pistachio rice, spinach salad with oranges and craisins, brocolli, pineapple, and then there were the orderves. We watched the Santa Claus Movie after dinner. 

Chorizo Week

Monday: (12/12) Lou made chorizo omelets for breakfast. We found some nice lean fresh chorizo at Sprout's Market the other day. I spent the morning in the office. Lou and Dawn visited the Stanford Mall. I had some of Dawn's leftover soup for lunch. Actually I spent the afternoon in the office as well trying to clean out some of the junk.  Lou was busy with the laundry. Steak with Thai noodles, avocado and carrot salad for dinner.

Tuesday: (12/13) Cereal for breakfast. Chorizo burritos for lunch. Ernie and I installed the new TV antenna (pointed to San Francisco) and modified the old antenna (which was then pointed toward Sacramento). We now get 89 stations, only three worth watching. Working on the roof  isn't as easy as it used to be. The old antenna was modified by cutting off the longer low VHF elements since there are no low VHF channels anymore. The antenna is now half it's former size. Mushroom and cheese ravioli in a sauce with bell peppers and onions for dinner. Nice sunny day today.


Wednesday: (12/14) Breakfast with my old coworkers at work. They have an annual Christmas pancake breakfast. I spent the morning learning of all they have been doing the past year or two. It's amazing how much things have changed in the past 7.5 years since I retired. I then stopped by Leale's RV to arrange to have the motor home serviced. Then shopped my way home. On the way I stopped at Mr Chau's for lunch. Chow mein and BBQ ribs. Dinner was leftover ravioli and cauliflower. The weather was quite nice today.

Thursday: (12/15) We headed toward Gilroy about 10am. Ernie treated us to breakfast at the Black bear Diner after which we explored the outlet malls 150 shops and other Gilroy stores. We had a snack in the afternoon of some egg rolls at King Egg Rolls. We finally returned home about 7:30 and enjoyed some of Dawn's blue cheese potato soup that she started in the crock pot before we left.

Friday: (12/16) Whole wheat pancakes and sausage for breakfast. Dawn and I walked to the library. She had some books on order that came in. Peanut butter apples for lunch. Grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. Nothing much accomplished today. Quite nice.

Saturday: (12/17) Lou made mushroom and cheese omelets for breakfast. After breakfast we visited a couple of estate sales. The first had nothing and we're not sure why they even advertised the sale. The second occupied Lou and Dawn for about 40 minutes. Dawn picked up a bunch of books. Homemade chorizo Hawaiian pizza for lunch. Lou and I made a second outing to the OSH hardware store for a few things and to see if their tool sale had anything we needed. It didn't. And dinner was chorizo meatloaf with baked potatoes and a green salad. I'm note sure why we didn't have chorizo in our omelet for breakfast?

Sunday: (12/18) Pancakes ala Dawn with sausage for breakfast. I cleaned out the RV and prepared it to roll tomorrow morning. I'll be taking it in for service tomorrow. Ravioli for lunch. I worked at the computer much of the afternoon. Ernie baked a bunch of our mom's recipe oatmeal cookies with mini M&M's and craisins. Leftover chorizo pizza for dinner.

A New TV Antenna

Monday: (12/05) Latkas with apple sauce and sausage for breakfast. I spent the morning on the phone, in the office and at the computer. Lou actually did useful things like cleanup and shopping. After my spaghetti lunch I started on installing a new TV antenna. That didn't get too far before I realized I needed materials so the job was put on hold. I may have to change the title now.  I really didn't mind since it is kind of cold outside. We all went to Lou's favorite restaurant the New Tung Kee Chinese restaurant. We shared some Pad Thai dishes and some egg rolls for dinner.

Tuesday: (12/06) Oatmeal for breakfast. I spent the morning cleaning my closet some more. It's been years since that was done. Only things that still fit remain. I started several other tasks but completed none. The new modem arrived about 6pm. Since I have to do a change to the wires outside it wont be activated until tomorrow morning. Spaghetti for lunch. Lou and Dawn went out shopping in the afternoon. We tried out the new Papa John's pizza joint that opened up a few blocks from home for dinner. Pretty good. Lou baked another cranberry pear pie and some tarts this evening.

Wednesday: (12/07) My first task was to activate the new DSL line. It actually went quite easily. It turns out then new DSL line is on a second pair of wires so both DSL lines are now active. I'm not sure when ATT will deactivate the old line but it was nice that they were able to leave the old one active since the modem was late in arriving. Most of the rest of the day was spent working on the computer. Latkas with eggs, and sausage for breakfast. Summer sausage with cheese and crackers for lunch. I cooked sauerkraut potatoes and a pork roast for dinner.

Thursday: (12/08) Dawn and I were in San Jose today. Breakfast burritos at La Victoria for breakfast. Dawn had an appointment and I had work to do at the San Jose house. I cleaned the gutters, no small task. Three downspouts were clogged up. Always fun working on the roof. Lunch as a Carl's Jr burger.  I also made a trip to Lowe's for some water softener salt. They had a very good sale on the salt so I got 18 bags. That should keep the softener going for a while. My back was acting up before I got the salt and was insistant that I relax after stowing away the salt. I relaxed a while before Dawn returned and we headed home. Dinner was leftover sauerkraut, potatoes and pork with some BBQ rids as well.

Friday: (12/09) Baked pork bun and an egg tart from Hong Kong bakery for breakfast. My back was still out of order so I relaxed at home today. Lou and Dawn were busy weeding the garden and other yard puttering. Summer sausage, cheese and crackers for lunch. Fish, corn on the cob and rice for dinner.

Saturday: (12/10) Pork buns for breakfast. Lou, Dawn and I went to Mountain View Community Theater to see The Christmas Carol. We then stopped by Sprout's Market in Sunnyvale. Lou and Dawn left me there and headed off to Stanford to catch a Christmas music show at the Old Church on campus.  I looked around and shopped my way toward home. I stopped and got some socks at my old shoe store. The wool socks last almost forever but just almost so I needed to replace some. Lunch at the Wok's On Chinese restaurant in Sunnyvale. I could have caught the bus but ended up just walking the five miles home. Dawn's bean soup for dinner.

Sunday: (12/11) The cleanup and de-clutter projects continued in the morning. We spent the afternoon shopping. Cereal for breakfast. Costco's best for lunch. The usual hot dog for Dawn, Polish dog for Lou and chicken bake for me. Lou fixed Swedish meat balls with baked potatoes and artichokes for dinner.

 

Stanford Theater Movies

Saturday: (12/03) Waffles and sausage for breakfast. Lou and Dawn were busy visiting a rummage sale, thrift stores and garage sales in the morning. I had ramen noodles and summer sausage for my lunch. Lou and Dawn had soup. In the afternoon Lou and Dawn went to a cookie party. I tinkered with the computer most of the day. In the evening I made some spaghetti for dinner.

Sunday: (12/04) We all went to breakfast at the Crepevine in Palo Alto. I had a chorizo burrito, Lou and Dawn shared a Tuscan omelet. After breakfast we walked around downtown Palo Alto. It's been a while since we've done that. Then we visited the California Street Farmers Market. About 3:20 we returned downtown and watched a double feature film at the Sanford Theater. The first movie was African Queen with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The second film was Desk Set with Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn. Both were good films. The second movie was followed with a concert on the pipe organ. After the movie we stopped at the Cheesecake Factory and picked up a piece of Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple cheesecake to go. When we got home we had spaghetti for dinner then shared the cheesecake.

A Problem Tree And The Kaucher Mitchell Event

Friday: (12/02) Waffles and sausage for breakfast. My planned morning fell apart early when I got a phone call from our tenant in San Jose saying that a limb had fallen from the street tree there and damaged a car. I packed up my tools and we all headed down to San Jose. We had planned on being there this evening anyway for a performance at San Jose State University. There is a parking permit program by the house there due to it's proximity to the university. We were up in Alaska when the new permits became due so we didn't have a permit yet so Lou dropped me off and went to get the permit.


The tree dropped several very large limbs and damaged the car such that it couldn't be driven and was trucked off. It doesn't look so bad but the driver door couldn't be opened.


The debris covered a lot of the street. On the right above is the culprit.

Of course getting the permit turned in to a problem and Lou had to go up three tiers of supervisors to get someone that could give her a permit. Numerous problems  with the process all easily overcome by someone who can make a decision. Part of the problem was because we didn't dash down in August to get a permit and part of the problem is because Dawn doesn't drive but still needs a permit placard for her guests. Of course Lou prevailed.


In the evening we attended The Kaucher Mitchell Event For Excellence In Oral Interpretation And Storytelling which due to time constraints is usually known as the Kaucher Mitchell Event.  We walked over to the theater from Dawn's apartment. Above left is a night view of San Jose State University Tower. This was the 115th edition of the event. Dawn was one of the finalists a few years back. I didn't take any pictures of the Kaucher Mitchell Event but did get the picture above right before it started while they were practicing and getting their own pictures. Jason Kapoor, in the white coat above, just happened to win the oral interpretation part of the event. He also won the last event. His performance this year was an interpretation of Sonnet 155/Hamlet from Bo Burnham/William Shakespeare. Very funny. All the performances were excellent, as usual. Always a good show and (un)fortunately not well publicized so the house wasn't full to see it.

While we were out, Ernie greeted a technician from ATT who tested our line for the DSL Internet speed increase. It reportedly tested well and is ready. I was a bit surprised because our appointment was for Monday not Friday and was for 11-1 not 4:30. Usually these kind of services are late, this one wasn't at the correct time but was days early.

For lunch we stopped by  the La Victoria Restaurant next to the university for burritos. Dinner as a stop at the Subway sandwich shop.

Heavy Winds

Thursday: (12/01) I spent some time working on the old car but didn't get it fixed. Still wont start easily. Dawn and I also did some shopping and other tasks in Los Altos and Redwood City. Ernie and I had to fix the storage tent in the back yard. The heavy winds ripped it up a little requiring some added grommets. Lou made home fried potatoes with eggs and bacon for breakfast. Dawn and I shared a torta at la Victoria Mexican Restaurant in Redwood City for lunch. Leftover pot roast for dinner.

A Day On The Peninsula

Wednesday: (11/30) Busy day today. Cereal for breakfast. We all drove up to South San Francisco this morning.

I had a TSA meeting at the City maintenance yard so Lou and Dawn came with me and shopped around at the Tanforan Mall nearby in San Bruno. After the meeting, we stopped for lunch at the Basque Cultural Center located just behind the City yard. Not the usual family style Basque dining we're used too but some very good food. I had pork chops and Lou and Dawn shared liver. It was served with an interesting zucchini soup. We then shopped our way home including a visit at the Whole House Salvage Company's new location in San Mateo. They used to be located much closer to home and we enjoyed stopping by for a look and occasional used material find. Lou had started a pot roast in the crock pot this morning so we had a nice dinner when we got home.

A Little More Speed And A little Less Power

Tuesday: (11/29) A little work in the office, a few outside tasks, a couple of walks, and a little closet cleaning occupied the day. I also started the process of speeding up our ATT DSL Internet service. My DSL line is so old, one of the first installed in the area many years ago so it now needs to be completely replaced to speed it up. I do hope it all goes well, unlike all other contacts for changes to my ATT service and we don't loose our connection for a couple of weeks. I installed some LED Christmas lights on the arbor to replace to existing incandescent string. A little dimmer but now uses only 4 watts instead of 180 watts. Cereal for breakfast. Waffles and bacon for breakfast. Panini sandwiches for dinner.

My Sore Back

Saturday: (11/26) Eggs and toast for breakfast. Lou and I took a walk around the neighborhood and stopped at a sign saying "free bricks". They were nice red clay bricks that we can use for additional walkways so we said we'd take them. One of the tasks I had planned to get to today was to look at installing a jump switch for the ignition on the old Volvo so it would start. I didn't get to it soon enough so I couldn't use it to move the bricks. I didn't want to use the other cars so out came the wheelbarrow. I wheeled  one load the two blocks home and had loaded another when the brick providers took sympathy on me and offered to use their pickup to get them to our house. That made quick work of the move. Good thing too because my back was complaining. It was about half a pallet of bricks. Lou was busy all morning studying and taking a test online. About noon, Lou and Dawn headed for San Jose to a Holiday Festival and to see Christmas In The Park there. For dinner, they both went to Original Joe's Italian Restaurant in downtown San Jose. I had Tuna sandwiches for lunch. I relaxed the rest of the day. For dinner I went out with Ernie for BBQ ribs at Chili's.

Sunday: (11/27) A little brick moving, and little racking leaves, a little pruning and a lot of relaxing made up today's activities. Lou took another test this morning. And we all took a nice long walk before lunch.  Pie for breakfast. Leftovers from Original Joe's restaurant for lunch. For dinner Lou made turkey asparagus couscous served with spinach and leftover potatoes au gratin.

Monday: (11//28)
A Subway BMT breakfast sandwich started the day. A Costco lunch hot dog for Dawn, Polish dog for Lou and chicken bake for me. Leftover turkey and asparagus couscous for dinner with Dawn's fresh baked bread.

Thanksgiving

Wednesday: (11/23) I spent the day in the office working at the computer today. Lou and Ernie were busy baking pies and preparing for tomorrow. Dawn was busy cleaning. Hash and eggs for breakfast. Chinese lunch at Luu Noodle House. Split pea soup for dinner.

Thursday: (11/24) Pancakes and sausage for breakfast. Ernie got the turkey on early and he, Lou, Dawn and Courtney got everything ready for the afternoon feast. I did my best and stayed out of the way. The weather was unusually nice for Thanksgiving. The feast included most of the usual items but nowhere near as too much as usual. It started with hors d'Suvre. Deviled eggs, cheese, olives, celery sticks, etc. Then the meal, roast turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, potatoes au gratin, a fruit salad, almond green beans,  and the usual gravy, cranberry sauce, etc. And this was followed by a choice of pies, cranberry pear, pumpkin, or apple mince meat. For some reason or other there were a lot of people needing naps after dinner.

Friday: (11/25) We sampled the Christmas shopping crowd at Fry's so Ernie could get a new keyboard for his computer. We went early and there was still too much of a crowd. Lou was busy studying. I just relaxed all day, sort of like it was a holiday. Pie for breakfast. Hot turkey sandwiches for lunch. Salmon with asparagus and penne pasta for dinner.

San Francisco Walk-about

Monday: (11/21) We all took a nice walk around the neighborhood in the morning. I visited Fry's doing some Christmas shopping and getting supplies. I got as new toner for the printer that turned out to be bad so returned it for another and now the printer is happy. Lou took the old car out shopping and it wouldn't start to come home. I went over and got it started. It seems the ignition switch is intermittently bad. The ignition is only on it the on position, not the start position. With appropriate technique it can be started but I spent the afternoon looking for information on its wiring to repair or fix it. Lou and Dawn are busy cleaning and preparing for Thanksgiving. Pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. For dinner Lou prepared tuna steaks with rice and fried green tomatoes from the garden.



Tuesday: (11/22) A day in San Francisco for me today. I caught the 8:30 train to SF, then caught the Muni Judah train out by Golden Gate park. First order of business was breakfast at the Crepevine Restaurant on Irving Street. That was followed by a walk through Golden Gate park and by Stow Lake there.


Then a walk through the Sunset District of SF. The energetic part of the day followed with a hike up to the top of Mount Sutro and back down to Market Street. The view of the bay from Mount Sutro (above left) has to be the best view of the bay. Then it was back on a Muni Historic trolley to downtown. I stopped for a while to watch the erection of a construction crane. I only got to watch the end of the process. They started this early this morning. i could have wasted the whole day watching if I'd known it was being done. I've always wanted to watch them get one of these cranes up.

A bus to China town brought me to my dim sum restaurant for a snack. I've never seen it more crowded there. I enjoyed some Dim Sum there then headed over to Adobe's Offices on Townsend St for my BAADAUG computer group meeting. It was an interesting presentation by Yodlee who provides tools to develop financial features in Flash applications.

Breakfast was corned beef hash and eggs at the Crepevine. Some dim sum for a late lunch in China town. And finally some pizza at the computer club meeting.

The Chauffeur

Friday: (11/18) Oatmeal for breakfast. A little before noon Dawn and I headed to San Jose. We stopped for lunch at the Valley Fair Mall. I had some Chinese and Dawn had an interesting apple fig and brie grilled cheese sandwich. I dropped Dawn off at a convention in San Jose and visited Dawn's apartment to fix some things then visited a friend there. Lou was busy recovering from her cold and visiting a rummage sale. For dinner Lou made smoked pork chops, baked potatoes, and a green salad. Nice day with rain in the evening.

Saturday: (11/19) Popcorn with milk and honey for breakfast. Dawn and I were down in San Jose again. I acted as chauffeur and Dawn attended the convention again. Lunch was a visit to the Super Chinese Buffet in San Jose. I did some shopping and computing while I waited for Dawn. For dinner we had pizza at home. In the evening we all went to the Telabration, a story telling event here in Palo Alto presented by the Southbay Storytellers and Listeners. Excellent stories and tellers as well as a nice harpist. We had a nice clear sky in the morning turning to high overcast in the afternoon and rain in the evening.

Sunday: (11/20) Tinkering around the house was the task of the day. I fixed Ernie's oven, unclogged the pilot orifice.  Lou was busy cleaning and laundering. Dawn was at her convention in San Jose. Tuna, sprouts and cheese omelets for breakfast.  A visit to LUU Noodle House for our usual shared chow fun combination and some egg rolls for lunch. Baked potatoes with BBQ pork ribs and a green salad. For desert, we enjoyed some pineapple upside down cake that Ernie baked.

Exciting Days

Tuesday: (11/15) Salmon omelets for breakfast. I spent the day moving the outdoor plants into the green house. It's about a week earlier than usual. but it's now done. I also trimmed the wisteria on the arbor and did some other cleanup outside. Chili beans and cheese toast for lunch. Lou was still under the weather. Corned beef and cabbage for dinner.

Wednesday: (11/16) Not much accomplished today. A little yard work and a lot of watching the neighbors paving stone installation. PBJ toast for breakfast. Corned beef and cabbage for lunch. Hot and our soup for dinner.

Thursday: (11/17) Another "exciting" day. While the sky threatened rain most of the day, it never did rain as forecast. Breakfast was popcorn. I love popcorn but can't eat it later in the day. Continuing my healthy dining, lunch was donuts. Dinner was hot and sour soup and baked pork buns. Lou still isn't feeling well but, fortunately Dawn and i haven't caught the bug, yet. I believe that hot and sour soup has some king of magical powers to help on fight off a cold and or not get it. No scientific basic but it sure doesn't hurt and seems to work for me. Lou's been getting extra doses of the soup. I didn't do much that could be called work today. I did repair the RV TV antenna crank shaft by replacing it. That and a little silicone lubricant make it almost fly up now.

In the evening I took Dawn to a writers club meeting a few blocks from home. On the walk home we both almost had a fatal ending. We were crossing the six lane El Camino Real highway at a traffic signal with a walk signal for us. As we got halfway across the far side I stopped because I heard a cars engine not slowing. I looked over and watched a car speed through the lane we would have been in had I not stopped. Missed us by less than 3 feet never even slowing. I checked and he did have a red light as we still had our walk clearance showing. You can't be too careful! I didn't notice but likely a cell phone was involved?

One thing I did do today was read a couple of local newspapers. There was an article in one that mentioned a recent report that says that Palo Alto has the highest educated populace in the state. 80% with at least a BA and 50% with at least a masters or doctorate. Three nearby cities were 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. (Los Altos, Saratoga, and Cupertino). Unfortunately we didn't help the statistic and are definitely a minority around here. (I wonder if there could be some benefit for being such a minority) While I've worked in the technical and engineering fields all my working life, working with and often supervising and managing engineers, I don't have a sheepskin. Never got to it and haven't missed it.

Peter Yarrow At Linden Tree

Monday: (11/14) Leftovers for breakfast. Corned beef hash for me, Shepard's pie for Lou. I spent the morning working on the computer and the afternoon washing the RV. Tomato soup for lunch. Lou and Dawn were out shopping, actually returning things after lunch. Lou was coming down with a cold in the evening. Dinner was Lou's chili beans with my cheese toast.


In the evening Dawn and I went over to Los Altos to the Linden Tree Book Store to see Peter Yarrow  (of Peter, Paul and Mary fame)  He was doing a book signing for his book Puff The Magic Dragon and his other song books. Of course most of the audience was little children and then their parents and some older folk like me. He sang several of his songs interspersed with other activities that kept the younger audience's attention. He even sang a special song. The song was called Linden Tree, based on his song Lemon Tree but adapted for the book store's name. He entertained the group for an hour and then signed his books or other items. It's nice to see a famous person provide autographs without even having to buy something. The only thing he said he wouldn't sign was skin. The store ended up staying open nearly an hour after closing time so everyone got their autographs. He didn't rush people chatting extensively with each person. Above a picture of Dawn and I with Peter.

Home Again

Thursday: (11/10) We arrived home about 5:30pm. Nice to be home again. We all went out to Harry's Hofbrau ( Courtney, Dawn, Ernie, Lou and I) for Dawn's birthday dinner. We stopped at Courtney's place for a visit with Spunky, her kitten. We've been on the road most of six months on this trip for a total of 11,820 miles. It's not our longest trip, that was over 14,000 miles in six weeks in 1979. We've slowed down some  since then.

Friday: (11/11) What's so special about today? 20111111
Lou made corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Lou and Dawn were off on a shopping adventure all day. I went through all the junk mail i missed and worked in the office and on the computer all day. Cold cuts for lunch. For dinner Lou made fettuccine. It rained most of the day today.

Saturday: (11/12) I made Don McMuffin's for breakfast. We emptied out the jeep and I then removed the damaged fog lamp fixtures. I don't believe in them anyway. They were damaged by the rocks on the  Alaskan dirt roads. They were below the skirt and didn't have any protection. i also washed the under side of the jeep. Then I had it washed and waxed. I then did some more detailing then put some of the stuff that was in it back into it. Only the stuff that belongs in it went back. the Jeep is an extra closet when we're on the road. Speaking of "Its" that's Lou's name for the Jeep now. We've never really named our vehicles. When the Jeep caught fire in Anchorage Lou says I came and said It's on fire so she now calls it "Its". For dinner we visited LUU Noodles in Mountain View having our usual Chow Fun dinner.

Sunday: (11/13) Granola for breakfast. Another nice day, mostly sunny. I spent the morning working in the green house trimming, repotting and pulling weeds. Lou and Dawn were busy in the house cleaning. For lunch we all went down to the Hong Kong Bakery each getting our favorite baked goods and dim sum. We also picked up a birthday cake for both Dawn and Lou's birthday. I spent the afternoon working on the computer. Lou made Shepard's pie for dinner and Ernie joined us.

Redwood Acres Fairgound, Eureka, CA

Tuesday: (11/08)  We stopped for the day at Redwood Acres fairgrounds in Eureka. While I updated the blog, Lou visited the cats at the horse barns. The cats are the main reason we like to stay here. We then visited most of the thrift stores in town and stopped by Pierson' hardware store. Dinner was leftover Shepard's pie with some pumpkin pie for desert. After dinner we went to Winco Foods to get a few things. We don't have a Winco near our home and they have lots of things we like at significantly better prices than at home.
(GPS:40.77956573,-124.12937446)

Wednesday: (11/09) Pumpkin pie for breakfast. We visited with the barn cats here at the fairgrounds. Next we visited the remaining thrift stores in Eureka as well as other shops in old town. Lunch was at the Somoa Cookhouse, the old lumber mill cookhouse across the bay. It was BBQ rib day. We looked around the peninsula visiting the old military installations at the South end of the peninsula. We then went to Arcata and checked the thrift stores there. Having used most of the day, we returned to Eureka and stopped by to visit friends Don and Joy. We chatted, mostly about the Alaska trip we both took this summer, into the evening and had Subway sandwiches for dinner. After dinner Lou and I visited the Bear River Casino in Loleta. It didn't take long to lost our $2 limit and we returned home.


Thursday: (11/10) We started the morning with a visit to the horse barns to see the cats. Most of them evidently were sleeping in. We did get to visit Pickles, one of the most friendly. Then it was time for breakfast. Latkas and sausage. we then headed South on highway 101 stopping in Loleta at the cheese factory to watch the cheese making and pick up some fresh form the source. The weather was nice and we made good time. In Willits we got ice cream at Rite-aide Drugs  (aka Thrifty). We called that lunch though until i spotted that they had a Thrifty ice cream counter Lou was planning on cold cuts and crackers.  Traffic got rather heavy as we passed through San Francisco during early rush hour at 4pm. After a stop for gas in Redwood City we made it home about 5:30pm.  Lou was a bit worried as we were running on fumes. Last stop for gas was in Brookings Oregon 430 miles ago.

Prairie Creek Redwoods Elk Prairie Campground

Sunday: (11/06) Cereal and banana for breakfast. We took a walk on the beach after breakfast. Couldn't go far on the beach because of high tide and narrow beaches. We're a bit out of sink on the tides. Last night was high and this morning is high. It rained heavily all night but was nice this morning. We prepared to leave after enjoying long showers, an advantage of having a dump station available. We've enjoyed our stays in Oregon State Park Campgrounds. They always have electric and water hookups and often full hookups for less than a stay in a California State Campground which has no hookups. We stopped at Fred Meyer's for gas and at Oil Can Henry's for an RV oil change. Nothing caught fire but they did manage to improperly seat one of the tire pressure sensors. I check all the sensors for tightness after oil changes or tire services now anyway but now I'll have to add monitor extra well for leaks. We stopped when I got an alarm about 5 miles down the road. One tire was 15 lbs low. The washer in the sensor was not seated correctly. It took our compressor a while to get the tire re-inflated and I reseated the washer and all seems to be fine again. We passed through the California border without having to forfeit any fruits and vegetables though the inspector had to look at our orange. It must have been from California so it was OK. They couldn't say it was bad if it came from California.



We stopped for lunch in Crescent City at the Chart Room Restaurant. They have impressive fish and chips there. After lunch we took a walk around the harbor. They're still working on repairing the damaged caused in march by the tsunami with it's 8 foot wave. The restaurant is out by the docks but was unharmed, fortunately, A nine foot wave might have been too much. We had heavy food South of Crescent City to our destination at Prairie Creek State park.

Here is a rant: Why is it that road workers and traffic engineers can't think? Again, we had to disconnect the Jeep due to entering a closed road where they put the sign advising of the closure after the last possible turnaround. 50 feet earlier and no problem. 50 feet late and makes a problem. It must be a federal requirement because that seems to be the way all the road departments do it. Not so where they can think in Canada. we say the sign advising of the Newton P Drury parkway in to the park. After taking the ramp off the freeway we followed the next sign telling us to turn right onto the parkway. We turned and then there is a sign advising that the road is closed ahead and there is no turnaround. Hell, there was no turnaround there either. Whoever set the signs up doesn't even meet the level of half wit. If they had a thought, maybe something could have been placed by either of the other two signs? Rant over.

We disconnected and continued separately up to the other end of the Parkway and in to the Prairie Creek Redwoods Elk Prairie Campground.


We got a nice campsite and were one of three guests camping there. We learned that the reason for the road closure was that a couple of big redwood trees fell across the road a couple of weeks ago. They were too big to cut so they used dynamite to remove them. of course, they blew up part of the road and now they are waiting for the State Highway department to come out and repair the pavement. That should take a couple of more weeks. Some one should make a movie of this stuff. We need more comedies. We also learned that the Davidson Road out to the beach is closed during the week for repairs so we won't be able to go out to Fern Canyon. Won't be hiking it either since this week three parties have reported being chased by Elk along the trails to there. Once was enough for me to be chased by 1200 pound animals. We'll probable settle for some short hikes around closer to the campground tomorrow. Dinner was leftovers. I had a hotdog chili size while Lou had split pea soup.
(GPS:41.35923885,-124.02941861)

Monday: (11/07) Clear and cold this morning. Lou made hash browned potatoes with sausage and eggs for breakfast. I unfolded the bikes and aired up the tires. It's the first time we've had them out on this trip. We rode the bikes up Newton Drury parkway, the closed road. Rather nice ride with no traffic but it was uphill for the 5-6 miles before we turned around. of course then it was a nice coast back. We didn't go far enough to see the road damage but really can't understand why the portion we rode on was closed to cars. Seems better to only close it to big vehicles and let the others turn around at the obstruction.


We stopped for a couple of hikes to see the Corkscrew Tree, a really confused tree and the Big Tree, a really big coastal redwood tree. We returned home for lunch. Lou made a nice ham, peppers, and tomato salad. Then we drove in to Orick for a look at the burl shops.


When we returned we took a hike around the prairie on the Elk Prairie Trail.


When we got back to camp there was a small herd of bull elk in front of our campsite. We pulled out the chairs and enjoyed watching them dine on the lawn there until an unthinking driver sped by them and spooked them. Lou made Shepard's pie for dinner.

Tuesday: (11/08) Mostly clear and cold this morning. Hashbrowns, eggs and sausage for breakfast. We walked the campground and part of Elk Prairie Trail then moved the RV out of the campground and took the jeep out to Elk Meadow, about 5 miles South.


We hiked out to Terillium Falls then returned and hooked up the Jeep and headed South on Highway 101 to Trinidad. We stopped at the Trinidad Eatery for their great blackberry cobbler for lunch. After lunch we continued on to the Redwood Acres Fairgrounds in Eureka.

Harris Beach State Park

Friday: (11/04) Leftover pancakes and French Toast for breakfast. On the road toward Brookings by 11am. We stopped in Bandon By The Sea and walked old town. Lunch was some of Lou's pea soup with toasted dinner rolls.


We settled in at Harris Beach State Park.


The tide was coming in as we took a quick walk on the beach. Maybe tomorrow we'll get to visit their nice tide pools.



It was foggy this morning as we left Coos Bay and got even ticker until we came down the hill to Bandon where the sun was out. It was sunny but cold the rest of the day. This area of the coast is a cranberry growing area and the fields were red. Must   be time to harvest.
(GPS:42.06913121,-124.31032035)

Saturday: (11/05) Latkas with apple sauce and sausage for breakfast. It rained all night and through the day today. We took a little drive around town stopping at Fred Meyer's and a thrift store. We had some soup and tea for lunch at Freddie's. Since it was raining we relaxed at home much of the afternoon and evening. Lou made tortellini and fresh asparagus for an early dinner.