Water Line Repair and Printer Fix

Wednesday: (03/28) A pork bun from Hong Kong bakery for breakfast. Lou picked them up yesterday. The City had scheduled this morning to turn off our water. I haven't had a good job to "supervise" in the neighborhood for quite a while. I spent the morning watching the crew replace part of the water valve. The old actuator had frozen even though it was just installed a year ago.Actually since it was so new it was easy to replace just the part that needed replacing rather than having to replace the whole valve body as well. Still, it took all morning. There was a crew of five for the actual work. The hole had been dug a week or so previously so the job was just to repair the valve and fill the hole. There was a lot of waiting around and because there was so much waiting needed, they needed assistance. Two supervisors came by, an engineering test technician, another two man crew, and they were also visited by four other utility workers while they were there. I had to leave before this crew successfully filled the hole. They were having a problem meeting the compaction test requirements, as I suspected they would. They filled the entire hole with sand and baserock and then used to compactor on the filling. I don't know if they ever actually reached the require compaction or had to dig it out again and fill it correctly in small lifts each compacted individually. They had tried four times to re-compact it and hadn't passed the test when I had to go. Fun to watch and easy to see why our utility rates are skyrocketing!

I took Lou to LUU Noodle House for lunch. We each enjoyed their Pad Thai lunches. I left Lou to find her on way home (bus). She mentioned that Walmart had some of my shirts on sale. I picked out some but left them at the checkout stand when they rang up costing more than the sign. I could have probably gotten them but then Walmart would have made the sale and not buying them seemed better at the time.

I stopped by Central Computer to pickup a cable for Dawn , a USB print server for all of us, and a micro USB Wifi adapter for Lou's laptop. I also finally located a Hyundai dealer so next time I take Lou out to test drive the car I'll be able to find it.


We heard the stump for the cedar tree in San Jose had been removed so I stopped by for a look. The tree stump in San Jose is now gone.

In the evening, I installed the print server for our label printer. Now any computer on the network can print to it. I also installed the micro USB Wifi adapter on Lou's laptop. Her internal Wifi doesn't work and the USB adapter she has been using is to big and has to be removed when storing the computer. There was a high likelihood of the adapter breaking the socket eventually so the tiny adapter can be left in place and doesn't present any hazard of breakage.

For dinner we had homemade vegetable soup.

Thursday: (03/29) Cereal for breakfast. I met Dawn and took her to an interview in Campbell and to the dentist in Cupertino. Vegetable soup for lunch. We had Papa John's pizza for dinner.

Friday: (03/30) Latkas with applesauce and sausage for breakfast. Lou had a doctors appointment this morning so I went down to San Jose and met Pete, one of our neighbors and friends there that also does wood floor refinishing. We looked over the house there to get an estimate to remove the carpet and refinish the hardwood floors. After that I met Lou and we went to the Sunny Buffet in Sunnyvale for Chinese buffet lunch. I've managed to come down with a cold so I relaxed the rest of the day.

Saturday: (03/31) For breakfast, leftover latkas served with ham today. My cold is more like a real cold today and I tend to take advantage of colds to relax even more than my normal. Lou baked a pumpkin pie using some of the  pumpkin Dawn grew last year. Pumpkin's are pretty big and go a long ways. She had three.  One is still in the yard. One was lost due to a freezer failure and part of the other is in the pie. Of course, she also baked some cinnamon tarts with leftover dough. I tend to prefer  the tarts to the pies anyway.  I did manage to corral Lou to go over our tax return before I file it. This year may have to go down in our history book. It will be the first time in years we have completed our return on time. Lou and Dawn were off to the bank and shopping in the afternoon. leftover soup, pizza and bread sticks for dinner.

Sunday: (04/01) Cereal for breakfast. Salmon rice for lunch. Ernie's beef stroganoff for dinner. Lou and Dawn did a few garage and rummage sales. I felt sick and lounged all day. I usually don't get too sick but my hair even hurt so there was little to enjoy about getting to relax all day. Fortunately Lou and Dawn aren't sick as well.

Monday: (04/02) Cereal for breakfast. Pork buns for lunch. Dawn's hot and sour soup for dinner. More of the same for me. Lou was busy about the house and shopping.

Tuesday: (04/03) Subway breakfast sandwiches.  Hot and sour soup for lunch. Pasta with fresh asparagus and Swedish meat balls for dinner. I actually felt much better today. My hair didn't hurt as much and the congestion was breaking up. By the end of the day I was mostly normal. Quite nice.

Wednesday: (04/04) I made corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Nachos for Lou and a torta for me from Chaves Market for lunch. Ham and pepper salad for dinner. I did take a drive to San Mateo to pick up some things Dawn wanted from Freecycle. I also check the Jeep codes and it still hasn't clear the internal tests so it just has to go in for exploratory surgery since it isn't going to tell what's wrong with itself.

Thursday: (04/05) I'm mobile but am consuming mucho cough drops to fight the nagging cough that is remaining. Leftover corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Actually the eggs were not leftovers. For lunch leftover pepper and ham salad and hot and sour soup. Dinner was leftover hot and sour soup with pan toast. Otherwise just another day at home not doing much except recouping.