What Got In To Me

Monday: (04/30) My first breakfast was one of Lou's mushroom omelets. She made up a bunch of mini omelets in a muffin pan. They taste good but were difficult to get out of the pan. Next time she plans on using paper muffin liners. Lou was off to a doctors appointment early. I fired up the old Volvo, which we've ignored for about a year now. It tends to not start on occasion. It fired right up. I went over to Home Depot in East Palo Alto. First I walked across the street to IKEA and  enjoyed my second breakfast. It's free on Monday's. After breakfast, I stopped by the neighboring Bet Buy for a look. To my surprise the store was more than half empty. I learned that it closes permanently in about  week. Must have been a poor performing store. Finally I returned to Home Depot. I had to check out a couple of carpet patterns. We had selected one and sent the tenant to look at it and see if they liked it. They suggested a couple of alternate colors for the type we selected. Either of their selections would be OK too. I also checked out some pavers in the garden department. I'm ready to started putting in some walkways in our backyard and hadn't decided on what I was going to use. I'd been leaning toward pavers rather than pouring concrete. Quicker and more immune to cracking, especially on our clay soil. They had some 12" pavers in an antique color and they were on sale. I bought a few to lay out and see how they look. When I got home I laid them out and they look good.  I returned to the store and bought about 35 more. That was all that I liked. Unfortunately the rest seemed miss colored. I needed about 70 to do what I planned to do. I was intending to dig out a section, install the baserock and pavers and then do another section, thus not tearing up the entire yard nor having to store a bunch of pavers. I decided to go to another store. First, i tried North to the San Carlos Home Depot. No pavers like i needed there. I stopped for Lunch In Redwood City at Chaves Market for a super carnitas quesodilla. Excellent! Then down to Sunnyvale to another Home Depot. They had plenty of the pavers. I bought another 35 thus having enough to do the first portion of the project. While checking out I learned that the pavers were only on sale until 5/2. Change of plans. I went back in and got another 35. 70 pavers at 15 pounds each is about all the car can carry. After unloading those at home I returned for another load. Enough for today. Dinner was KFC chicken.

Tuesday: (05/01) Subway sandwiches for breakfast  I returned to Home Depot and started to load up another 70 pavers but only got to 48. The rest were broken, blemished or discolored. There were two other pallets stored above. About 45 minutes later another pallet was in place and I completed by load. The assistant asked if I wanted to whole pallet. I should have said yes, but was pretty much committed to self delivery. There should be enough on the pallet for two more trips to complete what I need for the entire project. Ernie made potato salad and hot dogs for lunch. I made two more trips for pavers. Enough for the day. Lou made mashed potatoes mixed with mashed cauliflower, meatloaf, and sliced cucumbers.

Wednesday: (05/02) I mostly relaxed today, resting the back after all the brick moving. I did chip off the grass in the area I'll be digging out first. Lou was off today, working on her dolls. Dawn did all the cooking today. Pancakes for breakfast. Leftover chicken and biscuits for lunch. Split pea soup for dinner.

Thursday: (05/03) My day to cook. I fixed home fried potatoes with onions and red peppers, ham and eggs. Lou had a doctors appointment so i went with her to Mountain View. I browsed at the library and we stopped at the Hong Kong bakery for lunch. A couple of pork stickers and an egg tart for me, baked pork bun for Lou. I also stopped off at tapioca Express for an Avocado smoothie with tapioca pearls. In the afternoon I started digging out the dirt in the walkway. Only did about 4 feet or about 5 wheelbarrows full but it was enough for the day. For dinner I warmed up some of Lou's smoked tri-tip steaks and baked some potatoes then added some green beans.

Friday: (05/04) Cereal for breakfast. I spent the morning working on Dawn's desktop. Leftover split pea soup for lunch. Dawn and I visited a couple of estate sales and I dug another 4 feet of the walkway. Lou made ham super nachos for dinner.

Saturday: (05/05) Donuts and a kale omelet for breakfast. Smoked tri-tip quesadillas for lunch. Dinner at LUU Noodle House. We had the combination chow fun with egg rolls. I spent the morning and much of the afternoon moving dirt. I finished digging the hole for the first section of the walkway. Lou put weed and feed on the lawn hoping to get rid of some of the weeds. After PM we stopped by an open house in the neighborhood. We really hope they get their price which seems high but, if received, cant hurt our comps. Then we went to downtown Mountain View and walked the street fair there. After they closed down the fair Dawn visited a used book store and found a complete set of the Rumpole Of The Bailey TV series. I bought it. She left without getting anything. Not the norm.

Super Moon Day. Our view of the biggest brightest moon of the year was unspectacular. Other have looked bigger and brighter. Possibly ruined by smog.

The photos below to be integrated into this post soon

Wolfie looks like he's protecting his turf, or the absence of it. On the right, the walkway/patio will pass from the rear clear to the front of this photo.


Two views of the arbor. I'm trying not the tear up too much of the yard at once so we can continue to enjoy it during the walkway project.