A Concrete Solution

Saturday: (09/29) I had the last of the corned beef hash for breakfast. Lou and Dawn had cereal and then were off early on the rummage sale circuit.


Ernie and I started with moving the last of the base-rock from the driveway. We now have a a clear driveway again. There was quite a bit left and I wanted to minimize the extra moving of the pile so prepared a spot where at least part of it is in its final resting place the the rest is piled on top of that and the pile is in a good spot to remain, possibly all winter. It will eventually be the base for a walkway across the rear of our house.


We then started pouring the concrete for the slab floor for Lou's pottery shed. We started the pour about 10:45 and finished at 1:00. Lou made homemade egg rolls for lunch. Very good. I spent the afternoon finishing the concrete surface. A lot of troweling interspersed with other clean up tasks or just relaxing. Dinner was sour bratten beef with baked potatoes and cauliflower.

Sunday: (09/30) Today was forecast as a heat wave day. While yesterday was in the low 80's today will be in the low 90's. We were forecast to have a couple of days like this.


In the morning I prepared for the second pour by removed and changing forms and adding some rebar. I also collected the bags of concrete that will be needed to finish the second pour for the slab.

Monday: (10/01) I spent the day in the office and computing. Nice to have a day off. Breakfast was bacon, eggs and hashbrowns. Lunch was chow mein ala Lou. Lou made enchiladas and chili rellenos for dinner. 

Tuesday: (10/02) Up and at it early again. It's reported to be another hot day. Our two day heat wave forecast stretched into several. Ernie and I poured the second half of the pottery shed floor. We were finished pouring a little after 11am and I finished the final troweling by 3pm. That's a nice task to have completed. Lou was busy with the laundry and cleaning the car. Lunch was a chicken pot pie. I went over to Fry's Electronics to look for a new laptop computer but didn't decide on one yet. Lou made an Iranian chicken salad for dinner. 

Monte Bello Ridge To Black Mountain Hike

Friday: (09/28) Corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. I was off early for another hike.

This was a six mile hike in the Monte Bello Ridge Open Space about 7 miles up the hill above Palo Alto. I was the organizer of this hike for the San Jose Mid-Week Hikers group. Here is a link to the GPS track of the hike. It was 6.2 miles and took 3 hours 20 minutes. It was overcast as I left home and foggy going up the hill but was clear and sunny up where the hike started.


The view wasn't too good though because the clouds covered the whole Santa Clara Valley below. We had seven hikers and I didn't loose any. The only difference in the two photos above is that I am in one and not the other having swapped places with the photographers assistant. Which is the better photo? (Left photo: Michie, Donna, Bob, Ava, and Loretta, Right Photo: the same with Don swapped with Donna)


Above is a tree stump that somehow looked like a flower to me so I took a picture.

The Form Of Things To Come

Wednesday: (09/26) Lou was off for her appointment early. I fixed a nice home fried potato, sausage and eggs breakfast for myself. I then went outside to start working. I goofed up though. I left the house smelling too good from my breakfast, I think the garlic did it. Anyway, I was called in to fix Lou breakfast as well.

I worked on setting the forms for Lou's shed's slab and placing the rebar. I made some good progress. I should be finished fairly quickly tomorrow. Lou had started some beans earlier this morning. She found she didn't have any chorizo left in the freezer so she went to Sprout's Market to get some. At the Sunnyvale store they had it packaged. At the Mountain View store on opening day they only had it behind the meat counter. Today they had neither. Lou brought this to the attention of the manager and he had the butcher make some, just for Lou. Nice store. With chorizo in hand, Lou completed some chili beans for lunch, and dinner. With dinner we added corn bread.

Thursday: (09/27) I fixed some nice corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. I tinkered in the office in the morning. Lou and I went to lunch at LUU Noodle House sharing our usual combination chow fun , some egg rolls and an avocado smoothie.

When we got home I finally got to work in the yard. I finished the form and am ready to pour concrete on Saturday. I also spent some time digging out some dirt for another walkway to use the remainder of the base-rock. Dinner was leftover chili beans.

Adobe Event In San Francisco

Monday: (09.24) I caught the train early and went up to San Francisco for the Adobe Create The Web seminar.


Adobe introduced their latest software, the cloud based Edge series. Quite impressive.


The event started at 10am and went until 4:20. Adobe even provided my lunch. After the meeting, I took a walk with my friend Mark along Market Street before meeting the Adobe team at a local brew pub for a couple of beers and some hor dourves. Then the train brought me home. Breakfast was a McDonalds McGriddle sandwich. Lunch was a beef brisket sandwich. Dinner was hor dourves.

Tuesday: (09/25) Lou made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I caught the train up to San Francisco again.


I took a little 8.6 mile walk from the train station out to the Golden Gate Bridge via Coit Tower, Columbus Avenue, I had lunch in North Beach of pizza and beer. The Marina, and Crissy Field.


It was starting to get foggy before I got to the bridge. An odd thing for San Francisco? I caught a bus back to town and had a pork bun in China Town for dinner.


I made it back in time for my 6:30 BAADAUG meeting at Adobe's Offices near the train station. This meeting was an introduction to the new version of Cold Fussion. More web development stuff. At the meeting, I got to see my friend Arnold whom I haven't seen in more than a year. Unfortunately, there was a Giant's baseball game tonight so the train home was really crowded. I sat next to a retired woman who had been doing much the same as myself, enjoying a day walking around town.

A Bag Here And A Bag There

Saturday: (09/22) I had donuts for breakfast. of course, Lou and Dawn didn't, they had cereal. I don't take this gluten free diet to the extreme. After all, donuts do call to me. Of course there were garage sales to go to for Lou and Dawn. I worked on the pad for Lou's shed bringing it to final level. With that done, I started collecting material, mostly concrete bags for the floor. For lunch Lou and I went to LUU Noodle House and shared a combination chow fun meal. More concrete trips in the afternoon. I can only haul 12 bags at a time in the Jeep and I need 85 bags in all. I now have 52, enough to start when the forms are ready.  I still need to get the material for that tomorrow. Leftover salmon and rice with some roma tomatoes from the garden for dinner.

Sunday: (09/23) Except for a trip to Home Depot for some rebar and dobbies I did little today. Nice to relax. Breakfast at the Country Gormet restaurant in Mountain View. I had some excellent corned beef hash and Lou and Dawn shared a salmon omelet. Lunch was a grilled cheese and sausage sandwich and chili rellenos from the garden. BBQ ribs with baked  fries and sauted mushrooms.  

Endeavor Hike

Friday: (09/21) Lou and Dawn were off on their shopping run including the Stanford Rummage Sale in Menlo Park and assorted garage sales. I enjoyed a sausage, home fried potato and eggs breakfast. Then I was off on a hike with my San Jose Mid week hikers group.

Today the hike was at Rancho San Antonio Park in Los Altos. Six hikers met and hiked the PG&E trail to the Coyote Trail then onto the High Meadow Trail to the Vista Point.


We arrived at the vista point about five minutes before the space shuttle Endeavor flew down Silicon Valley and over Moffett Field/Ames Research Center. There was a crowd of about fifty hikers at the Vista Point that all cheered when the shuttle had passed by. We then continued our hike down to the Rogue Valley Trail and back to our cars. Total distance was about a 6.7 mile hike. We even were treated to a rattle snake sighting on our way back.
For lunch I stopped at LUU Noodle House for some egg rolls and an avocado smoothie. Just a little tinkering around the house completed the day. Dinner was Dawn's ham and apple pizza.

Photos: (comments coming soon)


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End Of An Era

Thursday: (09/20) Lou and I took the last of our Volvo 240 wagons to the recycle yard this morning. The State was nice enough to pay us to do it.


The 92 was still pretty good mechanically and had only 194k miles on it. About half the miles we had on the 87 that we disposed of a couple of months ago. But it was ready to fall apart. We are now down to a more sensible number of vehicles, especially since I didn't add the Tiger a couple of days ago.

Lou and I had breakfast at Denny's while we waited for them to cut the check. i had the Lumberjack Slam and Lou had a custom Slam. We returned and Lou took Dawn to the dentist.

I worked in the backyard stripping the forms, back filling where the forms were, and tamping the base rock. I also cleared the area where I'll be working next. I have some leftover baserock so I'll prepare a home for it soon by digging out for some more sidewalk to be. I want to get the rock off the driveway before we leave.

Lunch was leftover pot roast and dinner was salmon and rice.

A New Sprout

Wednesday: (09/19)This morning at 8am our local Sprout's store opened. Now we don't have to drive to Sunnyvale to shop with them. There was quite a crowd ready to check them out. Lou and Dawn headed off to some appointments while i wasted some time watching the construction activity across the street at the New San Antonio Mall. It was interesting seeing a forklift crane lift pallets to the top center of 6 story building. Breakfast was an apple fritter. I tinkered at the computer including posting resent photos to the blog. Lou made artichoke chicken for lunch. Pot roast for dinner.

Considering A Tiger XL Adoption

Monday: (09/17) I intended to get started early today, just to be different. When I checked my email, I noticed a message from the Tiger Motor Home Users Group, which I follow. Old Tiger XL motorhomes are small full featured class C motorhomes that are 16 feet long, ideal for getting into campgrounds. We almost drove to Denver about a year ago when one was available there. Anyway, one in good condition that is all wheel drive, as well, appeared on the user group. I called about it and will be seeing it tomorrow. It's about 80 miles East of LA. So Ernie and I are on our way South to look at it. We'll be stopping for dinner in Bakersfield with our Aunt Helen, then on closer to the meet up in Redlands.


So, I only had a little work that needed to be done. Ernie and I poured the concrete for the edge of the walkway this morning.


We were through by 10am. For breakfast I made sausage, fried potatoes and eggs. Lou made shrimp tacos for lunch. We didn't get away until 3:30 so arrived in Bakersfield for a late dinner at Bill Lee's Bamboo Chopsticks Restaurant about 8pm.

After our dinner we continued on to Redlands for the night.


Tuesday: (09/18) We were up early and enjoyed the wonderful free breakfast that the motel furnished. We met the motorhome owner a little before 9am and looked the motorhome over thoroughly including a test drive.


After the examination I decided not to get it, even though it was a nice RV. It's age and some things that it needed to have done would have made it a major effort. I have enough to do for now. The opportunity will probably not occur again but the decision was probably the best.

Ernie and I had lunch at Famous Dave's. Texas beef brisket. We returned to Bakersfield via Palmdale. For dinner, Helen took us to Dewar's Ice Cream Parlor. Ice cream for dinner, what could be better? We continued our return trip arriving home about 10:30. A fast trip of almost 900 miles in about 36 hours.

Continuing On

Saturday: (09/08) Nice day. Lou and Dawn were off to rummage, garage and who knows what sales this morning. Breakfast was leftovers. I had ham and pepper salad. I tinkered with the sprinklers hooking up another sprinkler by the walkway. More leftovers for lunch, blintzes and sausage. Leftovers for dinner.

Sunday: (09/09) Bacon eggs and hashbrowns for breakfast. Dawn was off to the library to help the Friends Of The Library with their sale. Lou and I were off to the San Jose fairgrounds for a home show. Nothing interesting to be seen. We had a late lunch at LUU Noodle House in downtown San Jose. I had egg rolls and an avocado smoothie. Lou had pad Thai. On our way home we stopped by our friends Conne and Terry's place for a short visit. Dinner was a Chinese stir fry and noodle concoction.


Monday: (09/10) Above raccoon tracks show we had garden visitors by last night. We had a late free breakfast at IKEA. Lou picked up some new Venetian blinds for the living room at Home Depot next door. I dropped them off and went down to San Jose to a Health Plan orientation for our health care. Nice to check every once in a while to be sure you've selected the best plan for your needs. On the way home I stopped for lunch at Mr Chow's Chinese fast food restaurant in Santa Clara. Dinner was stuffed bell peppers with baked potatoes and corn on the cob.

Tuesday: (09/11) Nothing significant accomplished today. I tinkered in the office. I decided to make a claim for the RV repair with our insurance company so I started that process. Lou was out much of the day with an appointment and doing some shopping. She started replacing the Venetian blinds in the living room as well. French toast and sausage for breakfast. Leftover Chinese stir fry for lunch. Shepherd's pie for dinner.

Wednesday:(09/12) Lou and Dawn were off for some appointments and more shopping and thrifting. I tinkered at home in the morning. I got a phone call from our insurance adjuster that said the accident wasn't covered because we didn't have collision insurance. Interesting, I thought we did. Further research discovered the fact that I did have it until 7 days before the accident. At about that time I had received a notice from the DMV that there was no insurance on the RV. The insurance company had mistakenly entered the incorrect Vin number for the RV. I called the insurance company and they restored the coverage but mistakenly didn't reapply the collision insurance. I called them back and they are doing some research themselves to see why they didn't add it back. It will be interesting to see what the result is with a claim in the waiting. Now I know why that tree root attacked the RV. The fact it wasn't insured made it inevitable. That is why, when I hike, I'm always prepared for getting lost and having to spend a few days lost. The day I don't go prepared will be the day I get lost. So, I'm waiting for word with at least some hope. I decided to take a ride on the bus for lunch at the Hometown Buffet. Since Lou and Dawn can't eat there anymore and they are busy all day today with appointments, I took advantage of the opportunity and went to lunch. Dinner was cottage cheese and fruit.

Thursday:(09/13) I had intended to start working in the backyard on the walkway but since I haven't been working on it due to my back for quite a while, the clay soil had turned solid like concrete so I added some water to soften it up. Of course that will take a little while to work so no more work today. Another day off. I accomplished nothing of significance today. A little tinkering on the computer. Eggs, fried potatoes and sausage for breakfast. Leftover beef stroganoff for lunch. More leftovers for dinner.

Friday:(09/14) We started our day with an early shopping trip for groceries visiting Walmart, The Milk Pale, Trader Joe's and Safeway. I tinkered in the back yard most of the rest of the day. Lou trimmed her hair and tinkered as well. Spinach mushroom omelet for breakfast. Baked potato, asparagus and stuffed bell peppers for dinner.

Saturday:(09/15) I was busy all day working on my walkway project. I placed the gotextile fabric and installed some conduit before move a lot of the base rock into the hole. Lou was busy cleaning the house and visiting estate sales and home demolition sales with Dawn. In the evening we all went over to IKEA for a walk as well as visiting Home Depot for some drain pipe. I had a repeat of what was for dinner last night for breakfast. Left over stuffed bell pepper with a baked potato. For Lunch Lou made fish sandwiches with avocado. Dinner was BBQ ribs with oven roasted French "fries."

Sunday: (09/16) Another day working at the rock pile. I installed all the drain pipes and moved more base rock in to the final level. Breakfast was fresh strawberry pancakes. Ham, pepper and tomato salad for lunch. Green salad with spaghetti squash and mizratha cheese.

Tarwater Loop Trail

Friday: (09/07) I prepared my Don McMuffins for breakfast this morning using some gluten free muffins Lou baked. Lou and Dawn were off early shopping at Walmart before the crowds arrived. I was off on a hike.


The hike was on the Tarwatwer Loop Trail at Pescadero Creek County Park. This is the first hike I posted and led with my San Jose Mid-week hikers Meetup Group. We had seven hikers bold enough to follow me.

Along the way we stopped to see a giant old growth redwood tree that looks like a huge saguaro cactus with it's arms.


We also stopped by an old shingle mill ruins.


While we didn't have to ford the Pescadero Creek, some of us did. On the right above there were some nice tassels on some huge grasses.


An interesting old barn along the trail. I managed not to loose any hikers and we all enjoyed the hike.

I had a bowl of chili with a sausage for lunch. My afternoon task was to tinker at the computer. One task was to get some of these photos posted on the blog. The blog now has photos for the past month. For dinner we had roast chicken brussel sprouts and grilled onions.