Cool, Man

Sunday: (10/27) Fall is really bring in cooler weather recently Lou put a pot roast in the crock pot in the morning. I loaded the cement mixer and jackhammer into the Jeep to take to San Jose. I completed doing the laundry. Leftover corned beef hash with eggs for breakfast. Pot Roast for dinner.

Monday: (10/28) I drove down to San Jose early taking Dawn to an appointment. After that we stopped at La Victoria Taqueria for breakfast. Dawn went out exploring and shopping around San Jose most of the day while I tried to get some work done Since I forgot to get new work gloves and my existing gloves had too many holes to fully protect my hands from heat or the abrasiveness of the roof, I did other tasks today. I need to install some fencing where the neighbors garage was removed. The tenants had planted a beautiful bougainvillea against the garage which the people who removed the garage had to disconnect from the garage and it was laid over into our yard. I fought all the one inch thorns trimming the plant and disposing of the cuttings into a compost bin and separating the wire and lattice work that was supporting the plant. The plant likely won’t be able to be saved because it is either right in the fence alignment or really close. I’ll be installing the usual concrete base for the fence so the plant may have to go. If not, it will be in the neighbors yard anyway. I quit early because I had setup an appointment to get the Hyundai serviced tomorrow and needed to return to Palo Alto to get it. On the way home I picked up Dawn. I located the set of wheels I was missing for one of the scaffolds. They move so much nicer with wheels. Lunch was two cheese coated hot dogs. I picked up some chicken dinners at KFC for dinner.

Tuesday: (10/29) I started early stopping at McDonald’s for a McGriddle sandwich for breakfast. I visited Harbor Freight and bought some work gloves. I also stopped by a house in Santa Clara to pickup some Freecycle page sleeves that Dawn wanted. I finally started work a little after 0900 working until 1315. Lunch was leftover pot roast . I took the car in for it’s service and on the way noticed the airbag fault light was on. They did the oil change and check the airbags while I relaxed in the waiting room. Hopefully my snoring didn’t bother the other people too much. They determined the airbag was bad and ordered a new one. For dinner I had cottage cheese and fruit with a toasted English muffin coated with honey.

Wednesday: (10/30) Today I started sanding above the porch finishing the left side. Toasted English muffin with a sausage patty for breakfast. BBQ ribs with Spanish rice for lunch. Egg rolls and shrimp balls from King Eggroll for dinner



Thursday: (10/31) I started by determining the fence line. I can’t spend more time today but now I can start digging the post holes when I find time. I finished sanding the right side today. I have only done the part over the porch roof.I still have both lower sides todo but may get a coat of primer by the end of next week. Granola for breakfast. Sausage and cheese English muffin with carrots for lunch. Tri-tip roast with mashed potatoes and a green salad for dinner.

Shopping, A Book and Bluegrass

Saturday: (10/26) A busy day, for one of my recent weekends. Of course, we started with a shopping run to Walmart, Safeway and Sprouts for groceries. We always try to go early, 0700, to beat the crowds. For breakfast I prepared corned beef hash and eggs. In the afternoon, Lou’s friend Connie stopped by for a nice visit. They even took a walk (roll) around the block.


In the mail today I received our book, printed from our blog, for our Alaska trip. The book turned out really nice but did point out a need for adding captions to the photos since they don’t print in the same position as in the blog, just near that position so the text describing the photos doesn’t always match. A good proof reading could have prevented the error but i was in a hurry to preserve the trip.

For dinner I made a huge pot of spaghetti providing a lot of leftovers, which is always good warmed up.

After dinner Dawn and I went to a concert presented by the Redwood Bluegrass Association.


The headliners were the Canote Brothers with an opening group of Carol Elizabeth Jones & Laurel Bliss. The opening group played traditional bluegrass while The Canote brothers were hardly bluegrass. Their tunes were all novelty tunes, more of a comedy act, by a couple of twins that also happen to be outstanding musicians. Greg, the violinist is one of the best players I’ve heard. To know what they were like you’d have to hear them, which you can on YouTube.  A couple of the tunes they played at our concert were Wahoo and Missed It By Two. The RBA puts on these concerts every month and they are always great. It’s in intimate room with only 200-300 seats. And, one of my favorite things is the deserts they sell before the show and during the intermission.

Rancho San Antonio Park Rouge Valley Hike

Friday: (10/25) Today was hike day. I met my San Jose Mid-week Hikers Group at Rancho San Antonio Park for a hike. I had 14 fellow hikers for this 7.5 mile hike in the Rogue Valley with only a 827 foot overall climb. Jack In The Box supreme croissant sandwich for breakfast. Hot dogs for lunch. Chevy’s Super Cinco for dinner.

Rancho San Antonio Park Rouge Valley
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Breaking Bad OD

Saturday: (10/19) Our first effort was the weekly grocery shopping run before the crowds. The other major effort of the day was a Breaking Bad marathon. We don’t have cable so with our Netflix subscription, we have a bundle of potential series to catch up on and seem to do marathons to do them. Corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Spaghetti for dinner.

Sunday: (10/20) I worked on capturing this blog to several PDF files for easier printing and backup. I also ordered a book from the blog entries for our trip to Alaska in 2011. That’s been on the list for a while but Blog2Print wasn’t able to do my self published WordPress blog. I assume it works for Blogger, and WordPress blogs hosted on wordpress.com but not for mine. I had contacted Blog2print about it but they haven’t been able to make it work since I informed them several months ago. They do keep me informed about their progress but no result yet. So, since it works for Blogger, I imported a copy of my WordPress blog into a Blogger blog. It seemed to import correctly so I tried to publish a book from it and it worked. I don’t plan on using the Blogger blog but it is a good backup for my blog as well. You can’t have too many backups. We should have our new coffee table book by the end of the month. About 1900 I headed down to San Jose for the night. Corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Stuffed green peppers from the garden for lunch. Spaghetti with fresh asparagus for dinner.

Monday: (10/21) Up on the roof early to remove more paint until it got warm about 1300, then I took a siesta. About 1500 I was back at work finishing the right side eaves of the porch. I then moved one of my scaffolds to the front of the porch with a bunch of difficulty since it requires flexing a cypress tree out away from the house. In the evening I made a shopping run and stopped to get dinner. Pancakes and roast beef for breakfast.  Leftover stuffed bell peppers for lunch. A visit to Sweet Tomatoes salad restaurant for dinner.

Tuesday: (10/22) More of the same today. A little work on the roof and a little down below. A bunch of littles hopefully make a big eventually. Granola with diced apple for breakfast. Leftover stuffed bell peppers for lunch. Pork and a toasted English muffin with cheese for dinner.

Wednesday: (10/23) Most of the work above the porch on the roof is finished now. At 1000 I stopped for a webinar on using java.


This is the sod lawn I watched being installed earlier this summer. They installed it because the lawn always seems to die there. Well, it still does.

A breakfast burrito at La Victoria started the day. Lunch was an Italian sausage and cheese burger. For dinner, a super burrito from Super Taqueria.

Thursday: (10/24) I finished the roof top stripping with a long day today. Next week a lot of sanding, filling and caulking are in order. Granola for breakfast. Chili for lunch. A visit to the Home Town Buffet for dinner.

Stanford Campus and Dish Hike

Friday: (10/18) I fixed yogurt with diced apples for Lou and Dawn. Dawn managed to get food poisoning from our BBQ last night. Last night someone broke the drivers windshield wiper arm off the RV. It will be fun locating a replacement. I removed the damaged arm.

View Larger Map

Then it was time to hike. I did my usual and picked up a Supreme Croissant sandwich and Jack in The Box on the way to my hike.


We started with a look at the cactus garden that has been there since 1850. We also visited the Stone River.


Above, a view looking toward downtown Palo Alto from the Quad. Looking the other way is Memorial Church.


The group photo for this hike. Above right is a hidden garden.

A statue from Papua New Guinea in a statue garden with many more. Above right is the big radio dish used for the SETI project.

A nice view looking down on Palo Alto from Dish Hill. I had 14 hikers for my hike around the Stanford Arboretum and over the Dish Hill. Nice weather for a nice hike. It was 8.3 miles but fortunately a lot of level trails and a short hill to climb. The paved trails are rather tough on the feet for some reason. Good old dirt trails are better. For lunch I picked up our LUU Noodle usuals chow fun noodles, egg rolls and avocado smoothies. Dinner was pork chops, Spanish rice, carrots and tomatoes.

Up On The Roof

Saturday: (10/12) Grocery shopping day early this morning. We headed out at 0700 to Walmart to avoid the crowds. By 0800 The Milk Pail and Sprouts are open to complete our shopping. In the afternoon, Courtney and her sister Dawn, visiting from North Dakota, stopped by for a visit. Lou made bacon eggs and fried potatoes for breakfast. I prepared steak, beaked potatoes and broccoli for dinner.

Sunday: (10/13) Lounging around most of the day. We did take a walk in the neighborhood and looked at a couple of open houses in the afternoon. After dinner I packed up and headed back to San Jose for the night to get an early start on my paint stripping. tomorrow. Dawn made donut holes with bacon for breakfast. Lettuce and fruit salad ala Dawn for lunch.  Zucchini with sausage for dinner.

Monday: (10/14) More paint stripping up on the roof today. I started early because by 1300 it’s too hot to work on the roof. I can still work in shady spots down below. I finished up the right side of the high eaves over the porch. Buttermilk Bar and a sausage for breakfast. Grilled cheese sandwich and yogurt for lunch. Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner.

Tuesday: (10/15) I removed the paint on the short wall above the porch and below the eaves on the right side today and some more under the porch. After quitting and cleanup I visited Harbor Freight to pick up a miter cutoff saw that was on sale for a way low price. I also got a dolly to use with the HEPA vacuum. When it gets fuller, it gets hard to move around and it’s wheels are not great on uneven surfaces. It can hold 90 pounds so it starts for be noticeable when I have to pick it up. Some leftover peach blintzes from the freezer with some pastrami for breakfast. Leftover KFC chicken with a baked potato and some carrots and tomatoes for lunch. Dinner at the Country Inn, chicken fried steak breakfast with Swedish pancakes for dinner.

 
Wednesday: (10/16) I made it over the hump today stripping paint over the porch and under the house eaves. The eaves above the porch are only about two feet higher than the porch roof so there isn’t much room for me to fit in and be able to get the paint off. It’s worst at the peak so work was slow but eventually I persevered and am starting down the other side now. I had to stop work for a 1000 webinar and returned to finish work on the roof at 1300. After lunch I returned to work down below almost finishing the eves on the right side of the porch. The new dolly makes moving the vacuum around a lot easier. Granola with diced apple for breakfast. Roast beef and cheese sandwich with carrots and tomatoes for lunch. Rice and BBQ ribs for dinner.



Thursday: (10/17) I was up on the roof at 0800 but managed to call it quits early because my hot air gun died. Since I was supposed to wrap up by 2pm and head home early, I just called it quits for the week and stopped by Harbor Freight to get another heat gun on the way home. Breakfast burrito at La Victoria started the day. KFC Cup2Go (chicken strips and fries) snack for lunch.


We BBQ’ed hotdogs over a campfire in the backyard with deviled eggs, macaroni salad and other fixings for dinner.

Old Page Mill Trail

 
Friday: (10/11) I hiked the old Page Mill Trail and part of the Ancient Oaks Trail today.

 
The Old page Mill Trail goes down an old roadbed through a nice forested area. At the bottom, the road/trail is washed out and the trail ends

 
I led my San Jose Mid-Week Hikers group and didn’t loose any hikers. I usually figure a 10% lose is acceptable, to me, but haven’t lost any hikers to date. I do return with some hikers claiming I led a death march but they still come back for more. Since the Old Page Mill Trail is only 1.5 miles down, we hike part of the Ancient Oaks Trail in the Russian Ridges OSP to make our usual length of hike.

Old Page Mill Trail And Ancient Oaks Trail
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Here is a neat new feature. You can view this hike using Google Earth. It’s almost like being there!

A sausage and cheese grilled sandwich started my day. Lou and Dawn had already had their lunch by the time I returned. I had cottage cheese and fruit for my lunch. Dinner ??

Moving On To More Of The Same

Monday: (10/07) I left Palo Alto about 1000 and stopped by the bank, then did a little shopping then finally got to San Jose. Along the way, I stopped for donuts for my breakfast. Lunch was a little pizza from Sprouts which wasn’t  bad. After lunch, I stripped off my masking, which on the windows was quite a task with so many tiny panes. Dinner was some roast beef with Spanish rice.

Tuesday: (10/08) I did a lot of pruning and installed my scaffolds on either side of the porch. I did some concrete patching on the porch where the down spouts used to go. I also patched a hole in the foundation by the fireplace. Not much other work because I wasn’t feeling 100% today. Granola with a banana for breakfast. Grilled tuna and cheese sandwich for lunch. Chicken pot pie with some cottage  cheese for dinner.


Wednesday: (10/09) I started removing paint under the eaves over the porch. In the morning I “attended ” a webinar on computer programming and then returned to the roof. In the evening, I returned to Palo Alto for the night. A chorizo breakfast burrito at La Victoria Restaurant. Tuna and cheese sandwich for lunch. Dinner was some leftover Shepherd’s pie.

Thursday: (10/10) I spent my day on my back on the roof removing paint from under the eaves over the porch. By 1400 the roof was so hot I stopped for lunch and then spent a little time doing a section of the eaves on the shady side of the porch. Breakfast at Bill’s Cafe on the Alameda in San Jose. I had an avocado ortega chili omelet.  I had a late lunch of a sausage and cheese sandwich with some cottage cheese and peaches. For dinner, I stopped in Mountain View at Los Charros Restaurant and had some chili rellenos for dinner.

Silicon Valley Code Camp

Saturday: (10/05) This weekend was a busy Herd-Of-Nerds weekend. Every year some generous software vendors support a free conference at Foothill College called the Silicon Valley Code Camp.
I have attended a couple of previous events and they are always interesting. They are also free and include lunch. What more could a nerd want.


Programming for Googlecast, also known as Chromecast. TCP/IP Networking for Developers, Create Stunning Data Visualization in HTML5 , Cracking the Coding Interview, and Introduction to the YouTube Api, a variety pack of interesting topics for me today.

Breakfast was some of Dawn’s buck wheat cereal. Lunch was some great Mountain Mike’s pizza at the code camp. Chicken with baked potatoes and a green salad for dinner.

Sunday: (10/06) Another day at camp today. Subjects today were Intellectual Property Protection, 10 Things All Developers Should Know, Making HTML5 coding faster, and NetFlix Open Source Software. All very interesting. It’s really hard to select from the long list of sessions each day. This is always fun but it makes for a long weekend and some thinking, which I usually try to avoid.

For breakfast I made some ham , eggs and potatoes. For lunch I had some more Mountain Mike’s pizza at the code camp. For dinner we took Courtney out to the Crepevine Restaurant downtown. We had their savory crepes then took a walk around town. We were celebrating Courtney’s new job and Insurance License.

Longridge OSP Ranch Springs Loop

Friday:  (10/04) Breakfast at McDonald’s, a sausage egg and cheese McGriddle sandwich. I picked up a fellow hiker at the train station and drove up to the Longridge OSP trailhead where I met the other hikers from our San Jose Mid-Week Hikers Group. I was the leader for the hike. We hiked a total of 7.1 miles climbing 2028 feet total with an average speed of 2.4 mph in 2 hours and 53 minutes. I managed to return with all ten hikers that I started with. It was a crisp windy morning for a nice hike of good trails with nice views. Lunch was tuna salad and crackers with a brownie.

Longridge OSP Ranch Springs Trail
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Longridge OSP Ranch Springs Loop

Friday:  (10/04) Breakfast at McDonald's, a sausage egg and cheese McGriddle sandwich. I picked up a fellow hiker at the train station and drove up to the Longridge OSP trailhead where I met the other hikers from our San Jose Mid-Week Hikers Group. I was the leader for the hike. We hiked a total of 7.1 miles climbing 2028 feet total with an average speed of 2.4 mph in 2 hours and 53 minutes. I managed to return with all ten hikers that I started with. It was a crisp windy morning for a nice hike of good trails with nice views. Lunch was tuna salad and crackers with a brownie.

Longridge OSP Ranch Springs Trail


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