Saturday, November 30, 2013

Quick Trip To Napa

Saturday: (11/30) I started my day with a shopping run to Orchard Hardware to get my post and rails and Home Depot to get my fence boards. Yes, I’m picky. It was quite a load hauling 3 4×4′s, 9 2×4′s and 44 fence boards. Too much for my yuppy Jeep. I broke the rack. I just barely made it home. No problem with the load, just that Dawn and I had to depart toward Napa at 1000. I parked the Jeep. I’ll look in to what I’ll do to the load tomorrow. I need to get it down to San Jose. I don’t want to loose it on the road.



We jumped in the Hyundai. It did start and didn’t give us any problems on the trip. I still need to find out why the battery died yesterday. We cruised up through San Francisco, across the new, terribly expensive, Bay Bridge on Highway 80 to Vallejo then up Highway 28 to Napa. We arrived there at 1230, plenty of time before our 1300 appointment. While we waited for the appointment, we discovered an outstanding market, Vallergas Market. It is possibly the best market I’ve ever been in. Not a big market but they have everything. The produce section is definitely the best ever.

At 1300 we stopped by for our appointment. Dawn had found a braille printer for $49 on Craig’s list. They are worth several thousand dollars new. It’s a very heavy little suitcase with the printer in it. If it works, and it looks in like new condition, great! If not it will easily hold a door open in a hurricane.  With printer in hand, stopped at the market for lunch. I had a ham and guyere cheese panini, Dawn had some olive loaf and cheese with dried cabbage chips. After lunch we drove to downtown Napa walked around the old town area, found out the Christmas Parade was this evening, and visited a nice bookstore.

Napa
We enjoyed the parade then left town at 1830 stopping in Vallejo t the Buttercup Grill for dinner. We shared a chicken with garlic and artichoke dinner followed with a peanut butter cup pie. All very good. The traffic was a little heavy on the drive home.



Friday, November 29, 2013

More Power Needed

Friday: (11/29) Breakfast was cinnamon tarts and deviled eggs. I did a few tasks in the morning. I raised another yard chair for Lou to use outside. I just attached 4×4 boards to the legs. I also repaired my post-hole shovel. It lost a nut that was its pivot. It evidently was an odd size and I couldn’t find a proper sized nut so I got a bolt and lock-nut of the appropriate size to repair it. My next task was to install the new battery for the Jeep that I bought on my way home Wednesday. The Jeep had the battery go dead last Friday when I left the headlights on for a short period and ran an air compressor. A good battery should have been able to do that task for two hours and still start the engine. It wouldn’t turn the motor after just twenty minutes. Then, at least twice this week, it barely started the engine. It was a 3-year free replacement Walmart battery and was only two years old.



Jeep Battery
It was easy to swap out the old and in the new. Getting the credit for the bad battery was a bit more difficult. First, it was Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. Fortunately, most everyone was buying, not returning. It still took about an hour. There was a bit of trouble convincing them to credit me for the replacement battery but they came through in the end. I also spent some time emptying my buckets of concrete debris into a pile to free the buckets. Lunch was some leftover dinner rolls with summer sausage and cheese. Tomorrow Dawn and I will be diving up to Napa. Lou wanted her scooter out of the car so she can take a “walk” if she wants while we are gone. When I went out to open the car to get it the doors wouldn’t unlock with the clicker. Not a good sign. I checked it and the battery was dead, totally dead. This is our nice new Hyundai. I jump started it with the Jeep which now, fortunately, has a good battery. When I attached the cable I noticed the negative battery cable was loose. As tight as it will go, but loose. This isn’t related to the dead battery but is something to be fixed by the dealer next visit. I took the car for a drive to charge it up. Hopefully it will be OK in the morning and cause no problems on the trip. For a long trip like to Napa I prefer the mileage of the Hyundai over the Jeep, 40 compared to 14. Dinner was baked beans, BBQ ribs and baked potatoes.



Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thanksgiving

Thursday: (11/28) A nice day of relaxation for me. Ernie though, was busy preparing the feast. I had some of his cinnamon tarts for breakfast. We usually have an early dinner about 2pm. I spent the morning adding pictures to the blog. I’ve only been adding them about every month. It does liven up the blog though. Menu was turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, scalloped potatoes, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, and fresh cranberry sauce. Dinner knocked me out for the rest of the afternoon. Ernie had made several pies as well for desert.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Oh Pour Me





First part finished, now to dodge the tree

First part finished

Monday: (11/25) Nice weather. Clear skies and no wind. But, it is fall and those pesky leaves continue to fall. I prepared to pour some concrete today. When I tried the mixer it threw it’s chain . I bent the motor shell when I was bring it down to San Jose when I dropped it. I thought I had it straightened out but no so. I took it apart and took the hammer to it again to pound it into shape. Last night I stopped on the way down at Orchard Hardware for some concrete mix. I also brought my big black dump wagon to save my back when hauling the bags to the back yard. I poured about half of the base I had formed and used more than half of my bags so I blocked it off short and returned to the nearby store for more concrete. I got there in about 10 minutes then discovered I didn’t have my wallet so returned home and got the wallet and then back to the store for the concrete. With all that, I still was back pouring concrete in 35 minutes. The concrete was all shaded so it took a long time to dry enough to complete the finish. While it was drying, I had lunch. Then I started digging out the remainder of the fence base near a big redwood tree. I will be angling the fence there to protect the tree. I had to get my jackhammer out to remove about three feet of 8″x8″ concrete fence base where the old fence connected to the garage. It made really quick work of the removal. I really should have gotten the jackhammer years ago. The concrete eventually finished up nicely.

Granola for breakfast, a turkey and cheese English muffin sandwich for lunch. For dinner I walked to La Victoria Restaurant for the chili relleno plate dinner.

Ready to pour final part

Anchor for corner post

Tuesday: (11/26) I started by stripping the forms off the fence base I poured yesterday. I also back-filled the edges. Then I constructed the form for the last section of fence base. It was a little tricky because it angles toward the end post to avoid a big redwood tree. I completed the form and installed the rebar by 1230. I then dashed off to pickup to more bags of concrete mix. I tried to calculate more exactly today so I don’t have any leftover bags left to become bricks over time. I finished pouring the concrete by 1400. I then cleaned up and waited for it to dry enough to finish. I poured it a little wet and it’s a late pour so I may be out after dark doing the final troweling. I picked up a clip light earlier just for such an occasion. I needed to cutoff the form boards so I finally opened up my new cutoff miter saw. It made quick work doing needed 15 degree miter cuts. Don’t know why I hadn’t brought it out before I got it to use for the siding repairs. I did the final troweling after dark about 1800. Should be ready to put the fence up next week. Now to find the best price of the fence  materials.

Pancakes with peanut butter and jam with sausage for breakfast. Turkey and cheese on English muffin for lunch. A confusion pizza from House of Pizza for diner.

Drying, ready for the Posts, rails and boards

Wednesday: (11/27) I stripped the form off the section I poured yesterday then cleaned up the area and back-filled around the fence base. I then loaded up about 15 five gallon buckets of concrete debris and excess dirt. The dirt I add to my growing dirt pill probably ending up with another raised flower bed until I collect enough for another dumpster. The concrete ends up in the garbage a little at a time. I started home early visiting Lowe’s, Home Depot and Orchard Supply Hardware looking for lumber for the fence. It looks like the pressure treated wood is best from OSH while the fence boards might be better from Home Depot. Sunday or Monday I’ll do a shopping run for the lumber. Might be a fence by Tuesday.

Leftover pizza for breakfast, brunch and lunch. Leftover spaghetti for dinner.



Sunday, November 24, 2013

Looking At Hiking Gear

Sunday: (11/24) Leftover chorizo scrambled eggs for breakfast. We headed out about 11am and stopped at Ann’s Restaurant in Menlo Park for lunch. I had a Chicken bacon sandwich and Lou and Dawn shared some lamp chops. After lunch we dropped Dawn off in Redwood City to look around while Lou and I stopped by Redwood Trading Company, a hiking shop in Redwood City then Stopped by REI in San Carlos. I was just looking at what is available for light hiking. Not much at either of these store. It looks like to get light backpacking equipment you heed to look online. Lou did find a pair of shoes at Redwood Supply. For dinner we stopped at Chavez market in Redwood City for a couple of Super Nachos to go.



I’ve now got a list of four things to do to prepare for a Pacific Crest Trail Through Hike:

  • See if I can, in fact, sleep on a sleeping pad.

  • See if I can walk 15 miles a day for several consecutive days.

  • Take a backpacking class.

  • Loose 30 pounds. This means I won’t notice the weight of the backpack.


I may try the hike this coming April. If I only do a section or more and don’t complete the entire through hike in one year, at least I’ll have started the hike with a section or two checked off and I’ll be ready to backpack other hikes, possibly not as ambitious.

Seems like all the hikers have a trail name. I think I’ll be “Moob” unless I think of a better one soon.



Saturday, November 23, 2013

Tellebration Palo Alto 2013





Boomerang Barbershop Quartet

 Tom and Sandy Farley

Saturday: (11/23) Lou’s birthday today. We dashed off to do our weekly grocery shopping today. It was a little different because it was also Thanksgiving dinner shopping. With that done, I prepared  some chorizo, onions, peppers and potatoes in scrambled eggs for breakfast which we enjoyed in the back yard. Lou prepared some spaghetti squash with orange carrots and chicken for dinner.
After dinner I took Dawn to the Telabration presented by the South Bay Storytellers in Palo Alto. Dawn was one of the storytellers for the event. Nice show along with Dawn there was a cowboy storyteller and the Boomerang Barbershop Quartet.



Thursday, November 21, 2013

Portola Redwoods SP, Tip-Toe Falls and Tarwater Loop Trails





Tip Toe Falls At Portola SP

Coming up Tarwater Loop Trail in Pescadero County Park

Friday: (11/22) The usual hikers breakfast of a loaded breakfast sandwich from Jack In The Box.

If you don’t have Google Earth try this link for a look at the hike route.

Nice hike with my San Jose Mid-Week Hikers Group at the Portola State Park. I had planned a nice hike to see Tip-Toe Falls and do the Tarwater Loop Trail. The park is about 27 miles from home so we had two carpools for the nine hikers to get there. That also reduces the fees since the entrance fee is per vehicle. My annual State Park Pass paid off again. The heavy rains we had a couple of days ago did dampen the park but there really wasn’t much mud and the creeks are down now. unfortunately the bridge across Pescadero Creek, really a river, had been pulled for the season so we got to dip our feet in the stream to get across. Lots of banana slugs were out on the trails as well because of the rain. Our hike was only 9.6 miles with my estimate of 8 miles but no one complained because the park was so nice.

After the hike I returned my carpool folks to the Park and Ride we started rom. One of the hikers had just bought new tires but arrived this morning with a flat. When we returned I used my compressor from the Jeep to air up her tire. That turned out to be a bad idea. When i left the park i turned on my head lights and left them on when i stopped at the park and ride. The combination of the compressor and the headlights killed the battery. Walmart batteries must not hold too much charge. My onld volks wagon could burn the headlights 4 hours and still start the car. This was only 15 minutes and a good battery seems like it should have been OK to start the Jeep later. Roadservice arrived in 15 minutes and put me back on the road.

This put my return home at after 3pm. I had not had lunch, just a granola bar so I was a bit hungry. I called Lou and she agreed to go with me to lunch. As it turned out, Dawn was on her way home on the trolley so we waited and picked her up and had dinner at LUU Noodle House with our usual chow fun noodles, pad thai, and egg rolls.



Sunday, November 17, 2013

Be Happy

Sunday: (11/17) We did our weekly grocery trip this morning before breakfast. Dawn has been looking for a “HappyLite” and found one on FreeCycle. A person at Stanford university was getting rid of it. We stopped by their lab to pick it up.  Always nice to find what you want for free. A HappyLite provides a bright light that is supposed to mimic a bright sunny day making a person happier. They are used a lot in Alaska. Our donor was from Chicago. Must be dreary in the winter there too? I finished moving a couple of more plants into the greenhouse, the last of them.



Lou's Elevated Chair

 

In the evening I drove down to San Jose for more work on the house tomorrow. I hate the traffic in the morning. Leftover Don’s home fried potatoes with sausage and eggs for breakfast. Leftovers du jour for lunch. I made a green pepper, hamburger, rice and tomato meal in one. It’s really my stuffed pepper recipe but I use the last of our green peppers from the garden and many were small so I just cut all the peppers into large chunks.

Monday: (11/18) The neighbors tree has buried the yard in leaves so I spent the morning removing the leaves to a pile in the street for the City to remove. Dawn provided some materials for me to deliver to the Library which I did at noon and picked up my lunch on the way. During lunch I planned and posted a hike for my hiking group for this Friday. My lunch wore me out so I took a little nap then got to work digging my two post holes for the fence. In the evening I stopped by Home Depot and got some lumber, stakes, rebar and concrete dobies for the fence base. Since I was next to a Best Buy store, I stopped in to peek at what’s new. For breakfast leftover Don’s home fried potatoes with peppers and onions served with sausage and eggs. Lunch was a La Victoria carnitas super burrito. My lunch lasted so I just had a slice of cherry pie with a glass of milk for dinner.

Tuesday: (11/19) This morning I was busy digging more dirt for the fence base. After lunch with the crew, I stopped in to Home Depot for some more lumber. I decided I would raise the fence base two inches from the level of the adjacent fence so that the high ground by the old garage slab next door isn’t higher then the base. This required 2×6′s instead of the 2×4′s I bought before because I had already dug out the trench. When I got home I installed 3/4ths of the forming before it got too dark to continue. In the evening it started to rain heavily and about 0030 the power went out for a couple of hours. I know because I had to get up to turn off the light I had left on. More leftover Don’s potatoes with sausage and eggs for breakfast. I met Lou, Dawn and Ernie for lunch at the Harry’s Hofbrau on Saratoga Avenue after her PT appointment. Dinner was leftover green peppers and rice.

Wednesday: (11/20) We had a really heavy rain last night, first in a very long while. Today is cloudy with a threat of rain. I finished installing the forms for the first two sections of the fence and added the rebar. It was ready to pour by 11am but with the 70% threat of rain today and a 20% chance tomorrow, I won’t be pouring the concrete until this weekend or next week. I’ll have to shift back to some protected paint stripping under the porch or take some time off now.Well, that didn’t happen. We had a really heavy long soaking in the afternoon. I never got back to work.

Fence base form

 

I did enjoy some web browsing, especially reading a blog by an Aussie who just completed the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) this year. She had never done backpacking prior to starting the 2663 mile journey from Mexico to Canada. It is quite interesting following her trials and tribulations along the trail. Her success provides even more inspiration for me to attempt it. I’ve been considering doing it piece-meal but may attempt the whole enchilada instead. Of course, I’d find out if I really can carry a backpack and do 20-25 miles a day continuously with a few trial hikes first. It would take five months to complete.

Granola for breakfast. Cheese sandwich an yogurt for lunch. Italian sausage, potato and cheese sandwich for dinner.

Thursday: (11/21) Today was quite windy and cold in the morning with lots of dark clouds but the afternoon was pretty nice. I tinkered in the morning moving the cement mixer in place for the pour next week. I also moved the scaffolds into place for more paint prep and then spent some time with the heat gun stripping some siding until my heat gun died. Number two dead. Based on the life expectancy of these two heat guns I suspect I’ll need about 5 more to complete the paint job. It isn’t too bad since they only cost $15 each. I picked up a new one on the way home. Chorizo and eggs with cheese for breakfast. A chicken pot pie for lunch. For dinner I took Lou to a new restaurant in the neighborhood, The Corner Bakery. I had a Parmesan chicken with mac and cheese wile Lou had a chopped salad.



Saturday, November 16, 2013

A New Hiking Group





Green house stocked up for the winter cold

Saturday: (11/16) I fixed a nice breakfast of home fried potatoes, sausage and eggs.  After breakfast I tinkered in the yard moving many of the potted plants into the greenhouse.

For lunch Iranian potato salad and cheese cake. Lou and I watched the movie A Few Good Men and then about 1400 Dawn and I drove over to Santa Cruz. I had a meeting and Dawn loves the book stores. About 1730 We had dinner at the 99 Bottles Of Beer Restaurant. We shared a Nachos Grande with steak and a cup of Gouda soup. My meeting was with a new Meetup Group called Bay Area Thru-Hiking / Long Distance Backpacking group. The purpose of the group is to support hikers interested in hiking through trails like the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), the John Muir Trail (JMT) and the like. Nice group and I’m even more interested in doing some hikes on the PCT now. After the meeting I met Dawn at the Santa Cruz Bookstore and did some browsing myself before we departed about 2215. We were home in Palo Alto a little after 2300.



Thursday, November 7, 2013

Painting Season About To End

Thursday: (11/07) I drove down to San Jose early. I made a couple of stops along the way. Smart And Final for some detergent, best location to get the unusual gentle and free version. Also stopped at Orchard Hardware for some screws, washers, and a piece of sheet metal to use for flashing. I didn’t like the way the roofers flashed the front porch gutters. And then I stopped for breakfast at Burger King, a sausage croissant sandwich. And with all that, I still pulled up at the house in San Jose by 0800. I sanded my spackling, vacuumed and brushed everything and finally caulked all the gaps and cracks. I finished caulking right about 1700 as it was getting dark. Possibly some primer paint tomorrow. Hopefully the clouds don’t turn in to rain yet, even though we desperately need rain. Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich with some carrots. For dinner, leftover spaghetti and wieners with some rice pudding.



Friday: (11/08) I was up at 0700 for a visit to Home Depot for more primer. It was quite foggy out. I returned some things before picking up my primer and more caulk. On the way home I stopped for a breakfast burrito at La Victoria Restaurant. By 0800 the fog was gone and the sun shining though the roof was still a bit wet. I started my painting by putting a little around the vent opening I modified. I wanted to get two coats on that today. Then I was up on the roof. By noon I had finished one side of the top. I had a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Then back on the roof to finish up there then down to the scaffolds for the lower side sections. All now has it’s first coat. It all needs at least one more coat and some of the redwood will need three. Our forecast now calls for rain next Wednesday and probably more fog until then. Might make for interesting painting. After working quite a while to get all the paint off of me, I was off to Palo Alto via a dinner at the Hometown Buffet.

Car Fire near our car In Santa Cruz

Saturday: (11/09) Dawn wanted to go to Santa Cruz to the bookstores downtown there so I drove her over. The Santa Cruz Book  store is outstanding and there is also Logo’s bookstore. We also visited a thrift store. We had lunch at the 99 Bottles Of Beer bar sharing a blackened chicken super nacho and a glass of hard cider. In the evening we took a walk at the Beach and Boardwalk Amusement Park and a walk on the pier where we had bowls of clam chowder for dinner. Granola for breakfast.

Methuselah Tree on Skyline Road

Sunday: (11/10) Dawn’s birthday today. Grocery shopping was delayed from Friday due to my working Friday and our trip yesterday. She bought herself a Google Chromecast dongle as her birthday present. We all went downtown for lunch. Lou and I took a drive up in the hills so I could look over some potential trails for future hikes, It was just a drive-by to see available parking and trail connections from different parks. It’s no fun to help everyone get lost when I lead a hike. Dawn made apple Dutch babies for breakfast. Lunch at the Crepevine in downtown Palo Alto. I had a great club sandwich, Lou and Dawn shared a salmon crepe, Ernie had spaghetti and Courtney had chicken soup. Lunch lasted, I had yogurt for dinner.

Monday: (11/11) I put on a second coat of primer paint today. The weather was good all day, even though a storm was supposed to be coming in for rain tomorrow? Eggs, sausage, and toast for breakfast. Chicken and cheese sandwich for lunch with lemon Greek yogurt. Chicken pot pie for dinner.

Left side view of house with primer coat

Right side view of house with primer coat

Tuesday: (11/12) I put the third coat of primer on today. I think it finally sealed the redwood. There is one troublesome spot that may need more attention, it has five coats now. And this is the best primer for sealing redwood. You would think the 100 year old redwood would get tired of leaching it’s color through paint. I think I’ll be able to put some color on tomorrow. The weather was cloudy but the rain never made it to town.  Eggs, sausage, and toast for breakfast. Chicken with asparagus and a baked potato followed by some grapes for lunch. Spaghetti with asparagus for dinner with more grapes for desert.

View of house with the color coat on.

My new pants

Wednesday: (11/13) I put the first coat of color paint on today. I finished on the roof and it was only 1200, earlier than normal so I just had a snack and returned to paint the lower areas on either side of the porch. I finished at 1340, put everything away, showered and had lunch. It looks pretty good. This is my last work day this week. I’ll be busy with Lou tomorrow and Friday. Dawn was in San Jose for a meeting so I picked her up and returned to Palo Alto. Granola for breakfast. Yogurt for lunch at 1200. Baked beans and wieners for lunch at 1345. Dinner at Chili’s Restaurant. I had CFS while Lou and Dawn had garlic chipolte steaks.

Thursday: (11/14) I took Lou to the Hospital for an appointment. While she was there I was off to breakfast at the Country Inn for a wild mushroom omelet with Swedish pancakes. I then dashed off to a dentist appointment to get my teeth cleaned. All’s well. I then visited Harbor Freight, looked around and bought some things I needed and some things I wanted. That’s often the case when visiting a toy store like Harbor Freight. For lunch I had a chicken sandwich at Jack In The Box. It wasn’t what I ordered but it was good. Then I waited for Lou and returned her home. Dawn was out for a walk about Palo Alto but had started Jerusalem Artichoke soup in the slow cooker before he left. She harvested the Jerusalem Artichoke from the yard this morning. When she came home we had the soup for dinner.

Friday: (11/15) We dropped Dawn off at Barnes and Nobles bookstore nearby and I took Lou to an appointment. We  then stopped by Hometown Buffet for lunch before returning home. We raided the fridge for leftover dinners. I had some cheese bread for my dinner.



Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Watching San Francisco





China Town Subway Construction

Wednesday: (11/06) I took today off from work for a walk-about in San Francisco. I caught the 0730 train to the city and walked downtown. I usually don’t have a destination for these walk-abouts. Each corner becomes a decision point for the trip.

MOMA Crane Erection, just the winch house

MOMA Crane Erection, first part of boom going on

I didn’t do far before I saw a truck with a tower crane section on it parked on the street. That made me think they might be erection a crank somewhere near. They were. The San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art building is being remodeled and they were raising the tower crane for the project. I love to watch other people work especially doing something I’d like to do or need to learn.

MOMA Crane Erection, off loading part of crane boom

MOMA Crane Erection, second part of boom
A job like this doesn’t go fast so I spent quite a bit of time just hanging around the site and returning to it. A little walk through China Town and the Marina District and a bus ride through other unexplored sections of town filled what little of the day wasn’t occupied watching the crane. I arrived back in Palo Alto at 2030 on the train. A maple bar for breakfast. A chicken pot pie from the Cravery pie shop for lunch. A chili relleno plat with a slice of rhubarb pie at the Creamery for dinner.



Saturday, November 2, 2013

Where Did The Hour Go?

Saturday: (11/02) Friday is our shopping morning. We are out early to be at Walmart’s when they opened at 0700 and visited Trader Joe’s and Sprout’s as well after they opened at 0800. All before breakfast. Dawn has a Tai Chi class that she was off to before Lou and I got back home. She enjoyed her buckwheat cereal for her breakfast and I made some more corned beef hash and eggs for our breakfast. Lunch was leftover biscuits and honey. For dinner Lou made fried fish with rice and asparagus. Otherwise it was a tinker and relax day.



Sunday: (11/03) Daylight Savings Time started this morning so I had a couple of clocks to make right. I was busy doing the laundry much of the day. We all drove over to a new Container Store location that opened up at the Stanford Mall last week. Fun to explore. We also visited an estate sale in Los Altos. I headed off to San Jose in the dark tonight due to that missing hour. Leftover corned beef hash and some eggs for breakfast. For lunch Lou ground up some tough steak into a pate and we had sandwiches with tomatoes and cheese and the pate. Dinner was pasta with mizithra cheese.

Monday: (11/04) I guess I’m not used to the new time. I slept until o750. After breakfast I got to work. I started the post holes for the new fence. I got the holes about one foot deep each and then filled them with water to soften to more easily finish the holes later. I then started sanding the right side of the porch. I then started rebuilding the vent area that had the water main and the sump pump discharge hose going through it. I closed part of the vent area and added siding making the vent smaller. To compensate, I increased the cover opening by shrinking the frame size. When finished the vent cover will be inset rather than over  the siding. Should be neater and more efficient when finished. More to do tomorrow including remaking the cover and sanding everything. As part of the job I had to remove some not currently operating sprinkler valves that were in front of the vent. To complete that I had to go buy a pipe plug because the shutoff valve only almost shut  off the water to the sprinkler valves. On the way home I picked up lunch. Corned beef hash, eggs and pancakes for breakfast, the best of the leftovers. A chili relleno burrito for lunch from La Victoria Taqueria. Chili beans with biscuits and honey for dinner.

Tuesday: (11/05) I was out early, helped by a call from Lou about 0645. I don’t set an alarm and have occasionally slept a bit late. I finished modifying the crawl space vent and cover. I also finished sanding what I’ll be painting next. And finally I spackled most of the holes. Still have to sand the Spackle and caulk but may get to painting Friday. I finished up about 1630, cleaned up and hit the road to Palo Alto. I’m taking tomorrow as my day off to do a San Francisco walk-about. Wednesday is the warmest day this week and the sky should be clear, all unlike forecast for Friday. I’ll catch the train up to the city tomorrow morning. We got a call from the Hyundai dealer. Our new airbag is in so Ernie wall take it in sometime. I delivered our absentee ballots to the polling place. Kind of a waste of money and effort. Only one measure on the ballot for a planned development in a location where it shouldn’t be. Typical effort to try to slip something in on an election when few vote. Granola for breakfast. Avocado, tomato and cheese sandwich for lunch. Dinner at home, leftover sauerbraten , baked potato and cauliflower.



Friday, November 1, 2013

Picchetti Ranch To Maisie’s Peak





View of the valley from Picchetti Ranch

Nearing Maisie's Peak

Friday: (11/01) Another hike with my San Jose Mid-Week Hikers Group today. This was an exploratory hike. That means I’m leading the group on trails myself and the others haven’t hiked before. in this case i couldn’t even be sure looking and the maps that some trails would connect. They did and we had a very nice hike from the Picchetti Ranch OSP to Maisie’s Peak in the Fremont Older OSP going through a portion of Stevens Canyon County Park. The weather was perfect. These hikes usually start at 0930 and this one ended at about 1230 ending up being a 7.2 mile hike. Nice enough to add to the list for future hikes. One of the nice features of this hike is that it started and ends at the Picchetti Winery. I didn’t have time to partake but will try to arrange time and a lunch for the next hike here.

Breakfast on the way to the hike at Jack In The Box. I tried their special Loaded breakfast Sandwich. Pretty good! My hikes usually last past Lou and Dawn’s lunch time so i should be smart enough to get lunch before I get home, but I’m not. I had a few cookies for lunch. We all went down to San Jose after that. Dawn had a doctor’s appointment and Lou just wanted to get out. We dropped Dawn off and Lou and i stopped by the Westfield Mall and took a “walk”.  When Dawn was through we stopped for dinner at the China China Buffet in Santa Clara. I’m still looking for an really good Chinese Buffet. This wasn’t it and the others we’ve tried, and sometimes return to are it either. The Sunny Buffet is hard to replace.