A Hawk’s Visit

Tuesday: (05/31) Dawn and I dropped Lou off for a meeting and then we went to breakfast at the Country Inn and shared a nice breakfast. I then dropped Dawn off in San Jose and went shopping. I bought a new printer for the RV. The exiting one is unreadable now. The new one also allows for printing from our phones using its NFC link. Now that the satellite system is gone, The wired network is superfluous as well. Later I picked Lou up and we stopped at Chili’s to get some soup for lunch.

 
The house across the street got it’s rook trusses delivered today. I relaxed most of the afternoon and then made enchiladas for dinner. These are lazy mans enchiladas and not rolled. Tomorrow I’ll start bugging the RV repair hop again. Hopefully we’ll go get it tomorrow. In the evening a hawk swooped down in the yard finding its dinner and eating it first on our swing then in our redwood tree.

Memorial Day

Monday: (05/30) Lou and I made a shopping run to Walmart and Sprouts market. I had a chorizo burrito for breakfast at Sprouts. This was the first day they made breakfasts and i picked up the first burrito but missed being the first to buy one because i stopped to get some granola before checking out. Darn. Firsts are always nice. The burrito was very good in either case.  Ernie fired up his BBQ and grilled a bunch of stuff including an Italian sausage for me. I spent some time trimming the wisteria and other gardening. There was also some potato salad and chili.  Lou and Dawn went to a block party with a friend.

Carnival San Francisco

Sunday: (05/29) I was up early and off to San Bruno to catch a ride on BART to the Carnival Parade in San Francisco. I got there about 30 minutes before it opens. Public transit doesn’t open its doors until 0800 on Sunday? And they expect people to use it rather than driving. I got off at the 24th treet station in thee Mission District right on the parade route. I like to get there early to have breakfast. I had a breakfast burrito at one of the restaurants.

I also like the before parade preparation as mush as the parade. It looked a little like Cuba with all the old cars. Most of these are modified low riders with jumping suspension systems.

 
The weather was nice. It was a nice parade lasting from 1000-1330. I liked everything but the sub-base running at 150db. Next year I’ll bring ear plugs, I keep forgetting them.

 
After the parade I took a walk out into Noe Valley and stopped for a lunch at the Crepevine. Actually I had a wonderful slice of apple pie ala mode and tea. I continued my walk out to the Marina area. I stopped in a small hardware store, Fredericksen Hardware. It was a really great little store where you could find anything, not like the can’t find anything big box hardware chains. I found some nice drawer pulls i need for my dresser that had one break. Really cheap due to being miss marked with a price that they honored. I finished my walk with a stop for pizza at Golden Boy Pizza off Columbus Avenue. Then I walked through China Town back to BART and returned to my car and then home. 

Visiting Home

Saturday: (05/21) A rainy morning. Granola for breakfast. Lou and I made a run to the grocery stores this morning. We’re in an odd position here at home without the motorhome. Our leftovers are in the RV. Some of our other daily use items are there as well. We’ll have to make do until we get the motorhome back next week, hopefully Monday.  Meanwhile, I think we are going to start looking for a new motorhome. It means all the money for the repairs we’ve done to the old one thus year are wasted money it still may be the better move. Lou and Dawn went out to a couple of estate sales this afternoon.  Lou also worked on pruning the berry plants.  I made green enchiladas for dinner.

Sunday: (05/22) Nice day. A usual Sunday morning of watching TV’s Sunday morning shows. Leftover enchilada for breakfast. Lou started some split peas in the slow cooker in the morning. Last night I tried to light the oven and the pilot was out. I lit the pilot and it worked, momentarily. My enchiladas got a little warmed but the pilot went out and the oven would light. I couldn’t get it going. So, this morning I worked on it and cleaned the pilot and aligned the assembly with some wire. It is a very old Wedgewood oven. Now works better than it has for years. Lou and I drove down to Gilroy to SeeGrins RV to look at RV’s. Actually we’ve pretty much decided on what we want, a Winnebago Sunstar 27N LX class A motorhome. It’s roomy, has great storage, excellent carrying capacity and a really efficient layout. It is the shortest Class A Winnebago makes. We examined it thoroughly, checking the fit for our needs. It seems just right. Of course, we didn’t intend to get a new RV until this week even though we’ve been looking for years. Now to see if we want what they have in stock or want to order one with our exact features. Then there is the financing of it to be worked out. It may still be years before we get it. We enjoyed a free lunch at SeeGrins. Lou’s split pea soup was great for dinner.

Monday: (05/23) We went to Hobee’s Restaurant for breakfast. They are famous for their coffee cake which Dawn was interested in. I spent most of the day tinkering on the computer and working in the office. Lou was busy tinkering on her mixer that doesn’t work. We had a late lunch of leftover enchiladas or salad. Lou’s berry cobbler for dinner. I called about the RV and supposedly they got the part in this afternoon and it should be ready tomorrow. We’ll see.

Tuesday: (05/24) I made breakfast bacon egg and cheese sandwiches. Lou’s pepper tomato ham and cheese salad for lunch. Dinner at Chili’s Restaurant. I did some tinkering in the shop, Lou did tinkering and cleaning. Dawn was making CD’s. In the afternoon I called Pacific Repair and they got the wrong part so not to be finished today. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll see. I cancelled my hike for tomorrow and am missing another on Thursday due to this uncertainty.

Wednesday: (05/25) I made breakfast bacon egg and cheese sandwiches. I dug out a hole by the swing and planted a grape vine that we had in a pot. It should look good growing on our swing as it’s arbor. An afternoon call to the RV shop confirmed no pickup today.  Pepper steak sandwiches for dinner.

Thursday: (05/26) Granola and banana for breakfast. I lazed away much of the morning. In the afternoon we all took a little run for me to get dim sum for my lunch, visit Harbor Freight to get a new straight claw hammer to finish digging the slot for a sprinkler line and visited a fermentation shop for Dawn to get some starter for one of her projects.  I also installed a sprinkler line through the lawn to the newly installed grapevine by the swings. My afternoon call to the RV shop, I have them on speed dial now, confirmed they have the part but it isn’t ready yet. BBQ corned beef with baked potato and asparagus for dinner.

Friday: (05/27) Granola and banana for breakfast. It’s that tie again, actually a bit past it. I moved the washer outside so we can water the yard with it. 40 gallons per load makes for a green lawn. The RV isn’t ready so we are now looking at next Wednesday to pick it up. We’re busy Tuesday and Monday is a holiday. A nice ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. More smoked corned beef with baked potatoes and some fried beet greens for dinner.

 
The grape vines new location and Mt Donald with the arbor behind it.

Some yard plants.

Saturday: (05/28) We enjoyed several Saturday morning shows, as usual,  like CBS Saturday Morning,  Lucky Dog,  Dr Chris Pet Vet, Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation, and The Inspectors. For breakfast I made some corned beef hash with Lou’s smoked corned beef. Enjoyed it in the back yard. Gardening was my major effort today. We all made a shopping run to Lowe’s to get a few things for that effort. We bought a nice little fuchsia to replace some geraniums in a hanging basket on the arbor. the geraniums will like a sunny spot more and the fuchsia won’t mind the shade. My lunch was vegetable beef soup and a sausage. More gardening. Lou made French fries and wieners with broccoli for dinner.

Lucky Us, No Brakes

Tuesday: (05/17) Leftover corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Got a good start this morning. Left the house by 1015. Stopped for gas and LPG and then hooked up and on the road by 1130. It’s an easy jaunt over the mountains on I580 then North on I205, then I5 then catch CA4 in Stockton. We make it about 25 miles East on Ca4 and near the top of a hill there is a funny noise and a loss of power for a couple of seconds. then OK. We then top the hill and i apply the brakes. There are no brakes. Fortunately I was in second gear and it wasn’t to long or steep if a down hill. There were no slow cars ahead of me and there was a place to pull off the road at the bottom of the hill. We even had one bar of cell signal. I called Good Sam Road Service and they arranged to a tow to Oakdale to get it fixed. We stopped a little after 1430.

 
I did my checks and we called for the tow by 1500. The service location was found and the tow arranged by 1545 with a one hour ETA. Unfortunately, the tow truck didn’t arrive until 1805.

We were hooked up in 45 minutes and dropped off at what we hope is the garage by 1905. After we were parked we took a walk around the town of Oakdale. Leftover chicken and artichoke over rice for dinner.

Wednesday: (05/18) Lou and Dawn were up early for a walk around the neighborhood. We had French toast with Olallieberries form our bushes and sausage for breakfast. I made contact with Pacific Truck and Autos office. Today is their busiest day so they aren’t likely to get to the RV today. We collected our things and found a room at the Best Western Motel. A little looking around and a little relaxing in air conditioned comfort. We had lunch at RyderZ Restaurant. Enjoyed the pool. Leftovers for dinner. No work done on the RV today.

Thursday: (05/19) We “enjoyed” the motel breakfast this morning. Before we headed off for the day we stopped at the garage to see how the repair might be going. They should get to work on it today. We then drove up to Angel’s Camp. We experienced some problems getting there due a total absence of signs and confused officers doing nothing to solve the problem to help traffic get to a detour around town due to a parade. We had given up and were following a destruction derby car on a trailer which fortunately brought us right to the fairgrounds. So we got to see the fair.

 
It’s a pretty good country fair. I enjoyed a long conversation with a forest service fireman about firefighting. I think I now know much more of how they are able to do their jobs. We met a pig named Trump and another named Breakfast. I even saw one that looked like me with a shaggy full beard. Ernie was there and we met up a few times.

 
The traveling storyteller and blacksmith couple had some interesting equipment.

 
Another lady from Oregon built her tiny home abut a year ago. it’s basically an old sheep herder wagon. The traveling Desoto easy chair was interesting as well.

After ice cream at Rite Aide we stopped for dinner we stopped at Ruderz again. We had soup and a sandwich. The RV shop says that a starter cable rubbed through the brake line causing our brake failure. The should have that and the differential leak fixed by late tomorrow, if we’re lucky. Either way we’re headed home tomorrow.

Friday: (05/20) Motel breakfast again. We visited all the antique stores in town. Lunch at the Corner Cafe in Oakdale. After lunch we called about the status of the motorhome. The parts still had not arrived so we headed toward home via Modesto. More thrift stores explored. I found a well reviewed Chinese Buffet so we had dinner at the Grand Buffet on Coffee Road. We then drove home arriving about 2200. Hopefully the RV will be finished Monday. Whenever it is ready we’ll head back to get it and likely do a little travel in it.

Not A Good Fit

Saturday: (05/14) I did a few cleanup jobs disposing of stuff in the recycle bin and some pruning and flowerbed cleanup. I also opened up the bra I bought for the Jeep and I think I’ve decided it wont work mostly because of the towing setup. I may look at it again later. Otherwise I relaxed today. PBJ toast for breakfast, Chili size for lunch, and leftover spaghetti for dinner.

Sunday: (05/15) I convinced Lou to go out to breakfast. I wanted an avocado and bacon omelet from A good Morning. So we did. Dawn picked up a CD disc duplicator from FreeCycle. We also visited a farmers market in Mountain View as it was closings. I picked up a cheesecake for later. Back at home we worked on getting ready to go. I emptied the holding tanks and filled the water tank on the RV. I finally put away the two hoses that have been out since we cam home a month ago and found the house water heater not working. And that was about it for my work. Lou was busy with laundry. Leftover spaghetti for dinner.

Monday: (05/16) Lou made corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. I spent the morning doing some weeding and planting in the backyard. Lou had an appointment at noon. I tagged along and did some shopping. Dawn worked at the Friends Of The Library. Lou and I had lunch at LUU Noodle House. Some more packing of the RV in the afternoon. Lou and Dawn made zucchini pesto noodles and chili rellenos for dinner.

Los Trancos Earthquake Hike

Friday: (05/13) Breakfast from Jack In The Box before I headed up the mountain to meet my fellow hikers at Los Trancos Preserve. I led a group of 7 fellow hikers around all the trails in the preserve. It was only a 6.6 mile hike with 682 feet of climb, and easy hike. This group managed to stay together and all seemed to enjoy a fast hike. There were some interesting flowers. A really interesting one was the pearly everlasting which smells like maple syrup. Another ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. I made a big batch of spaghetti for dinner.

Artificial Intelligence

Thursday: (05/12) I took the day off today. Lou and Dawn were off to San Jose. I managed to wear myself out these past three days climbing around the RV and under the kitchen counters. I spent some time with online video training courses and napping. In the evening I took a walk up into the Palo Alto hills to the Pivotal offices for a Meeting. The UX Design for Developers, Designers, and PMs had a meetup about Design for Artificial Intelligence. I’ve been a member of the group for a while but this is the first meeting I’ve attended with them. There were 160 people signed up but only about 60 attended. It was quite interesting and informative. Among other things, I now know that I’m way behind the curve and need to include AI in any mobile applications I develop. Here I was just trying to move from Windows to Mobile. After the presentation, we broke up into small groups to come up with ideas for a mobile apps using AI. Each group then made a presentation about their idea. Ours was an app that used the camera and voice to aid with a proper diet and help keep the user on track with their diet something like a weight watcher  counselor in your pocket. The camera would identify food items and quantities. It could work. An interesting meeting and people. I’m not usually a person who likes the team efforts and elevator pitch kind of thing though. It was only a two mile walk up to the meeting, and another two back but it was a real effort to do the walk. I must be tired. Granola for breakfast, ham and cheese for a late lunch, and a late dinner of a artichoke stuffed mushroom and cold cuts after the meeting.

 
A couple of the presentation slides.

 
Don’t I look interested? The walk home on the Arastradero bike path is quite nice.

New AC For RV

Monday: (05/09) Granola for breakfast. I managed to avoid work until 1030 then went outside. i trimmed the apricot tree. it has some infection that is killing branches all over the tree, about 10%. I trimmed off all the affected areas. I then used a couple of 2″x4″ to make crossbars for the Jeeps roof rack. i need to get real ones sometime. i needed the crossbars to carry my scaffolding from San Jose to Palo Alto. I then went down to Dawn’s house and loaded my scaffolding on top of the Jeep. It takes a while to tie it all down. On the way home I stopped for lunch at la Victoria for a quesodilla. Just as i got home the delivery truck arrived with our new dishwasher. I sat it aside in the kitchen to install later. I unloaded the scaffolding and set it up by the RV. I wanted it to provide short lifts to move the old AC off the RV roof and the new one on top without having to reach too far. Each lift was only about 4 feet. I got them swapped but didn’t hook it up yet. Lou made tacos for dinner. Dawn made chunky apple sauce for desert.

Tuesday: (05/10) Granola for breakfast. Lou and Dawn were gone most of the day in San Jose including attending an event at San Jose State university. did some Internet research and then hooked up the thermostat and control box to the air conditioner and it tested good. Frankly, some installation instructions could have come in handy but there were none with either the AC or the thermostat/control box. The new unit seems to cool well, start and stop easier and draw less current. It wasn’t really too hot today so hopefully it works well in real heat.  I had a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Lou and I made a shopping run to the Grocery outlet in the evening.

Wednesday: (05/11) Lou made a nice ham and eggs breakfast with fried potatoes. She and Dan were off after that to Fresno to visit family. I relaxed much of the morning and attended a webinar at 1000. After that I finally got to work. I removed the old dishwasher and looked at what was involved in installing the new on. I even read the directions, not that they were too helpful though. The water supply line was different enough that I needed to go to the hardware store to get parts. OSH, and probably most big city hardware stores, don’t have much of a selection of odd fittings and, of course, I needed some. I finally collected some parts that will do the job without replacing everything, not perfect but OK. On my rest break i watched several training videos then finally had the dishwasher installed and tested and all my tools put away by 1800. I had a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. I took a shower and then walked over to our Corner Bakery Cafe for a chopped salad for dinner.

Avoiding The Rain

Saturday: (05/07) We all went up to San Mateo to Jake’s restaurant for breakfast. It was part of our avoid the crowds method, in this case avoiding the Mothers Day crowds that will be out tomorrow. On the way home we did some window shopping. It was a rainy day most of today as well so. I did breakup some safety glass from an old shower door that’s been hanging around for years. Breaking was easy, the cleanup took a while. That was enough real work so I tinkered on the computer much of the day. I did order a new dishwasher for our kitchen. the existing one saw it’s best days years ago. Lou made smoked beef with black bean noodles and artichokes for dinner.

Sunday: (05/08) The real Mothers Day. We enjoyed French Toast with a variety of fresh berries for breakfast. Cecelia, Courtney and Meili joined us. Courtney also filled us with mojitos as well. Lunch was chips and dip. Leftovers for dinner. Otherwise we relaxed at home all day. Exciting!