Saturday, October 29, 2016

A Break In The Rain

Saturday: (10/29) No rain, just cloudy today. Peach blintzes and sausage for breakfast. Lunch at Mi Pueblo Market in East Palo Alto. We also picked up some wire for a greenhouse project and looked around at IKEA. At home, I finally got out and cut some wood for the greenhouse project. Lou’s making protective cages to keep her lettuce safe from nighttime marauders. Lou made salmon with rice and asparagus.

Sunday: (10/30) Granola for breakfast. I worked in the greenhouse some moving and preparing to make Lou’s garden cages. I decided I needed my electric miter saw which I thought was in San Jose at Dawn’s place. So I headed that way intending to get lunch on the way. I also stopped at Harbor Freight and looked at their air staplers an staple supplies. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to carry staples that match their staplers and visa-versa. I continued to Dawn’s and found that the living room was still cleared from when I cleaned the carpet. I returned everything to its rightful place. I also removed the unused DSL modem and wireless router for use at home. On the way home I stopped for some Dim Sum at Dim Sum King in Sunnyvale. It turns out the miter saw wasn’t in San Jose. I found it deeply buried in my shop. Some chicken with cheese and avocados for dinner.

Monday: (10/31) Lou made scrambled eggs for breakfast. Dawn is under the weather. Speaking of weather, it was mostly sunny with a few light showers. I spent some time with the table and miter saws cutting some boards for the cages. Lou and I went to LUU Noodles for lunch. I spent some time watching the construction project at San Antonio Mall. It’s nearing completion. They were pouring the last floor of the theater parking garage. I then went out hardware shopping. I got some nails for the air nailer and L brackets and hinges. For dinner BBQ ribs with a baked potato and an avocado.

Tuesday: (11/01) Granola for breakfast. I headed out early to work on Lou’s plant cages. It took all day to finish making the frame and installing the wire. Fortunately, at the end of the day, the planters actually fit through about exactly or possibly a better word is “barely.” I had an avocado and cheese sandwich for lunch. Lou made spaghetti for dinner.

Wednesday: (11/02) A nice sunny day. Lou and I headed out to breakfast at The Crepevine in Mountain View. We shared a nice El Paso (corned beef hash). Then we went shopping for a new dehumidifier. Couldn’t locate one we wanted. I picked up some Dim Sum for lunch on the way home. Lou was off early to a meeting at Stanford. Dawn is still under the weather.Leftover spaghetti for dinner.

Friday, October 28, 2016

Jasper Ridge Botanical Preserve Hike

Friday: (10/28) My usual hiking breakfast of a maple bar and a sausage, egg and cheese English muffin from L&L Hawaiian down the street. Alex picked me up and we met our fellow hikers at Windy Hill preserve then carpooled in fewer cars to Jasper Ridge Botanical Preserve a short distance away in Woodside.
Jasper Ridge Hile In Woodside 1028161014a_HDR Jasper Ridge Hile In Woodside 1028161018a_HDR
Jasper Ridge is part of thee Stanford campus and has been closed to the public since the 1970′s. It is a research botanical preserve.
Jasper Ridge Hile In Woodside 1028161018b Jasper Ridge Hile In Woodside 1028161024a
This is a docent led hike of only 3 miles but very interesting. Learning that there are three resident types of bats there and 17 varieties that visit the preserve including migratory bats from Brazil and Mexico. I’ve never seen a bat around these mountains before. They study them with microphone sensors placed around the preserve and the sounds are analyzed by artificial intelligence software. They also count ants and leaves on trees for other studies.
Jasper Ridge Hile In Woodside 1028161024c Jasper Ridge Hile In Woodside 1028161050
That aside, it’s a beautiful place to visit. The rain finished just before the hike and it didn’t rain during the hike. Nice!
Jasper Ridge Hile In Woodside 1028161057b Jasper Ridge Hile In Woodside 1028161155
This site was open to the public until the mid 1970′s. Since then it’s been a closed research preserve.
Jasper Ridge Hile In Woodside 1028161148_Pano
*Post hike, we stopped for lunch at John’s Cafe in Woodside. I relaxed the rest of the day. Lou made hamburger steaks with lattice fried potatoes for dinner.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Rehab and Home

Sunday: (10/23) Corned beef hash for breakfast. Watched the morning Sunday shows then watched the last Presidential debate which we had missed. I relaxed all day. My big project was going through the mail. Lou made grilled cheese sandwiches with cookhouse bread and Loleta cheese for lunch. Hot and sour soup for dinner.
Monday: (10/24) I relaxed inside all day. Primarily I was reviewing candidates and propositions preparing my sample ballot. Not an easy job this year. Granola for breakfast. Hot and sour soup for lunch. Lou’s sausage cornbread for dinner.
Tuesday: (10/25) I spent the day feeling pretty good. I worked on the computer all day. Lou’s baked sausage and cheese omelet for breakfast. Leftovers for lunch. Open faced hot chicken sandwiches for dinner.
Wednesday: (10/26) We had a family dentist appoint for cleaning and maintenance. I felt pretty good until later in the afternoon then felt ill again. I also spent a lot of time on the computer. Leftover sausage and cheese omelet for breakfast. Dim sum for lunch. Chicken soup for dinner.
Thursday: (10/27) Wow, what a lucky day! First, I advanced through the waitlist for a rare hiking opportunity for tomorrow at Jasper Ridge Preserve on the Stanford Campus. And second, I won a certificate for $20 of cheese from Loleta Cheese from our visit to their open house on the way home. Granola for breakfast. Summer sausage and cheese curd sandwich for lunch. Again I relaxed all day. Leftover sausage cornbread for dinner. Occasional rain all day

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Loleta Grilled Cheese Bar Grand Opening

Saturday: (10/22) Lou made sausage hash for breakfast. I wanted to take a drive out Freshwater Road up to the top of the highest mountain in the area. Just wanted to look around. When we returned we hit the road toward home. Our first stop was in Loleta, not very far.  We wanted to pick up some cheese. We found they were having the grand opening of a restaurant at the cheese factory named Queso Kings. It is a grilled cheese bar. Dawn and I shared one of their sandwiches for our lunch. Then we were back on the road. Dinner was summer sausage and cheese curds with chips. We were home by 2200.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Getting Out

Friday: (10/21) Granola and brownies for breakfast. It was drizzly much of the day so we did some shopping. Getting out got rid of my headache but wore me out. Lunch at Golden Harvest restaurant a really nice breakfast and lunch house. I had some great breakfast burritos and Lou had an omelet with perfectly crisp hash browned potatoes and Dawn had some Benedicts. More shopping. Lou made a corn bread and sausage casserole for dinner.
Humboldt Cider Mill Restroom Sink 1021162001
Another visit to Humboldt Cider works in the evening.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Living Dangerously

Thursday: (10/20) Cookhouse toast for breakfast. I relaxed at home while Lou and Dawn were out on the town shopping. Hot and sour soup and a hamburger for lunch.  I did go out in the afternoon and take a walk around the fairground and watch a construction crew work on a trench in the street in front of the fairgrounds. Possibly the most dangerous crew I’ve ever seen. Almost ran over or hit four cars in the hour I was watching them. Exciting! Chili beans and toast for dinner.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Sierra Hull Concert

Wednesday: (10/19) Chili beans for breakfast. I’m sicker so relaxed at home. Lou made hamburgers and got me some more hot and sour soup for lunch.
Eureka House By Fairground 1019161556d Eureka House By Fairground 1019161606a
We had a 1530 appointment to go see a house we were interested in. Interesting place right in town on 3.4 acres with a huge house and it’s own forest. It seemed to need too much work for us.
Ferndale Bluegrass Concert At The Steeple 1019161832_HDR Ferndale Bluegrass Concert At The Steeple 1019162024a_HDR
We got dinner at Marie Calendars on our way back to Ferndale for a concert in the evening. Sierra Hull was named the IBMA Mandolin Player of 2016. She and her group played at The Old Steeple. It’s an old church that makes a great small music venue. In fact during the day it is a music store.  The group consisting of Sierra Hull (mandolin), Ethan Jodziewicz (double bass), and Justin Moses (mandolin, banjo, Dobro, backing vocals) presented an outstanding 2.5 hour concert. Each is extremely talented. However, my favorite was actually Ethan Jodziewicz, the base player. He played it like I prefer, as a real instrument not just a rhythm of three notes. Amazing. Here’s a sample.
Ferndale Fair RV Park 1012161709
Poster for concert.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Rainier Beer

Tuesday: (10/18) Lou made sausage, eggs and hash browns for a late breakfast. We then visited a couple of RV parts stores looking for our door lock. None found but we did get a reference for a place in Sacramento that has used parts. Dawn then looked around two book stores in Arcata while Lou and I looked around the CoOp food store and hardware store. The CoOp had Rainier beer so I got some to bring more authenticity to our next Longmire binge. Lunch at the Oriental buffet there. No rain today, last rain early this morning. Lou made chili for dinner.

Monday, October 17, 2016

Lost Coast Brewery Tour

Monday: (10/17) Strawberry waffles for breakfast. Relaxed at home all morning. Headed out just before noon stopping at a thrift store then headed to the Lost Coast Brewery for a tour and tasting.
Lost Coast Brewery 1017161306 Lost Coast Brewery 1017161319
Interesting how few people are needed to brew beer.
Lost Coast Brewery 1017161319a Lost Coast Brewery 1017161320
Their brewery is highly automated.
Lost Coast Brewery 1017161229
Some nice tap handles.
I’m coming down with a cold so we returned home and had Chinese cabbage peanut chicken salad for lunch. I relaxed at home while they visited a bookstore and downtown. They returned with some magic elixir, hot and sour soup for my dinner.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

A Sticky Situation

Sunday: (10/16) Breadsticks for breakfast. More heavy rain all morning. We pulled out from Ferndale just before noon headed to Redwood Acres Fairground. Still raining heavily. We settled in to our site and relaxed as it rained. In the afternoon, we visited the Humboldt Cider Mill and sampled all their ciders, 10 of them. We did a little shopping after that. When the rain stopped I hooked up the RV. Unfortunately, the black tank clogged when I tried to drain it. I couldn’t clear it. First time it ever happened. We picked up a cleaning wand and it solved the problem, fortunately, before more rain. Leftover pizza for lunch. Lou made corned beef with baked spuds and broccoli for dinner.
GPS:40.779687, -124.129802

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Lost Coast In The Rain

Saturday: (10/15) Lou made an omelet for breakfast. Today was raining hard most of the day. We did some shopping, and thrifting. Then went to lunch at The Lost Coast Brewery Cafe downtown. Nice brews, fish and chips, and chowder. Then more rain and shopping. Finally, we drove around looking at houses and lots that we might be interested in. Dinner was pizza from Winco Market. They even had a gluten free pizza for Lou.

Friday, October 14, 2016

Pie For Breakfast

Friday: (10/14) Pie for breakfast. We looked around the Fields Landing area, visited a thrift store, and then went to lunch at The Cookhouse on the Samoa Peninsula. Another thrift store visit in the afternoon then on to home, all worn out. Leftovers for dinner.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

A Visit To A Ranch

hursday: (10/13) Late morning. Blintzes and sausage for breakfast. We drove around Ferndale and out to Rio Dell and Scotia. In Scotia we had lunch at the market. Dawn and I shared a torta, Lou had clam chowder.
Ferndale Ranch Property 1013161503 Ferndale Ranch Property 1013161510
After lunch we met a realtor back in Ferndale and went to see a ranch about 1.5 miles SW of town that we were interested in. It had a couple of real fixer upper houses on 200 acres. Seeing it confirmed why it’s been on the market for so long. Probably no mudslide safe building site anywhere on the ranch. It’s been vacant for 20 years since a slide inundated one of the houses. Pretty area though.
Ferndale Ranch Property 1013161523 Ferndale Ranch Property 1013161537
The house and cottage at the ranch. A load of lady bugs in a smoker shed.
Ferndale Ranch Property 1013161547_Pano
Nice views at the ranch.
Arcata Witches Talk 1013161931a_HDR
Lou made asparagus with pork and rice for dinner. In the evening we went up to Arcata to a lecture presented by Humboldt State University on Witches, Sex, and Science in the 16th Century. Excellent speaker presenting a reason why witches were actually scientists and often persecuted for it. The rain had arrived during the talk. A real deluge. We stopped for a quick visit at the Bear River Casino in Loleta on the way home.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Ferndale Fairgrounds

Ferndale Fair RV Park 1012161438_Pano
Wednesday: (10/12) We stopped in Garberville for a walk and breakfast at the Bon Bistro & Bakery. We continued on to Eureka with the intent of staying at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds. They had no spaces available at the RV Park there so we returned a little South to the Humboldt Fairgrounds in Ferndale where we got a space. In fact we were one of only a half dozen or so units there. We were warned that there would be a rodeo there that was originally to have been in Redcrest but the rain storm caused them to head indoors here. Chilli and sausage for lunch. We relaxed at home much of the day. Dawn found out about a storytelling event in Fortuna, about 5 miles East, so we headed that way. Dinner at Ray’s Market there. After dinner we went to the storytelling at the Fortuna Library.
GPS: 40.586555, -124.264958

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Head North Old Man

RV Door Lock 1011161012
Tuesday: (10/11) Leftover strawberry pancakes for breakfast. Lou had a dentist appointment. I dashed off to Ideal RV parts in Redwood City looking for a replacement door deadbolt. No luck. When I got home I decided a way to fix the old lock which hopefully lasts a while. Rather than the pushnut that the original used I added a bunch of spacer washers and a screw into the shaft. A little destructive but the pushnut just wasn’t staying on. It’s a little sloppy but works and doesn’t all apart. Hopefully it lasts until a replacement is located. We hit the road North about 1130. We didn’t stop until Santa Rosa at Freidman Brothers Building Product Store. Lou made cheese burgers and we looked around the store. When we departed about 1515 traffic was already bad headed North. We stopped for the night at a rest area North of Willits. Lou made BBQ ribs with corn on the cob and rice.
GPS: 39.584205, -123.445850

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Preparing To Leave For A Fall Trip

Sunday: (010/09) Lou made Strawberry pancakes for breakfast. I tinkered on the computer all morning reprovisioning my server. We had grilled pork and cheese sandwiches for lunch and chips an hummus for dinner. In the afternoon I did some packing for our trip. Dawn was off to her storytelling club. Lou and I watched the second presidential “debate”.  Still amazed Donald is in the race?
Monday: (10/10) Preparing to leave again. I moved the XM radio to the RV and set it up to work with the new radio. I also loaded a couple of SD cards with music and placed one in the RV and one in the Jeep. I also tried to fix the door lock but couldn’t get it to stay together. I’ll have to find a new one that fits, no easy task.Granola for breakfast. Roast pork nachos for lunch. Stuffed tomatoes for dinner.

Saturday, October 8, 2016

San Francisco Fleet Week

Saturday: (10/08) Lou made chicken fried steak and eggs with home fried potatoes for breakfast. After that I walked to the train station and headed up to San Francisco. It’s Fleet Week so there were lots of folks there. I did a little walk-about.
San Francisco Fleet Week 1008161132 San Francisco Fleet Week 1008161134c
Walking along Market Street I happened along these street musicians using one of the street pianos. The guy on the white sheet is painting some music, larger format, that I assume the group played later?
San Francisco Fleet Week 1008161357a San Francisco Fleet Week 1008161418
The lines for the US ships were way too long for me but I did tour a Canadian ship. The crew was very helpful answering all my questions. I also visited the Farmers market at the Ferry Building. I found a nice piece of Bourbon Pecan Pie at one of the vendors for lunch. I then hiked up the hill to Coit Tower and watched the Blue angels and other planes in an air show.
San Francisco Fleet Week 1008161420 San Francisco Fleet Week 1008161520
I met one of my fellow hikers there, Anda. She is an avid photographer and probably got some good shots of the Angels.  I got some typical shots.
San Francisco Fleet Week 1008161522 San Francisco Fleet Week 1008161524a
From there I headed down to North Beach to Golden Boy pizza for dinner. A walk through China Town brought me by a Chinese bakery for desert.  I then caught the train home.

Friday, October 7, 2016

Sanborn County Park


Friday: (10/07) A sausage egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast. I joined a carpool down to Saratoga to Sanborn County Park. We did a 9 mile loop up to Skyline Ridge and back down. I had Chinese lunch at China Wok.

Monday, October 3, 2016

Homey

Monday: (10/03) Lou and I did a shopping run to Grocery Outlet. Then I prepared breakfast, some fried potatoes with eggs and sausage. Tinkering around the house the rest of the day. I prepared enchiladas for dinner. Simple day. Unbelievably, while doing my teeth before bed I washed out half a crown from one of my teeth while water piking.

Tuesday: (10/04) Leftovers for breakfast. Lou and Dawn were busy cleaning house so I did my part and stayed out of the way. We had an appointment in the early afternoon to sign some papers and went to lunch at LUU Noodles after that. I was able to make a dentist appointment for tomorrow. Watched the Vice Presidential “debate” in the evening. Leftover enchiladas for dinner.

Wednesday: (10/05) Dawn made French toast and bacon for breakfast. I had broken the enamel on the inside of one of my crowns. it turns out the crown is fine without it so the dentist just smoothed out the edges and I’ll live with it for a while. Should get several more years out of it. Lou and Dawn came with me and shopped around nearby then we visited Westgate Shopping Center to do more looking. We stopped for a late lunch at Aqui’s Restaurant in Cupertino. A nice nap competed the afternoon. Lou and Dawn had talks to go to in the evening. I drove Dawn to her author talk.

Thursday: (10/06) I was busy much of the day “inspecting’ the City crew installing new waterline down the street. Leftover Chinese food with the roast beast for breakfast. Sausage and cheese sandwich for lunch. Pork Chops with rice and eggplant for dinner.

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Code Camp, 2016

Saturday: (10/01) Up really early and headed off to San Jose. I stopped for breakfast at McDonald’s. I am attending the Silicon Valley Code Camp. I’ve attended several times but this year I decided to volunteer to help as well. I needed to be at Evergreen Valley College by 0750 to place signs around campus. I also helped serve lunch. Today was pizza. I attended some interesting presentations. I was rewarded for my service with a nice dinner for volunteers and speakers. Nice BBQ from Andy’s BBQ. Nice day.

Sunday: (10/02) Breakfast at A Good Morning. Then I was on to Evergreen College campus in San Jose. I had 4 presentations to attend today. Java Framework comparison, securing web applications, user privacy, and Python. All interesting. Today lunch was burritos, possibly the worst I’ve had but they were free. Dinner was Lou’s beef stew.