Saturday, December 31, 2016

Andrea Visitss

Saturday: (12/31) Soft boiled eggs for breakfast. Lou relaxed at home and I acted as chauffeur for Dawn and her friend Andrea for the day. We headed down to San Jose and picked up Andrea, and went to lunch at Panerra Bread. Then they went shopping and browsing at Barnes and Noble. I looked around and relaxed in the area until they were through. Then we returned home. Dinner was baked potatoes with chili and onions. Then we worked at staying awake to see the new year begin.

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Hello Donkeys

Tuesday: (12/27) I made ham hash and eggs for breakfast. We took a walk to see the Barron Park Donkey’s, Jenny and Perry. Jenny is a new addition after the recent death of Niner. Donkeys are so nice. Afterwards, we continued our walk by going over to the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital for tea and lunch. Dawn made macaroni and cheese with baked cauliflower for dinner.
 

 

Wednesday: (12/28) Leftovers for breakfast, lunch and, inner. Lots to go. We were out all day for appointments.

Thursday: (12/29) Lou made potato pancakes with apple sauce and sausage for breakfast. Lou and Dawn had some errands and i worked in the Office in the morning. We went to LUU Noodle House for lunch. After that we did some shopping and visited Connee in San Jose. After that Lou and Dawn had an appointment and then we returned home. Dawn made some sausage with red peppers and mashed potatoes for dinner.

Friday: (12/30) Granola for breakfast. Lou and Dawn were off early to a thrift store. I headed down to San Jose. I installed the box of gutter guard I bought as a test of the fit. Fits good. I ordered the rest that I need to install later in a week or so. Cheapest is Menard’s supply in Wyoming which gets it to me at less than half the cost of Lowe’s and ⅓ the cost of OSH. Love the Internet. I stopped for lunch at La Victoria on the way home. Leftovers for dinner. I had a pepper steak sandwich.
 

Monday, December 26, 2016

Sunol Regional Park Hike, Little Yosemite

Monday: (12/26) Breakfast from Happy Donuts, a nice breakfast burrito which I shared with Dawn. My usual place L&L Hawaiian was closed due to the holidays. I met Alex and we headed off to Sunol for the hike. 15 of us hike the Sunol Regional Park going by the Little Yosemite area an up onto the mountain ridges for a nice 10-mile hike on a nice day. Lots of water flowing. Nice friendly cows everywhere. Great views. At home again I snacked on leftovers from yesterday for dinner.
 

 

 


Saturday, December 24, 2016

Christmas time

Saturday: (12/24) Marie Calendar’s pie for breakfast thanks to Ernie. I tinkered on the computer most of the day. I worked on making movies of my PCT hike these past three years. I did get outside later in the day and do a little cleanup around the shop. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Dawn made stuffed bell peppers and baked potatoes for dinner.

Sunday: (12/25) A relaxing day. Watched the SNL Christmas Special. Christmas breakfast was my great popcorn. Snacks of appetizers for lunch. Ham sandwiches with baked beans and potato salad for dinner around 1400. And of course pie for a late snack.

Friday, December 23, 2016

Windy Hill Preserve Hike

Friday: (12/23) Nice day for a hike, if you're a fish. Today's hike at Sunol Regional Park was canceled due to rain. So, of course, some of us hiked anyway. We just did a closer hike at Windy Hill Preserve. We've had heavy rain and there was a lull when we started but it returned and rained heavy all the way to the top of the mountain. At the top, we had a break and had some nice views. As we started down it started to rain again and continued all the way down. Lots of mud on the train. All the creeks flowing well, unlike the dry ravines that are normal. Nice 8.4 mile hike. Bacon and cheese sandwich for breakfast. Snacks for lunch. Ernie took us all to dinner at Marie Callenders.
  

 

  

 
 



Thursday, December 15, 2016

Fisrt Freeze

Thursday: (12/15) Lou’s pork chops, hashbrowns, and eggs for breakfast. Dawn”s friend Andrea came over for a visit. Lou and I ran errands and did some Christmas shopping. Lunch st Sweet Tomatoes salad buffet. Dawn and Andrea made a mice soup for dinner.

Friday: (12/16) Lou and I started with a grocery shopping run. Soft boiled eggs for breakfast. I tinkered at the computer all day. Spam and cheese sandwich for lunch. Still have some leftover hike supplies. Grilled toast and soup for dinner.

Saturday: (12/17) Lou made waffles with sausage for breakfast. We headed out for the day to the nearby city of Fremont and the District of Niles to look around the antique shops. Niles is the original Hollywood of the US where lots of Charlie Chaplin silent movies were filmed. Lunch was at the old Skillet restaurant. Very good. Leftovers for dinner.

Sunday: (12/18) Our first freeze last night. We did some more grocery shopping today. A nice do nothing day.I picked up some dim sum for lunch. I made stuffed peppers for dinner.

Monday: (12/19) Second freeze last night. Granola for breakfast. I dropped Lou off at an appointment and headed down to San Jose. The tenant called this morning and said something broke on the toilet flush valve. Dawn walked from the house to the library while I worked. I found the handle broke off the flush valve. Good thing I bought an expensive handle earlier this year. So I stole one from the toilet i Dawn’s apartment. Then I headed of to Lowe’s to get a cheap replacement. Might as well be cheap as expensive. I also checked on the order that was supposed to be in today. It hadn’t even shipped yet. Not very good online system at Lowe’s. I installed the new handle on Dawn’s toilet then picked her up at the Library and then picked up Lou in Santa Clara. We had lunch at Aqui’s Mexican restaurant in Cupertino. We then headed over to some friend’s house (Connie and Terry). She had broken her ankle and as housebound so time for a visit. Then on home for leftover stuffed green peppers for dinner.

 


Tuesday: (12/20) Lou made ham eggs and potatoes for breakfast. I tinkered with the computer and websites all day. Leftover zucchini and sausage for lunch. Lou made split pea with ham soup for dinner.

Wednesday: (12/21) Granola for breakfast. We headed down to San Jose for some appointments and shopping. I stopped by at Lowe’s and picked up my gutter guard from Lowe's. Last time I order online from Lowe’s to do a store pickup. They need to work on the process. It took an hour in store to get the order and out the door. We also stopped by friend Connie’s house for a visit before heading home late. We had grilled cheese sandwiches and soup for dinner.

Thursday: (12/22) French toast for breakfast. Worked at the computer All morning. Tinkered in the afternoon. Looked at the garage dog door. It’s not used anymore and is closed off but is coming loose from the door. I hunted for nuts to reattach it and found one. So nw all four corners are attached but four other nuts are missing. Lunch was leftovers, pizza. Lou and Dawn were out to get a knee scooter for Conie. The found a really nice one. Lou and I delivered it to Connie in San Jose and I made some returns to Home Depot and Lowe’s on the way. Lou made pepper steak which made good sandwiches for dinner.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

San Jose Tree Trimming

Sunday: (12/11) Granola for breakfast. I worked in the office in the morning. Lou and Dawn took a walk at Fry’s Electronics. Later I moved the washer back into the house. We all went to LUU Noodle House for lunch. Lou made beef stroganoff with Brussels sprouts for dinner.

Monday: (12/12) A second night of no sleep. I had a hike scheduled for this morning but canceled it. Fortunately not my lead. Soft boiled eggs with sausage and a muffin for breakfast. I relaxed at home today. Lou and Dawn were out to an appointment. I had PBJ toast for lunch. Lou brought home some dim sum for me as well. They had lunch out. Leftovers for dinner. Salton called in the evening to say the neighbor in San Jose said that tree trimmers would be there trimming tomorrow. Also mentioned that there was a problem with the dryer vent.

Tuesday: (12/13) I was up early and off to San Jose for breakfast at La Victoria taqueria. I needed to get to the San Jose house to watch as the neighbor trims their gigantic tree that covers half our rear yard and to other yards and all of their yard plus a good portion of to other yards. The fly by night crew started late, had a problem with their one chain saw and had to get it fixed and started by trimming all the trees in another neighbor's yard before starting the big tree. While they were indisposed, i headed off to OSH and Home Depot looking for gutter filters, none found. They got just one of the 20* limbs trimmed before dark. Lou and Dawn brought a pizza by for lunch from House of Pizza. Yum! I have lunch for the next three days so I guess I’ll be working in San Jose for a while. I did get the dryer vent cleaned out, unnecessary, it was clean. The burning was probably a piece of plastic melted onto the dryer interior. I also replaced the heater filter in the attic. I headed home about 1730 stopping at two Lowe’s and a home depot looking for rain gutter filters. I want to keep the leaves out of the gutter. Nobody has them now that I want them. I did pickup a gutter lid like I have in Palo Alto. It may work. I picked up some onions at Sprout’s market on the way home as requested by Lou. Dawn made zucchini and sausage for dinner.

Wednesday: (12/14) Off early again. Breakfast at La Victoria.  I relaxed inside. The tree crew eventually showed up and trimmed another limb and then called it quits a bit after noon. I had leftover pizza for lunch. I then cleaned a couple of gutters that were already full. The gutter cap I bought to try out didn’t work. The gutter is too high on the fascia. I researched foam gutter filters and ordered some from Lowe’s to try. On the way home I stopped at the Sunnyvale OSH and they had a few gutter filters. Very expensive at $9 for 4 feet. The ones I ordered from Lowe’s were about $6 each. I can get them for as little as $3.50 with a longer delivery period. Baked potato, sweet onion chili sizes for dinner.

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Pinnacles Hikes 2016

Saturday: (12/03) We spent the morning packing and readying the RV to leave. Had to stop for LPG and gas on our way out about 1230. Stopped in Hollister for a stretch. Arrived at Pinnacles CG about 1530. Granola for breakfast. Cheese sandwiches with veggies for lunch. Hamburger steaks with leftover pot roast veggies for dinner.

Sunday: (12/04) Lou baked an omelet for breakfast. I went through my pack for the upcoming hikes. We had ice creams Grimm the store about noon then I caught the shuttle to High Peaks TH. I hiked out the South Wilderness trail to its end at the park boundary. I was scouting for Friday’s hike looking for a better connection from where we come down the mountain. We’ve always jumped the fence and followed a road to the park boundary and the South Wilderness Trail. I continued past the end of the trail by the edge of a pig fence.it was a rugged path, not anything like a trail. I don’t think it’s usable. I also continued past where we’ve joined the road before to see if there is a possible path just up and over the last hill rather then alongside it. Nope. I stopped when I came to a pond across the road. No way to go around. So I had lunch at 3pm then headed back via the road. Good thing. I came to another flooded section of road. I spent a lot of time trying to find a way around but there was no way. I took off my socks and waded through. A while later there was another flooded section. Neither of these was here the past two years.

I God back to the end of the South trail and dried my feed, cleaned the shoes and put my socks back on. It was 1610 when I started back. I was back at camp about 5pm. Lou made tri-tip roast with asparagus and baked potatoes for dinner.





Monday: (12/05) Granola and sausage for breakfast. I meant my fellow hikers at the Visitor Center at 0930 for our hike. We carpooled from there to Bear Gulch TH. We hiked up Condit Gulch to High Peaks Trail. At the junction wet 8th the Juniper Trail we got to watch four condors flying and landings nearby. Almost as if the put on a show for us when we arrived. There was a naturalist Condit volunteer there that told a lot about condors as well. Another lucky Pinnacles hike. We then hiked down to the reservoir and back to our start point via Bear Gulch Caves. Back to camp about 1430. Enchiladas for dinner.







Tuesday: (12/06) Sausage and cheese sandwich for breakfast. 20 hikers joined me for a hike up to the high peaks and down to the West side Chaperal picnic area for lunch. We then hiked the Balconies Trail through the caves back to our start. After a shower and washing my clothes I dump our holding tanks. Lou and Dawn returned from their hike about to the ranch house. BBQ ribs with baked potato and southwestern corn. Lou and Dawn had squash as well.
 

 

 


Wednesday: (12/07) Lou made bacon eggs and potatoes for breakfast. I abstained from eating the eggs. Sensitive tummy. I met my deploy 9 Hikers for a hike of the North Wilderness Trail. Even with a threat of rain, we had a great hike returning to our start at 2r3p, the same as on Monday and Tuesday even though ranch day is two miles longer than the previous day. A little relaxing and a shower and I was back to normal. Ham, rice, and peas for dinner.
  

Thursday: (12/08) We were at the City Cafe restaurant in Hollister by 0830 for breakfast. Lou and I shared an everything omelet with pancakes and Dawn had pumpkin pancakes. We then toured town shopping, mostly thrift stores. Before heading home we picked up dinner at Super Taqueria. Dawn and I shared a burrito and Lou had quesadillas. We were home just as it got dark (1700). It drizzled all day. A group of our fellow SJMWHG hikers enjoyed their hike in the rain.

Friday: (12/09) A ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast. Five other SJMWH met me for a hike of the South Wilderness loop. The weather report for today, fortunately, is much better. As it turned out We didn't have any rain during the hike. The three girls led the three guys the whole hike. It was Susan’s birthday and Lisa had brought a BD cake which we enjoyed on our return. Koi made salmon rice and green beans for dinner.












Saturday: (12/10) Lou made corned beef hash for breakfast. We walked out the ranch house. They had seen it before I hadn’t yet. We had a little ran before we got up and out. It was raining from Hollister North. They drove the Jeep separately to Gilroy and checked out the thrift and bookstores. I drove the RV and stopped and looked around at Best Buy in Gilroy. They I relaxed in the RV and worked on my photos from the past week. I then headed home when we decided not to have an early dinner in Gilroy. When I got home at 1430 I started working the meetup and facebook posts and photos an reviewing email. I had chili for dinner, they had something in Gilroy.
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