Sunday, January 21, 2018

Winter Tasks

Sunday: (01/21) Lou made sauerkraut potatoes and corned beef hash with eggs for breakfast. I installed the new shelves in the pantry and started on Lou’s sewing desk in the bedroom. I also cut some additional kitchen cabinet shelves for Lou. We needed a few things to complete the sewing desk and the shelves so we visited Lowe’s in the late afternoon. I had chips and hummus for lunch. Lou made chicken pesto noodles for dinner.

Monday: (01/22) A little rain this morning. I made a shopping run to get some spray varnish that I forgot to get yesterday. Basically relaxed the rest of the day. Still not feeling great. Lou and Dawn went to lunch with Cecelia. More sauerkraut potatoes and corned beef hash with eggs for breakfast. Lunch at Los Altos Taqueria. BBQ ribs and baked potato for dinner.

Tuesday: (01/23) A day out. No rain today. Popcorn for breakfast. We drove over to Half Moon Bay visiting a couple of nurseries on the way. Lunch at a Mexican restaurant then a walk about town. We headed up to Pacifica on our way home then did some shopping at Serra Monte Shopping Center. Dinner at Neil’s cafe in Millbrea. On the way home via El Camino Real we got stuck for a while in Redwood City due to some kind of accident that closed both directions of the road. Made it home by 2000.

Wednesday: (01/24) Threat of rain that mostly arrived in the late afternoon. I relaxed all day. I attended a webinar at 1000. In the evening I contacted Total Wireless and Verizon about getting my phone service transferred to TotalWireless. I learned there was a problem with the pin for Verizon needed for use by TotalWireless. The pin was correct but not allowed by Verizon. The end result is I’m to wait until tomorrow for TotalWireless to do the transfer manually with Verizon after the systems time out. Granola for breakfast. Chili cheese potato for lunch. Leftover bean noodles with chicken and cheese for dinner.

Thursday: Off with Lou early to do our weekly grocery shopping. Mostly relaxed again today. Cold ‘s cough still lingers. I visited the nearby Credit Union to deliver some papers. I’m in process of moving to the CU. It was also a nice short walk. I finished up my new RV tool pouch with it’s new tools. Dawn was busy organizing her books in her shed. I was put to work moving some of her boxes. In the evening I called Total Wireless and was connected with Jasmin who successfully completed the service transfer for my phone. It only took an hour to complete while I was talking to her or on hold. There was some problem in getting the number away from Verizon but now all is OK. Seems to be working well. I’m not sure of the data speed yet but it all works. It is actually still using Verizon’s network but costs ⅓ as much. PBJ toast for breakfast. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Lou’s chili beans for dinner.

Friday: (01/26) Off to San Francisco on the train. I then caught the J train out to Judah Street near Golden Gate Park. I had breakfast at Howard’s Cafe on 9th Street. I’ve passed the place many times intending to stop in but never had before. On my walk passing several other establishments, all had few customers, Howard’s was more than half full so I stopped there. Great bacon avocado omelet with sour cream and Swiss cheese. Homestyle crispy disk cut potatoes. A good start to the day. I then walked over to Strybing Arboretum in the park. I got free admission today for being a KQED (public TV) member. I walked all the trails and paths in the park enjoying all the plants and trees. When finished about 1400 I stopped by a donut shop at Judah and 9th for an apple fritter and tea. I then walked over to look at the demonstration garden nearby. I then caught the train downtown and walked some on Market Street before catching a trolley back to the train station. I got a cup of soup at Safeway then boarded a bullet train home. Nice day. Ernie got a new hybrid car.








Saturday: (01/27) Granola and banana for breakfast. I relaxed in the morning tinkering on the computer. Sausage and cheese sandwich for lunch. Ernie was out on a drive in his new toy. Lou was busy with the laundry. I worked in the shop assembling Lou’s hobby desktop for the RV. I milled the oak molding I bought to add two more rounded edges. It came with one and I wanted it on three sides. I ended up with 3 inches too little molding so had to go out to Lowe’s to get another piece. The piece was 7 feet not 8 and my stretcher couldn’t be found. At home, I had to do all the setups to make more molding to match. I also stopped by to pick up some of my bread that wasn’t available when we were out shopping. Chili for dinner.



Sunday: (01/28) Granola and banana for breakfast. We enjoyed the morning TV shows. I sanded and sprayed finish on Lou’s desktop. I also got carried away and cleaned leaves from the neighbor's garage roof and gutter form the side that drains into our yard. I then cleaned up all the debris that I knocked off the roof and from behind our storage tent. I also blew the leaves from the side walkway of the house. I had a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Lou made a pot roast for dinner.

Monday: (01/29) We went to A Good Morning restaurant for breakfast. After that, I took the little car to be smog tested and get an oil change. All good now. I also sprayed a couple more coats of finish on Lou’s desktop. It should be ready to install tomorrow. Cold cuts and cheese for lunch. Dinner at Super Taqueria.

Tuesday: (01/30) I was busy upgrading some software on Lou’s laptop late into the night. Lou was off to Bakersfield for a couple of weeks to assist a friend. Dawn was busy organizing books. I relaxed in the morning. I assisted Dawn by adding a couple of new shelves to her shed and moving boxes for her. I made a shopping run to get some parts for upcoming projects and some groceries. I missed enough sleep last night such that I didn’t want to do anything that involved thinking or coordination. Granola and banana for breakfast. Roast beef and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Baked beans with rice and pork chops for dinner. In the evening we skipped the additional spreading of lies and instead of the “”State Of The Union Speech watched an alternate “State of OUR State” which was basically the Women’s movement. Much better ideas.

Wednesday: (01/31) Up early at 0400 to watch the Super Blue Blood Moon. Enjoyed tea on our front sidewalk watching the moon disappear. Not the fastest event so we Dawn and I were chatting, reading Facebook and listening to the SOTU speech and comments. We enjoyed breakfast sandwiches early as well. I attended my Wednesday programming webinar at 1000. I made chili sizes for lunch. I relaxed and napped much of the day. Baked beans, rice and pork for dinner again.

Thursday: (02/01) I decided to try taking morning walks for a while. I walked down to San Antonio Mall. I had breakfast at Safeway, a breakfast burrito. A watched the construction for a while. I’ve missed a lot of the recent construction. How have they managed without me? I walked on down to Castro Street then caught the bus home. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. After a nap to recover from my mere 5.7 mile hike, I got to work in the RV. I installed Lou’s hobby desk top and cut a piece of carpet for the top. I then removed the satellite equipment inside the RV and figured out how to reconnect the TV antenna to the TVs. Dawn and I went to Chili’s for dinner.



Friday: (02/02) I removed the old low volume vent fan and installed the new Fantastic Fan. Lots of trips up and down from the roof of the RV. I still need to hook it up, finish the inside, and caulk the roof. I originally had signed up for a hike at Pinnacles NP. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be gone long enough for the hike and travel to and from it so I canceled. Of course, today was the best ever condor sightings. Over eight birds. At least the hikers took lots of great photos. PBJ toast for breakfast. A sausage and cheese for lunch. Chili size for dinner.

Saturday: (02/03) Big accomplishments for the day. I made a shopping run to our usual grocery stores (Grocery Outlet, Walmart, and Sprout’s). At home, I wired the new fan and installed the inside trim. On the roof, I caulked the fan assembly and installed the mounts for the cover. It will be finished tomorrow when I install the cover after the caulk is dry. I had granola and diced apple for breakfast. In the afternoon I made my enchilada casserole. We had it for dinner. Now it will be breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a while until gone in a couple of days. I managed to watch several episodes of the old TV show Mannix.




Sunday: (02/04) Not much accomplished today. I did get up on the roof of the RV and attach the vent cover. Leftover enchilada casserole for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Monday: (02/05) A morning walk down to Mountain View. I picked up some things for Dawn at the Hong Kong bakery then returned home completing 5 miles. Some tinkering in the RV. I removed the bedroom TV in the RV, modified the shelf, and took some measurements. After dinner Dawn and I went shopping for a TV and mount for the TV. I found the Insignia Roku TV at Best Buy. The Roku TV’s seem to be the best Smart TV’s around. We have a couple of other Roku TV’s at home. The 24” TV I bought isn’t a perfect fit leaving about an inch on either side of the cabinet but the next size up is too wide. No problem for height since the aspect ratio is different for modern TV’s with their wide screens. The old TV was a vacuum tube model with an old analog tuner rather than the required ATSC tuner. Replacing the TV provides a TV that takes up less space, uses less power and actually tunes in channels. It also can receive video from our phones. So it’s much more useful. The extra room means more storage, about half a closet full of extra storage. I just got one for the bedroom. I also will need to replace the front TV. It’s bigger and ill placed being high over the dash. It’s difficult for Dawn to see and not well located for any of the other seating. My intent is to relocate it near the dinette but I haven’t figured out just how to do that. It would be in the slide so there is a problem finding a good place to mount it that leaves the dinette usable and provides good viewing. I’d also have to route a cable a considerable distance from its current location and route it through the utility channel so it moves with the slide. The old TV location is where I’ll mount my printer. Again my breakfast, lunch and dinner were leftover enchiladas. Dawn was more creative for breakfast and lunch.

Tuesday: (02/06) I'm cat sitting for Ernie for a couple of days. Hobbs, the cat, doesn’t demand much, just the occasional pat on the head and feeding four times a day. I have alarms set for the feeding times. I also have other alarms for other services during the day. It’s difficult to take a walk with the longest time between duties being only three hours. I set up the new TV. I also received some replacement cabinet door struts and today I installed them. Now the doors over the couch stay up. The last of the enchilada casserole for breakfast. Dawn and I had lunch at Panera Bread. Sandwiches for dinner.

Wednesday: (02/07) Started with sausage, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches. I attended my Wednesday Alphasoftware webinar. I managed to weed the front flower bed and trim the germaniums there. Much of the rest of the day was tinkering on the computer and office. Baked potato chili size for lunch. Dawn and I visited Sweet Tomatoes buffet for dinner.

Thursday: (02/08) Popcorn for breakfast. I’m behind on sleep so napped watching tv much of the morning. I did watch some training videos as well. About noon the mailman dropped off our, seemingly daily, Amazon delivery. I got what they are calling a solar generator. Actually, there is no solar and it isn’t a generator, but it should be handy. Lou uses a CPAP and it needs AC power all night. It only uses 10 watts but requires us to run the inverter in the motorhome all night. There is actually more loss to unused equipment that isn't actually needed for the CPAP. Hence, the need for the solar generator. It is actually a Lithium battery pack with USB, 12DC, and 120vAC outputs. It provides up to 200 watts of power and 155wh. Since we need just 80wh to go all night it should eliminate the wasted nighttime power use and be able to be charged during the day from our RV solar system. This is one of the better ones available because it has sine wave AC output. It would even be possible for Lou to go tent camping now, like that would happen. I topped off the battery and used it to power my computer in the evening. Seems to work well. Enjoyed a banana for lunch. Dawn and I went to dinner at Whole Foods market.


Friday: (02/09) Up early to get to San Jose for Dawn’s appointment. Granola for breakfast. After her 0830 appointment, we went to her apartment and then stopped at a multi-house garage sale on 13th street nearby. Nice to visit with some of our old neighbors as well. I stopped at the county government building on Hedding Street to deliver a form to Employee Services and then we visited Scooterland, which I noticed on our way to deliver the form. We found they may be able to help in repairing our Zappy and Tzora scooters. We also test drove a couple of other three wheel scooters for Dawn. Next stop was lunch at Marie Callender's. Dawn had the chicken pot pie and I had their shepherd’s pie. We then had to return to San Jose to her pharmacy to pick up some things. Finally, home about 1430. Baked potato sizes for dinner. Dawn was busy in the evening at the Los Altos Library book sale.


Saturday: (02/10) Dawn was off by 1000 to the Mountain View book sale. She had lunch from the Hong Kong bakery and picked up some things for Lou at TAP plastics. I drove her to and from. At home, I tinkered in th RV. Not too productive tough. I didn't feel well. In the afternoon I designed the TV mounts for the bedroom TV. I haven’t been able to find something from any vendors so I’ll be making my own. I need to make two mounts one for the normal upper position where the original TV was. Except this new TV will be able to be swung out to allow storage behind it. In addition, The TV will be able to be removed and hung on a similar arm in the hobby desk area. This arm will be the same except it will swing in not out as the upper will. I bought removable brackets for attachment to the arms. Part of the difficulty is attaching the arms to the flimsy walls of the closet. Two ⅛” plywood panels sandwiched with the occasional piece of 1”x1”. My mounts will bridge the center hollow core and attach near the edges where there is a solid interior. Fortunately, the monitor weighs less than 5 pounds. So, I made a material run to Orchard Hardware and picked up some metal to make the mount arms. I cut the pieces for the upper unit and will weld and paint it tomorrow. If it works, I’ll make the second. I made corned beef hash for breakfast and had some for lunch as well. For dinner, I made grilled cheese and sausage sandwiches.

Sunday: (02/11) Dawn was busy at the Palo Alto library book sale today. I worked on the TV mount. I welded it up and ground it down, then painted it. I discovered yet another error in my design that was easily corrected by a rearrangement of the parts. As the paint was drying, I went to lunch and picked up some additional parts. When I was ready to install the mount I found I had made the wrong one first. I had the hinge reversed which is how the lower one is to be assembled. I thought I was making the upper. Senility is fun. Dawn went to her storytelling group in the evening. I tried to get to bed early to be rested for my hike tomorrow. Corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Dim Sum for lunch. Leftovers for dinner.


Saturday, January 20, 2018

Womens March In San Jose

Saturday: (01/20) Leftovers for breakfast. After breakfast, we all headed down to San Jose to meet friends Connie and Jill and join the Women’s March in San Jose. It wasn’t a long walk but took lots of time to shuffle from City Hall to the River Park. Once at the park we walked over to a nearby Pannera Bread restaurant for lunch. I then walked back to our car and returned to pickup the rest of our party who had been shopping at Target. On the way home, we visited thrift stores, another Target store and a Grocery Outlet and a Sprout’s market for a few things. Lou also stopped by the Indian grocery store and Michaels craft store that are next door to my Dim Sum King restaurant. So my dinner was dim sum and their dinner was more leftovers.


Friday, January 19, 2018

Stanford Dish Hike

Friday: (01/19) I prepared fried eggs and ham with toast for breakfast. I was then off to a rainy day hike at Stanford with my fellow SJMW hikers. Nice walk from Stanford Mall into Stanford University Campus and its Arboretum. Our leader Alex brought us to many new and interesting places along the way. Of course, when we reached the top of Dish Hill with no shelter anywhere near, the deluge started. Lunch at the campus center. Nice rainy day hike on paved trails. Lunch at Panda Express at the campus center after the hike. Soup for dinner
First stop was at the Tesla store to try the new model 3 out for size. Next stop was the Arizona Cactus Garden.
Visited the Memorial Church as well. Several hikers walked the Labyrinth as well.
Left above is a chandelier in the Stem Cell Research Building. On the right the path on Dish Hill.
Statues in the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden.
On the right is the Stone River sculpture made with earthquake-damaged stone from one of the buildings on campus