Friday, November 30, 2018

Bothersome Rainy Days

Friday: (11/30) Granola and diced apple for breakfast. I relaxed all morning watching TV. It’s a nice non-rain day so couldn’t waste it all. I had a wiener and cheese sandwich for lunch. After lunch I drove the RV down to get LPG. Then i started working on the forms for Ernie’s shed. I had some problems determining the height of the slab. It seems I set the top of the Baserock 4 inches low for the slab. I want it to match the level of Dawn’s shed.  I got the form for the first pour set. Tomorrow I’ll check the level again and then start adding some baserock. Lou made beef stroganoff and Brussels sprouts for dinner.

Saturday: (12/01) Granola for breakfast. I relaxed again today. We stopped by at Subway Sandwiches for lunch. At 1500 we went to a 20 Harp concert in Los Altos. One of the hikers from San Jose Midweek Hikers was playing one of the harps and several from the group attended the concert. A nice evening and a good beginning to the Christmas season. We stopped by Safeway on the way home and picked up some soup for dinner.

Sunday: (12/02) A subway sandwich for breakfast. A slow start in the morning. I filled a bunch of water bottles for the RV to restock it. I eventually got outside and decided that I didn’t want to raise Ernie’s floor rather I’ll raise his walls the 4 inches to match Dawn’s shed. That makes the walkway easier to level and drain. I decided to replace the two 2x4’s I was using with straight ones so we all went off to Home Depot in East Palo to for lunch at a Mexican market and to get the 2x4’s. When we got home I got busy and finished the forms in install the rebar. The first slab is ready to pour. I also cleaned the rain gutter to my shop. 

Monday: (12/03) Maybe I’m just lazy today? The sun was out on a nice day but i stayed inside and worked in the office. Since rain is expected early tomorrow morning i didn’t pour concrete today. A little to close before rains. Nothing else to do outside right now, so a day off. I checked on adding my old LGG4 phone to Google Fi and ordered a sim for it. It should work and costs nothing to try. I also ordered a MiFi device to try out with unlimited unthrottled service for $65/mo. Hope it works. I also scheduled a termite inspection and an appointment to get the shock absorbers replaced on the RV. Granola with diced apple for breakfast. Leftover beef stroganoff for lunch. A PBJ sandwich and a couple of weiners for dinner. 

Tuesday: (12/04) I had a Subway sandwich for breakfast. I tinkered today. I replaced the latch on the RV’s bedroom window, Moved some stuff out that might disappear at the RV shop tomorrow. I attended part of a webinar while I ate my breakfast. I laid out some brick pavers to see how they might fit. I installed a new light over the passenger seat. It’s a lot brighter than the spot light that was there. I was tinkering because today had a high probability of rain starting at 0600. That is also why I didn’t pour concrete yesterday. The rain started a little after 1500 so the concrete would have been fine if poured yesterday. Tomorrow more rain is expected so another day off from projects. Hopefully I can pour some concrete Thursday. Lunch from Dim Sum King. Leftovers for dinner.

Monday, November 19, 2018

Gone South For Cleaner Air

Monday: (11/19) We are not early risers. We had granola for breakfast before departing after 0800. The drive on down to Oceana was uneventful. We checked in very early into the last space available through the holiday weekend at Coastal Dunes RV Park in Oceano. Who knew so many families meet at campgrounds for their Thanksgiving dinners. No one ends up with a bunch of family messing up their house. We have enjoyed several holidays away for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Always enjoyable. We left town due to the bad air quality, AQI above 200. We headed south hoping the air was better. In Pismo Beach the AQI was below 60. Others are here are like us, escaping the bad air. I find it hard to believe anyone would consider having a campfire so they can sit and breath smoke? Why?
After setting up camp we headed off to breakfast at Francisco's Restaurant. I enjoyed a chili relleno and shared corned beef hash with Lou. Dawn had her favorite Rolled oatmeal with the fixings. We spotted a Seabreeze motorhome at the dealer we traded ours in to and stopped in to check it out. It wasn’t ours though. We did a little shopping before heading home for naps. I spent time working on Dawn’s laptop updating and trying to speed it up. We went to dinner across the street at Old Juan’s Cantina.

Tuesday: (11/20) We relaxed in the morning and finally hit the town. Lou and Dawn were visiting thrift stores here in Grover beach. I took a walk around town. After lunch i took a nap while they continued shopping. After dinner, Lou and I hopped in the car and headed back up to Palo Alto for appointments tomorrow. We stopped in Greenfield for a stretch and snack. We arrived home about 1020. Lou baked a chorizo omelet for breakfast. Spinach bacon salad for lunch. Lou made a corn chip casserole for dinner.

Wednesday: (11/21) Rainy day. Lou was fasting so I had breakfast from Happy Donut. I was off early to my dentist appointment I got my tooth installed on my implant. Since it replaces my tiny baby tooth eye tooth it now feels like a marble in my mouth, so much bigger. Mt brain should adjust, eventually. On the way home I picked up dim sum br lunch. Lou was off to a morning appointment. After Lou returned we relaxed then headed off about 1330 for another appointment. While Lou was at her appointment I did some shopping for out Thanksgiving dinner. When Lou was finished we picked up soup for dinner at Safeway. We were headed out of ton in the middle of the evening commute during a holiday rush. Going 10 mph until we passed highway 25 South of Gilroy took over an hour. We stopped for a stretch, and snack in Greenfield and arrived hack in Grover Beach just before 2200.

Thursday: (11/22) A relaxing day at home for the holiday. Rain gone today. We took a look through the Oceana State Park Visitor Center and walked through the campground looking for good sites. Also hiked through the dunes to the beach. Apple pie for breakfast. Our thanksgiving dinner at noon from Safeway. Leftovers for dinner.
 

 


Friday: (11/23) Happy birthday Lou. I prepared French toast for breakfast and we were off. We stopped at Costco for gas and Lou and Dawn left me there and headed to Paso Robles for a craft fair and to inspect the thrift store. I explored Costco, Home Depot, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Grocery Outlet, Bed Bath and beyond, and Best Buy among many other shops. I found a gift for Lou and we also returned to BBB and Lou bought a Ninja air/pressure cooker for her birthday gift. I had lunch at Panda Express while Lou and Dawn had lunch at the Paso Robles Inn. They picked me up and we stopped for diner at Pismo Fish and Chips on the way home.

Saturday: (11/24) Mostly clear day. Dawn made an omelet for breakfast. We relaxed all morning. Leftover chip casserole for lunch. After lunch we drove down to SLO and toured the thrift stores and other shopping. I mostly napped while they shopped. Todahalf of the campers departed. Nice to have a better view again. When we returned we had chicken with rice and cold veggies for dinner.

Sunday: (11/25) Lou made corned beef hash for breakfast. When it was done, she discovered she forgot to add any corned beef, so it was just home fried potatoes. It was served with eggs and some sausages. We relaxed at home until mid afternoon. Lou and I walked through the Oceana Campground and identified the campsites we liked for future reference. We all then went to an early dinner at Pismo Fish And Chips. After a walk on the pier and a visit to the Post Office we were back home again.

Monday: (11/26) Leftover hash for breakfast. We packed up to travel and were on the road a little after 1000. We took Highway 166 to Bakersfield. We stopped in New Cuyama for milkshakes and a walk.When we arrived in Bakersfield a little after 1400 we stopped for lunch at the Golden Corral Buffet. After getting gas we headed out to the County RV Park at Lake Ming. We got a nice site by the river. We’ll be here three days before heading home. The smog here is worse than the coast being about an AQI of 80 but nothing like it was last week, so it’s a good time to visit Bakersfield. We listened to the owls and some coyotes in the evening.
 

Tuesday: (11/27) Leftover omelet for breakfast. Lou and Dawn were busy trying to fish in the Kern River next to our campsite. They didn’t catch anything. I relaxed all morning. We headed into town for lunch at the Rice Bowl Chinese restaurant. After visiting a nearby thrift store we drove out to visit Don And Judy, my cousin. About 1730 we headed off to visit a couple of more thrift stores and did a little grocery shopping before heading home. It is dark tonight with some fog. We saw a couple of racoons near our campsite.

Wednesday: (11/28) I acted as chauffeur and we visited a bunch of thrift stores. Leftovers for breakfast.  Lunch at a Mexican Market. Dinner at Woolgrowers with Anita, Don and Judy.

Thursday: (11/29) We were up early, had breakfast and prepared to roll. We were on the road by 0900. We had rain off and on all the way home with some really heavy downpours. We got a call that Dawn’s smoke alarm was sounding off intermittently. We stopped by the house on our way by and i removed the batteries. I’ll replace it later. It was fun enough driving in the really dark streets especially through the narrow traffic restricting curbs around Dawn’s place. Leftovers for breakfast.  Lunch at the olive Garden in Fresno. Snacks for dinner. Nice to be home.

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Back In The Mix And Smoke

Thursday: (11/15) Air quality extremely unhealthy (229). I worked outside a little. I removed some of the edge forms and laid some bricks for a temporary home for the garbage cans. I also received the delivery of three pallets of concrete mix and 3.5 pallets of bricks for the walkways. After lunch a trip to Harbor Freight to get some tarps. I think I managed to minimize my work activity to make Lou a little happier due to the smoky air. Lou and Dawn headed to san Jose for an appointment and to do some shopping. Granola for breakfast. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Burrito from El Gruelense for dinner.
 


Friday: (11/16) A smokey day mostly inside. About 1400 I finally went outside and did a little work. I added some 2x2 boards to the bottom of the driveway fence to support the bottom of the kickboards at the bottom of the fence. I also installed half of the ripple boards on the greenhouse roof. Big problem discovered. When i tried to install the first piece of roofing I discovered the ripple board didn’t fit the roofing panels. There were 9 ripples per 2 foot on the boards and only eight on the panels. I really find this hard to believe. Evidently looking similar isn’t enough. I’ll have to see if there are correct panels available that fit the ripple boards. All this came from Home Depot so I hope they also have the correct panels. I wonder how the air quality inside the HD store is? Popcorn for breakfast. Chili size for lunch.  Hamburgers for dinner.
 

Saturday: (11/17) Pumpkin bread and leftover burrito for breakfast. Another smoky day inside? About 1000 I put on my N95 mask and started to work outside. I made a run to Home Depot to check their roofing at the East Palo Alto store. They had the correct type of corrugated roofing for the greenhouse. I bought a piece of the ripple board to confirm it is the proper 4 ripple per foot not like the 4.5 ripple I already have. I bought what I needed and also stopped by the City’s hazardous waste disposal site and got rid of our collection of hazardous things. At home I had lunch then started to work on the roof. It wasn’t easy getting access to attach each panel. It required moving plants and squeezing between the roof framing and plant hangers. I also got distracted by having to prune a tree over my shop and clear all the leave debris from the roof to get access for the final panels installation. That required trimming it into pieces and loading it into our two 90 gallon compost dumpsters. I finished the roof and put things away as it was getting dark. After a shower and dinner, we all went to the Telebration storytelling event. Dawn was one of the tellers. Leftovers for lunch. Dawn’s stew for dinner.
 


Sunday: (11/18) Busy doing the final tasks to leave. I loaded up leftover materials and made a run to Lowe’s and Home Depot to return things. Lou came along to get some nuts and bolts needed to add cup holders to our tabletop silverware basket. I washed windows, checked oil and tires, dumped and filled the tanks as required and did final packing. We eventually departed about 1500. We got gas at Costco and some groceries and dinner  at Walmart in Gilroy. We stopped near Bradley (Camp Roberts) at a rest stop for the night. Pumpkin cake with peaches for breakfast. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Chicken caesar wrap and potato soup for dinner.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

San Jose Furnace Problems, Again

Saturday: (11/10) Left Pinnacles NP about 1000. Stopped at Lowe’s in Gilroy and bought a pipe plug to cap off the water to the toilet. I’ll have to lift it sometime to check whether it is a broken toilet or a pipe nipple? I installed the plug then continued on to San Jose. I stopped at the house in San Jose. Couldn’t find a parking spot closer than eight blocks away. I met Lou and Dawn there. She had brought the keys to the house. I checked the furnace and found it had a 31 error code which means a pressure sensor was either bad or indicating a problem. It seems beyond my easy solution so I scheduled a repair tech for Wednesday. Pancakes and sausage for breakfast. Lunch at Original Joe’s. I was dropped off at the RV and drove it home and tucked it in the driveway. Lou and Dawn were out shopping. They called me and told me that a neighboring closed restaurant was on fire. I walked down to take a look and found two ladder tower trucks and six pumpers from both Palo Alto and Mountain Views fire departments busy. El Camino Real was closed down so lots of traffic passing by in front of our house. We already had way too much smoke in the air from the Oroville fire so this really didn’t help. Leftovers for dinner.

Sunday: (11/11) We all drove down to San Jose. I dropped Lou and Dawn off at the mall for a walk indoors, out of the smoky air. I bought new smoke CO detectors and installed them at the San Jose house. Replacing batteries every year seems to be a problem so the new ones are good for 10 years. I also intended to install a new disconnect switch on the furnace but was missing some things so task deferred. I picked up Lou and Dawn and we headed home. Granola and diced apple for breakfast. Lunch at Aqui’s Mexican Cafe in Willow Glen. Leftovers for dinner.

Monday: (11/12) Smoky. Drove down to San Jose and installed the disconnect switch for the heater and identified the circuit. I also installed some LED lights in the apartment. On the way home I met Lou and Dawn for a late lunch at LUU noodle house. Pancakes with sausage for breakfast. Dawn’s soup for dinner.


Tuesday: (11/13) Air quality extremely unhealthy. I spent the morning cleaning up my shop. The floor had disappeared so I organized, put away, and disposed of a lot of stuff. I also pulled out a heater for Lou to use in the cottage while they clean it up. I ordered the concrete and bricks I will need for the next phase of the walkway and Ernie’s shed. I started to consider delaying the concrete floor for Ernie’s shed until next year due to some forcat rain next week and our starting to have colder days. I finally decided to go ahead and get the concrete and just have it available when we do have some nice days. I pretty much relaxed in doors the rest of the day. We have unhealthy air due to the fire in Butte County.  Granola for breakfast. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Dawn’s soup for dinner.

Wednesday: (11/14) Air quality extremely unhealthy. I drove down to San Jose at 0800 to meet the Heater repair technician. He arrived about 1000 and checked the heater and found a tripped outflow sensor. Evidently when the heater was first started for the season it had difficulty lighting and possible that tripped the sensor. It must be manually reset. Now I know. Since the heater is 30 years old i had the igniter replaced while he was there. I also enrolled in Atlas/Trillo’s annual service plan, just in case. I had to go and get a new filter and install it and got lunch on the way from Lowe’s. I also visited Walmart’s super store on Story Road. After installing the filter I vacuumed the attic. Breakfast burrito from La Victoria Taqueria in San Jose. Lunch at TK Noodle House in San Jose. Fish with asparagus and rice for dinner.


Sunday, November 4, 2018

Pinnacles NP Hike Week

Sunday: (11/04) Lou made sausage eggs and potatoes for breakfast. It was the first use of her air cooker. I finished preparing the RV to roll, packing, etc. I did a final review of my hike attendance and closed RSVP’s and sent out a final notice to the hikers, I printed my attendance sheets. I pulled out about 1130. I’m traveling solo for this trip. Lou and Dawn were going to meet me late Monday but have changed their plans. The are preparing to do a sale at the Palo Alto High School Flea Market. It will get our cottage cleaned out a little. I stopped at PW Supermarket for some chicken strips and Lucky China Bistro for a lunch combo to go. All for future meals. I also stopped at Smart and Final for energy drinks. Another stop for cash, and then a stop for gas in Sunnyvale, our cheapest spot, an Arco at $3.49, 50 cents cheaper than in Palo Alto. A stop at a Walmart Neighborhood market in Santa Clara for some canned goods then onto the Freeway toward the park. A final stop in Hollister for a super burrito and some donuts before leaving civilization. This seems like work. I stopped beside the road about 9 miles before the park and still had good cell signal so I updated my hike attendance lists and called home. I was settled in at the park ny 1645. I had half of my chinese dinner and a donut for dinner. I took a walk around the campground as it was getting dark. I noticed that they had closed eight of the RV campsites, and others in the tent camping because of fear of tree limbs falling. Evidently the statistics on limbs falling have risen much higher recently. I feel protected, and almost homeless. I napped and listened to the radio in the evening.

Monday: (11/05) I made pancakes with sausage for breakfast. I showered then met my fellow hikers about 0900 at the Visitor Center. Were were 12 hikers and carpooled up to the Bear Gulch trailhead to start. We hiked up Condor Gulch, High Peaks, Rim, Bear Gulch Cave, Bear Gulch Trails returning to our start. Nice hike, I managed get the group to do a couple of extended stops, one at the high peaks and one at the reservoir so we could actually enjoy the view. I managed to return with all 12 hikers. We finished about 1345. After a nice ice cream bar, thanks to Colin, I returned to camp. The campsite was nicely shaded. Leftover Chinese food for dinner.
 

 


 

Tuesday: (11/06) Pancakes with bacon jerky for breakfast. Today’s hike was up the High Peaks Trail, down the tunnel and Juniper Trails and back on the Balconies cave trail. Eleen hikers today. Another nice clear day with moderate temp. Election day. I have to wonder how it went and just hope Americans can start to  awaken from their nightmare. The campground has been full since I arrived Sunday but today we’re down to only three neighbors.


Wednesday: (11/07) Today’s hike was out the North Wilderness Trail. We had a perfect day with clear skies for some nice views of the area. We were 12 hikers. We did another passage through the Balconies Caves and said hello to the lone bat in residence. Pancakes with bacon jerky for breakfast. Trail lunch. Half a super burrito for dinner.
 

Thursday: (11/08) Cormell, Tina and I had a nice walk out the South Wilderness trail and beyond to check on the pig fence return route. No water hazards this year. Cornell wanted to see the fence line we’ll be coming down. He then said, it looks worse than the photos of the hike present.  Pancakes with bacon jerky for breakfast. Trail lunch. Chicken and rice for dinner.

Friday: (11/09) Pancakes and sausage for breakfast again. I met my fellow SJMW hikers and we headed out to the Peaks View TH to start. We hiked through the Bear Gulch caves then up past the reservoir to North Peak for lunch. We were lucky to see a condor high above the peak. After lunch we continued down and up to South Peak then down beside the pig fence to return on the South Wilderness Trail to our start. Almost a 14 mile hike. This hike takes longer because the two miles down beside the pig fence is treacherously steep and slippery. Trail lunch. We started the hike at 0830 and returned at 1645. Chili size for dinner.