Fall With Lou

Saturday: (11/23) Leftovers sauerkraut and potatoes fried with eggs and sausage for breakfast. I went to Lowe’s to get some new corrugated steel roofing for the cottage. The roof is rusted through in several places. I was also considering replacing it with plywood and asphalt rolled roofing. Unfortunately, owes had neither. I avoid buying from Home Depot any more because of it’s Trump support but I stopped by reluctantly. They did have the steel panels and rolled roofing. But I discovered the rolled roofing rolls were 95sf and I need about 105sq. I really don’t like that much waste. I also reconsidered the time I have to do this project before Lou’s surgery. Just one day and if I remove the existing roof there is no telling what else I need to repair under it. So I decided to just secure a tarp over it for now. I stopped for lunch at the Lucky China Bistro on the way home. At home I cleaned off the rooftop. It was actually a storage place. I removed the two chicken coops planters and other materials. I also had to move a wood pile leaning against the building. I managed to get the tarp installed before dark. More work to do tomorrow to get rid of the coops and other junk. We also have to move our cars from the roadway all next week due to repaving. We went to the Corner Bakery for dinner. After dinner we went to the Tellabration where Dawn was one of the story tellers.


Sunday: (11/24) Granola and banana for breakfast. Dawn and I went to BestBuy in Mountain View and bought a new laptop for Dawn. We went to lunch at Applebee’s Grill in Redwood City and then looked at some neighborhood open houses. The prices are really encouraging if we were selling. A Chili baked potato for dinner.

Monday: (11/25) Granola and banana for breakfast. I relaxed all morning. Leftovers for lunch. Lou and I went to a laundromat to wash all our bedding. When one of the giant washers was finishing its final spin it was out of balance. It made the building shake worse than our 1989 earthquake did. The concrete floor was even heaving. I think they might have evacuated the 7Eleven next door. Lou and I went to LUU Noodle House for dinner. Dawn was out to a movie with Courtney.

Tuesday: (11/26) A rainy day. Lou and I were off to Kaiser. Lou gets her new knee today. I went off to breakfast at Holder’s Country Inn then shopping. I also took a nap then returned to the hospital by 1345. Lou was in recovery. We left the hospital by 1645. It had started to rain. We are expecting a big storm for the next few days. Dawn had made mushroom soup and toast for dinner.

Wednesday: (11/27) A rainy day. A relaxing day. Lou was busy recovering, I was busy watching here do it. In the afternoon the nurse came by for a checkup. Dawn made rice with fried eggs for breakfast. For dinner Dawn made lima beans with rice and chicken sausage.

Thursday: (11/28) Granola and banana for breakfast. I went grocery shopping for our holiday dinner. No fancy prep needed just market prepared items. I actually prefer the easier holiday and few leftovers. Ernie brought a lot of things as well for our feast for four. Ernie's horderves of deviled eggs, olives, cheese and crackers were enough by themselves.

Friday: (11/29) Leftovers for breakfast. I had Dawn’s rice lima bean with sausage. A turkey sandwich for lunch. More leftovers for dinner. I had chicken, asparagus, carrots, and a twice baked potato section. Lou’s PT person dropped by for a check at 1100. It was another rainy day and we spent the day inside relaxing.

Saturday: (11/30) Granola and banana for breakfast. Leftovers the rest of the day. Another rainy day. We relaxed inside all day. I did make a dash to the market for a few things. Lou continues recovery.

Sunday: (12/01) Granola and banana for breakfast. Dawn made dinner something baked with spinach and leeks. Leftovers for lunch. More rain on a relaxing Sunday. I did make a run to the Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara to their pharmacy for Lou.

Monday: (12/02) Occasional rain all day. Granola and a banana for breakfast. Cecelia came over to Lou sit and Dan and I headed off to the dentist. She had her teeth cleaned and a mouth guard fitted. We were then off to her eye doctors to get some paperwork. Then we picked up some salads at the Corner Bakery Cafe for lunch. Hummus toast for dinner.

Tuesday: (12/03) I made a run to the store and to the pharmacy. Granola for breakfast. Refried beans with sausage for lunch. Dawn made vegetable soup for dinner.

Wednesday: (12/04) Watched the Impeachment Hearing in the morning. Granola and banana for breakfast. I made a batch of my enchilada casserole and had some for lunch and dinner. I also made a big Waldorf salad. Otherwise a relaxing rainy day at home with Lou.

Thursday: (12/05) Enchiladas for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lou had a PT visit. The exciting thing for the day was that a work crew started removing the sidewalk for our next door neighbors.

Friday: (12/06) Enchiladas for breakfast. PBJ toast for lunch. Cottage cheese and peaches for dinner. I did a touch of work today before the rains. I cleaned the leaf debris out of the two chicken coops and Ernie and I moved them to the front yard. I only had to remove the gate from the fence for them to fit out. Next week the gardener will take them away. I later made a grocery run to Walmart. Otherwise relaxed inside.

Saturday: (12/07) A rainy day. Relaxed at home all day. I made another Waldorf salad. Granola and banana for breakfast. Enchilada casserole for lunch. Ramen noodles for dinner.

Sunday: (12/08) Another rainy relaxing day at home. I made a pear Waldorf salad with some pears our neighbor brought over. Chorizo chicken patty with fried eggs and toast for breakfast. Chicken with PBJ toast.Waldorf salad for lunch. Baked potato with chilli for dinner.

Monday: (12/09) The big event on this overcast day was that the crew removed the driveway ramp and prepared the forms and base to pour sidewalk and ramp tomorrow. Waldorf salad for breakfast. Enchilada casserole for lunch. LUU Noodle House take home for dinner.


Tuesday: (12/10) Busy day supervising the concrete finishers replacing our neighbors sidewalk and driveway ramp. They manage to do it a lot quicker than I do. However, Ernie and I did about the same area in about 4 days of mixing, pouring , and finishing, just the two of us, not a crew of eight and not delivered readymix. Granola and banana for breakfast. A late lunch of leftovers from LUU Noodle House.

 

Mt Umunhum Preserve Hike

Friday: (11/22) I met my fellow SJMW hikers at Mt Umunhum Preserve for a hike up to the peak where the old Air Force radar station remains are. Nice weather and nice views for the hike. Granola and banana for breakfast. Lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. Lou’s tacos for dinner.

Lou was watching the channel 11 evening news tonight and noticed our San Jose house was featured in the B roll of a report on Generation Z Housing.

Fall Roof Cleanup

Thursday: (11/21) I watched more impeachment testimony to start the day. After lunch I worked outside. Cleaning leaves from the neighbors garage roof before they fall in our yard. And cleaned leaves from our cottage. I also made a stair platform to make the set into our sunroom easier for Lou. I also replaced the smoke alarm in Ernie’s trailer. Soft boiled eggs for breakfast. A nice veggie burrito for lunch. Chicken soy chorizo stuffed peppers with Brussels Sprouts and baked potatoes for dinner.

Fall Creek Hike

Wednesday: (11/20) Granola and banana for breakfast. I was off for a hike in Felton at Henry Cowell SP. Colin led a 9 mile hike at Fall Creek to Big Ben Tree and Lime Kiln. Wonderful day for the hike with nice creeks and a nice forest. This was Colin’s 600the hike. His first hike was on one of my hikes back in 2013. On the way home I stopped at the house in San Jose to put some things inside out of the weather. Then I stopped at Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. Chili on potato for dinner.

It's Fall

Tuesday: (11/12) I took the RV to fill up the gas tank. When I returned, I lowered the jacks and opened the slides. I then unloaded some things. While exiting the RV with the laundry basket, I managed to fall skinning both knees and one hand and arm. I’ve got to quit exiting the RV carrying loads. Now I can join lou with sore knees. I hope they are better before my next hike Wednesday after next. Granola and banana for breakfast. Lunch at Hobee’s Restaurant. Baked bean size for dinner.

Wednesday: (11/13) I watched the impeachment hearing all morning. I put on one of Lou’s old knee braces and went outside about 1100 and cleaned up around the shop then cut down a dead tree that used to grow in the neighbors yard and hung over the shop. I cut it down to roof height. And cut the debris up to fit in our compost dumpsters. The tree and leaves from the roof filled to two dumpsters. I then enjoyed a nice shower and a late lunch. Cottage cheese for breakfast. A chili size for a very late lunch at 1500.

Thursday: (11/14) A city crew was busy patching depressions on our street pavement. They will be topping it later with a topcoat sealer later. Granola and diced apple for breakfast. A little grocery shopping. Chili for lunch. Salad for dinner.

Friday: (11/15) A relaxing morning watching the impeachment hearings, day 2. Ernie’s smoke/CO detector alarm went off and wouldn’t clear. It was a year old supposedly 10 year device. I threw it away and ordered a new one. A little before noon we headed out to do some shopping in San Jose and then we dropped Dawn off at a bookstore and Lou and I went to an appointment. Granola and banana for breakfast. Lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. Lou made chicken with sauerkraut and potatoes for dinner.

Saturday: (11/16) A little cleanup to start the day. I made a run to Lowe’s in sunnyvale to get some materials for some downspout repairs and other projects. Back at home I had to relax the rest of the day. In the evening we went to Harry’s for our Thankmas Dinner with neighbor Meili, and friends Courtney and Cecelia and Ernie.. Granola and banana for breakfast. Some dim sum from Dim Sum King for lunch. Dinner at Harry’ Hofbrau in Redwood City.

Sunday: (11/17) Watch the morning shows to start. Granola and banana for breakfast. I finished the downspouts. One needed a longer pipe and the other needed a new drop flange and piping. I worked on re-potting and planting several planters on the walkway. Two of the planters we bought in Morro Bay and two we got a couple of years ago at a garage sale. I also setup some sprinklers for them. I ended up having to return to Lowe’s for more materials. Leftovers for lunch. Lou made tuna noodles for dinner.

Monday: (11/18) Dawn and I were off to San Jose. We had breakfast at La Victoria Taqueria. We cleaned up her apartment. I took off for a chai latte and walk. Dawn had an appointment. When she was through we returned home. Leftovers for lunch. I finished the drip sprinklers for the new planters. I had laid pipes under the walkway but needed to connect it to the drip system. Lou made corn flake chicken with roasted broccoli and baked beans for dinner.

Tuesday: (11/19) I spent the day tinkering in the yard, repotting plants, replacing a sprinkler valve, raking leaves, and more. The sprinkler valve I bought yesterday didn’t fit. It was the same Orbit brand and was replacing an Orbit valve in an Orbit manifold. For some reason it was ¼” too long to fit. I returned to the store and found one that was correct. Size does matter but the same brand of inline valve should have fit. Granola and banana for breakfast. Lunch from Super Taqueria. I had a nice no meat burrito. Leftover chicken for dinner.

Morro Bay State Park

Saturday: (11/09) We went to breakfast downtown at Karla’s Cafe. Wonderful breakfasts and muffins. After breakfast we looked around downtown at several shops. We also visited the Miner’s Hardware store and the Antique Mall next door on Highway 41. After that we had lunch at the Taco Temple. Absolutely great. We did some grocery shopping next to the Taco Temple at Spencer’s market then stopped at the Farmers Market downtown. Lou found some planters at one of the shops that we Needed. Back home in the dark, again at 1730.

Sunday: (11/10) Happy birthday Dawn! We decided to go to breakfast at Francisco’s Country Kitchen in Arroyo Grande. They make great corned beef hash and also great oatmeal. Dawn wanted oatmeal so we drove down to it, about 20+ miles. We arrived to find the building was vacant. We checked Google and found they had moved about two miles away in Grover beach. We enjoyed our breakfast there then checked the required thrift shops there. We then headed back up to San Luis Obispo and checked a couple of more thrift stores. Most of them were closed because today was Sunday. We headed back to the RV and relaxed all afternoon. Dawn wasn’t feeling well so she and Lou will return to SLO to check out the remaining thrift stores while I move the RV out of the campground and wait in day use parking by the marina. After lunch we’ll hit the road for home. Lou made soup for dinner in the instapot.

Monday: (11/11) Granola and banana for breakfast. Dawn is still sick so we just headed home at 0920. We headed up Highway 1 to 41 then 101. We stopped at the Camp Roberts Rest Area and then in Greenfield for lunch at the Rancho San Miguel Market. In Gilroy we had to exit the Freeway at Masten due to the traffic Northbound backing up due to a tanker truck accident on the opposite side of the road. We say all that Southbound Highway 101 traffic detoured onto Monterey but Northbound Monterey wass moving nicely. Eventually we returned to Highway 101 and home. At home I drained the holding tanks and filled the water. I’ll need to go get gas tomorrow. We try to remain ready for use in case of an emergency. Leftovers for dinner.

Pinnacles NP Hikes

Sunday: (11/03) Granola and banana for breakfast. Some final packing, window washing, etc and we were finally on the road around 1100. We stopped in Gilroy at the Longhorn Restaurant for lunch. We arrived at the park sometime after 1430 and were all setup by 1510. Only eight campers in the RV section. Looks like there was a crowd here to hike over the weekend. Lots of people driving out of the park on our way in and quite a few hikers cars still here. Lou made chicken with baked potatoes, carrots and green beans.
(GPS: 36.492429, -121.147332)

Monday: (11/04) Up at 0700 with the deer. A nice 30 degrees inside and out. After warming up the inside and a nice breakfast I gathered my hike pack and was ready quite early to meet my hiker friends for today’s adventure. I wandered over to the Visitor Center at 0900. Only seven hikers for today's hike we were off to the trailhead at 0930. It had actually warmed up nicely by then. In fact the forecast for today is 81 degrees. We hiked up toward the High Peaks going through the Bear Gulch Caves and enjoying the lake views on the upper side of the caves. The sun on the peaks made for nice photos. An advantage of going this opposite CW direction rather than we have in the past is that I was able to point out the Hippo face and Snoopy head on the way. Usually hikers are ahead of me at those sites. Lunch at the top. We sighted two condors flying above during lunch. Going down the carved rock steps was interesting. We bere back to the cars by 1430. When I was dropped off at the Visitor Center I was surprised to see Dave and his wife relaxing there. He is a fellow SJMW hiker and hosts a visit for the group at his ranch every year. He didn’t know of today's hike . They had reservations to camp here but didn’t feel good enough for a hike but decided the views and animals were still worth a visit. They had stopped by our RV and surprised Lou and Dawn. The said they recognized our orange jeep. Granola for breakfast. Nice Chicken burritos for dinner.

Tuesday: (11/05) We drove in to Hollister to the Cozy Cup Cafe for breakfast. I had a nice chili verde and eggs for breakfast. We explored downtown shops and did some grocery shopping. After returning to camp about 1500 we relaxed in the wonderful weather. Dawn made some soup for dinner.

Wednesday: (11/06) Granola and banana for breakfast. I met my 10 fellow hikers at the Vistor Center for a hike. We hiked out the Old Pinnacles Trail, through the Balconies Caves and up Juniper Canyon Trail. We took the Tunnel trail up to the High peaks Trail and returned down the mountain to the Bench Trail and back to our cars. We had lunch by the trail on High Peaks Trail. It was a wonderful day with a wonderful group. The light was good for different photos by going CCW unlike the usual CW. Climbing up through the Balconies caves seemed easier. Many of us got to see one condor as we climbed up Juniper and Tunnel trails. Going up Juniper wasn't as difficult as I was thinking and coming down the High Peaks Trail was a breeze. A very pleasant hike. I enjoyed my usual reward of an ice cream bar after the hike at the store. After a nice shower I relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Lou made spaghetti for dinner.

Thursday: (11/07) I prepared a nice chicken patty with eggs and home fried potatoes for breakfast. Otherwise I relaxed outside at camp listening to Johnny Dollar stories from the Old Time Radio App on my phone. I fixed some PBJ toast for lunch. We didn’t have our usual morning visit from the deer and turkeys. The deer did show up at about 5pm. I observed a couple or more condors in the trees above our camp in the ridge. One even took flight momentarily to change trees. For dinner we headed into the “town” of Tres Pinos for dinner at the 19th Hole road house.

Friday: (11/08) Granola and diced Apple for breakfast. I moved the RV to the day use area. It wasn't easy because the right front jack wouldn't come up. I raised it manually. I met my fellow hikers at 0900 for our 0930 hike. We hiked the North Wilderness loop in The CW direction. Wonderful hike for the five of us. We got back before 1600. I prepared the RV to roll then took a shower we left the park at 1720 and it was dark already. We headed South on Hwy 25 then over to King City the down Hwy 101 to 41 to Morro Bay SP. We stopped for leftover dinner on the way at a rest stop. We settled into our site be 2130.
(GPS: 35.347757, -120.838689)

Trip Prep

Saturday: (11/02) I made sausage, eggs and home fried potatoes for breakfast. I then spent some time on the computer and office stuff. Then Lou gave me her shopping list and sent me off to Walmart. Actually I had a list of two items and she added a couple of dozen items. Walmart didn’t have any of my list but had most of her items. I also stopped at Trader Joe’s, Sprout’s market, CVS Drugs, and Walgreen Drugs and managed to get all but two items. For Lunch I had a couple of egg rolls. Afternoon spent packing and preparing to leave. Dinner was soup from Whole Foods market.

Wunderlich Park Eighth Anniversary Hike

Friday: (11/01) Alex picked me up and we met our fellow hikers at Wunderlich Park. We hiked up to Alice’s restaurant for lunch celebrating the eighth anniversary for the hiking group. Granola and banana for breakfast. Lunch at Alice’s Restaurant, a nice Veggie Sandwich. Dinner at Tacos El Grullense down the street. Lou and I shared a Veggie Burrito. Dawn had plantains.