Wednesday: (03/02) A new era begins. I’m trying to finally do something about my weight. Covid stay at home non activity has taken a measurable toll. In addition I have been neglecting my Heart healthy diet recently. So, I need to pay more attention to the type of foods I eat in addition to the quantities. I like my breakfast sandwiches and granola but I need to now enjoy them less often. I am going to try to eat simpler cereals like rice and low processed non sugary granola about 5 times a week. Lunch will be changing to salads 5 times a week. Dinners will just be measured and less. Dish it up and put away any leftovers before eating so the temptation to return to the pot is gone. I’ll still do two days without as many restrictions. This is my plan and I hope I can stick with it for a while.
Since I need to get some rice and such, this morning breakfast was the usual First Street French Vanilla granola with a banana. Lunch was a nice green salad from Grocery Outlet. Leftover enchiladas for dinner. I attended my Wednesday webinar and tinkered in the office all morning. I made a shopping run and got some rice.
Thursday: (03/03) Since we are getting low on LPG gas for the range, Lou brought out the induction cooktop and loaned me one of the house pots that works with it and I cooked some rice. Evidently we’ll need some new pots and pans for the RV soon.
Friday: (03/04) A cold windy day, all day. I tinkered inside. Lou and Dawn managed to get some work done in Dawn’s garden in the morning before going out shopping later. Rice and banana for breakfast. Green salad for lunch. Garden grown cabbage and sausage with potatoes for dinner.
Saturday: (03/05) Rain again last night. Cold all day. Windy in the afternoon. I relaxed inside all day except for installing a new solar panel on one of our front yard cameras. I worked on Lou’s original scooter that occasionally dies with the battery still nicely charged. I suspected a loose connection and isolated it to a 8 pin network cable that connects the display board to the controller. I had also found the faceplate on the battery meter had come loose and jammed the needle occasionally. I reglued it last night and reinstalled it today. I glued the connector back onto the display board and determined the most likely pins that would cause the problem, only 3 could. I ordered a new soldering kit to do the repair later. One of my OK to eat normal days. I prepared ham, and eggs with toast for breakfast. A nice green salad for lunch. Chili beans and toast for dinner.
Sunday: (03/06) PBJ Toast for breakfast. A nice green salad for grocery Outlet, again. Lou’s asparagus soup and toast for dinner. I received my new soldering iron today and worked on Lou’s scooter controller re-soldering a connector. The scooter worked well, for 25’ before skidding to a stop showing it was dead. No voltage indicated. I worked on it some more and swapped the 8 pin connector cable that goes up to the switch display panel. No defined fixes but it did start working again for a while then failed again. More work needed, someday.
Monday: (03/07) Rice and diced apple for breakfast. Lunch from Lucky Chinese Bistro. Chicken nuggets and tater tots for dinner. I made a grocery run today. I stopped at Smart and Final, Safeway, and Walmart markets. Each has their own favorites. I also stopped at Marshall’s and bought a couple of new induction compatible pans frying and sauce Had to return Lou’s borrowed pans. I’ve been using an induction hot plate to reduce LPG consumption. We’ll be rolling out to camp next week so I’ll fill up LPG then. Meanwhile, here at home I’ll just start using electric cooking only.
Tuesday: (03/08) Rice with diced apple for breakfast. The usual green salad from Grocery Outlet for lunch. Dawn made Tuscan soup for dinner. In the afternoon I went outside and welded up two frames for my garden rodent and bird screens.
Wednesday: (03/09) Rice with banana for breakfast. The usual green salad from Grocery Outlet for lunch. Leftover Chinese food for dinner with cheesecake for dessert. I attended my usual Wednesday webinar. Dawn and I picked up a load of compost from the city garden for her garden. I washed both cars and vacuumed and wiped the interior of my car. It was quite dirt after all the bucket hauling it has done these past two years.
Thursday: (03/10) Ham and egg with cheese breakfast sandwich. I headed out early to pickup a car pool passenger and drive up to Mori Point in Pacifica for a hike. This is my first hike with Chris leading. It was an 11 mile 1700’ loop up onto Sweeney Ridge via the Banquiano Trail, down to Milagra Ridge and on to the beach. Then down the beach through Mori Point to our start. Chris served Terrabites, some mincemeat like tarts he made at the end of our hike. Several of us (Chris, Kathy, Sally, Joe and Lynn) stopped for a late lunch at Guerrero's Taqueria. Pretty good grub. I had a super Quesodilla the was more like a big burrito. I ate half and packed the remainder home. Back home I showered and relaxed the rest of the day. Leftover green salad and hot and sour soup for dinner.
Friday: (03/11) I had the leftover quesadilla for breakfast. I drove down to San Jose and picked up the Hepa vacuum for Lou. Green salad for lunch. I worked on my garden bird and squirrel screens. I added a cross brace to the frames I built earlier and started attaching the chicken wire. I cut the wire and attached the ends but still need to do the sides. Pizza for dinner.
Saturday: (03/12) Cottage cheese for breakfast. Green salads for lunch. Dawn made stew for dinner. I worked a little outside and got the wire attached to the two chicken wire screens I worked on yesterday. I set it up and it looks like it might work. Now to make three more pairs to do the rest of the garden.
Sunday: (03/13) Rice with banana for breakfast. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Chipotle bowls for dinner. I cut the pieces and welded the frames for the garden. Somehow I managed to miscount the quantity needed. Not only am I missing one, I’m also out of EMT sticks for them. I only bought 8 and needed 11 so I’ll have to get more tomorrow. I managed to mess up the number needed, and the count of the frames during the cutting and welding. Only noticed I was missing one as I was completing the last frame??? Getting old, I guess.
Monday: (03/14) Lou made refried beans with sausage and cheese for breakfast. Green salads from the Grocery Outlet for lunch again today. Dawn salmon baked potato and asparagus. I made a run at Walgreens, Smart and Final and Grocery outlet for a few things. I had ordered some items online from Walgreens for pickup at the store. I found they were much cheaper online than in store even though they came from the store and were delivered to me at the curb. I could like this. I also stopped at Lowe’s for some more EMT tubing. Back home, I cut the tubing and welded the final garden pest screen frame. When we return from our camping trip I’ll need to put the wire on them.
Tuesday: (03/15) Granola and banana for breakfast. We finished preparing to leave. I took the RV down to Sunnyvale to get LPG and fill the RV gas tank. Back home, we hooked up the Jeep and headed off about 1100. We headed North on Highway 280, through San Francisco on 19th Avenue and up 101 to Sir Francis Drake Blvd toward San Anselmo. We were settled into our campsite by 1330. We had green salads produced by Lou for lunch. Then a nap was needed. About 1600 I headed off for a hike around the park. I checked out the facilities then hiked West on the Ox Trail to the old paper mill. I continued a ways further then turned back and returned on the creek trail. The creek trail is part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. Leftover soup and toast for dinner.
GPS: 38.021761,-122.735921
Wednesday: (03/16) I made ham and egg sandwiches with cheese for breakfast. Lou and Dawn dropped me off at the Devil’s Gorge trailhead about 1030 for my hike. I hiked up Bill’s Trail to the top of Barnabe Peak. I had my trail lunch there by the fire lookout tower with two lizards. The trail down is a fire road and rather steep. I frightened a deer along the way.I was back home by 1500. The trail up is one of the nicest trails with beautiful forest all the way up and a easy consistent grade. I had some corn chips and salsa as a snack. I took a shower at one of the campground showers. The use $1 tokens for 4 minute showers. The first four minute token expired just as there was finally a trace on non ice cold water. I decided to give it another try thinking that maybe it was about primed. About 30 seconds into the second coin the hot water finally arrived. I had a nice shower with the remaining 3.5 minutes. Leftover roast with mashed potatoes and corn for dinner.
Thursday: (03/17) Lou made pancakes and sausage for breakfast. We snacked for lunch. Chili topped baked potatoes for dinner. We took a drive today out to Point Reyes National Seashore. We looked over the Visitor Center which is well done. Then drove out to the lighthouse. It is only open on the weekend so we couldn't see it up close but it has nice views of the area. We also drove up to the highest mountain top in the park which ends at the Inverness Trailhead. We stopped for a snack at the Inverness store then drove up to Point Reyes Station and explored the shops there. We returned home via some back roads past Nicasio Reservoir.
Friday: (03/18) Leftovers for breakfast. We stopped in Millbrae at Neil’s for lunch. We left camp about 1000. We drove out Sir Francis Drake Blvd to Highway 1 at point Reyes. We took Highway 1 South through Stinson Beach and Muir Beach. We stopped to stretch in Golden Gate Park then stopped for lunch in Millbrae. We then stopped at a couple of thrift stores on the way home. Arrived home about 1600. Leftovers for dinner.
Saturday: (03/19) Rice with banana for breakfast. Tomato soup for lunch. Fettuccine with clam sauce for dinner. I worked on my garden pest screens adding the wire to a couple of the frames. Heavy rain in the evening.
Sunday: (03/20) The usual slow Sunday morning I made ham and eggs with some home fried potatoes for breakfast. I worked some more on my garden pest screens adding the wire to three more frames. Three more to do. I took a bike ride over to look at the city compost pile at Eleanor Pardee Park. Still empty. Dawn needs some more and I need wood chips which is also empty. On the way back I stopped at the Grocery Outlet and picked up salads for lunch and a corned beef roast and a lot of milk and some eggs. A big load for my bike. Lou pulled all the cabbage from my garden spot and cooled it with the corned beef for dinner. I made a reservation for the Pinnacles NP for a couple of nights following our Pismo Beach visit. I’ll stop on the way home and take a hike, possibly with my fellow SJMWHG.
Monday: (03/21) Rice with diced apple for breakfast. Grocery Outlet green salad for lunch. I added the wire to the remaining three garden frames. Then I cut the tubing for the four end caps and welded the frames up. I’ll add the wire Wednesday. Linguini for dinner.
Tuesday: (03/22) I had a ham, egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast. That is my go to hikers breakfast. I drove up to Montebello Open Space preserve to lead my 5 OSP Black Mountain hike. It was a 12.5 mile hike through five preserves and to the top of the highest mountain in that area. I didn’t lose any of the 10 hikers. Nice clear views of the ocean and bay from the top. On the way home i stopped at Grocery Outlet to get a salad for lunch. I also stopped to pickup some free items from Talk and Trade for Dawn. Dinner was fish with tater tots and asparagus. After my shower I did my usual nothing post hike.
Wednesday: (03/23) Start by cooking up a pot of rice and browning a bunch of ham. I had some rice with a banana for breakfast and also had to test the ham. I attended the usual Wednesday Alpha Anywhere webinar. Grocery Outlet salad for lunch. After lunch, I rode my bike over to out ACE Hardware to get some more wire, galvanizing paint and vacuum filters. I completed painting all the welds and added wire to a couple of the end frames. A couple more to do. We picked up dinner from Lucky Chinese Bistro.
Thursday: (03/24) Rice with diced apple for lunch. I completed adding the chicken wire to the pest frames and cultivated and fertilized the other half of my garden. Lou made baked cauliflower with artichokes and ham for lunch. In the afternoon I planted my garden of corn, beans, broccoli, carrots, peppers and tomatoes. I also installed the new critter protection screens. Lou and I went to the Sprout’s Market for a couple of things and I enjoyed my leftover Chinese food.
Friday: (03/25) Rice with banana for breakfast. I weeded the front yard bark. I rode the bike over the Baji’s Cafe to meet Lou and Dawn for lunch. Along the way to and from lunch I tried to find a better off the main road bike path to the area of the cafe. Not easy due to missing street connections. Lou made clam chowder for dinner.
Saturday: (03/26) Cottage cheese with banana for breakfast. I gave myself a beard and haircut. My process is to shower and wash my hair to get rid of the oils in the beard and hair. Then go sun myself to dry out. Then do the haircut and take another shower to get rid of the debris. It pretty much fills a morning. While shopping at our nearby Sprout’s Market, we found some salad kits for $3.99 each. I’ve been getting my lunch salads from Grocery Outlet. Those come in a bowl with the makings. Sprout’s kits are in a plastic bag, much less debris and a good kit as well, however their kit does not include the chicken so that needs to be added. Those salads were lunch and quite good. Lou made Chinese egg flower soup and Dawn made chicken Pad Thai noodles for dinner.
Sunday: (03/27) I decided I wanted a diet exception day breakfast so today I picked up huevos rancheros for everyone at Tacos El Gruelense down the street. Later we tinkered in the backyard and I ended up pruning all the jade plant blossoms off which was a major project. They were very prolific last year. I also plucked all the grass out of the brick walkway in the rear yard. So that was my relaxation on Sunday morning. I had leftover salad for lunch and Lou and Dawn prepared liver and onions for their lunch. For dinner we had leftover Chinese food that Lou and Dawn prepared yesterday for dinner. We had lots of clouds and some wind that turned into high wind gusts and heavy rain in the evening.
Monday: (03/28) Granola with a banana for breakfast. Lou made a fruit, nut, tuna and green salad for lunch. Leftovers for dinner. It was a day with occasional heavy rain. I checked a rain gutter above the cooler that Lou complained about. I cleaned the gutter and tested the downspout then added a little rain diverter to direct more water into the gutter. I then cleaned up the leaves that blew down during the storm on the sidewalks and patio. I tinkered with the computer much of the day.
Tuesday: (03/29) I prepared scrambled egg, ham and cheese breakfast sandwiches. I was off at 0830 to lead my hike at Long Ridge Open Space Preserve. On the way there I stopped at several other OSP’s to see if they were open. There is the possibility that Long Ridge could be closed for a mountain lion study. It could also affect any of the other preserves during this week. Specific closures are not adequately publicized so it was a guessing game to see if Long Ridge was closed and if it was where to move the hike to. The seemed to be at Russian Ridge OSP so we were able to do our hike. It was foggy during the whole hike but still a beautiful hike with my other 11 fellow hikers. It was only 7.1 miles. We started at 0930 and finished before 1230, quite fast for one of my hikes. Back home I took a shower then relaxed and had lunch. Later I checked on a new project in our neighborhood. They started a sewer line replacement project in our neighborhood. They were busy marking the street and using a camera to ID the specific locations of the lateral connections. Our street will be really pockmarked since each lateral connection requires a 3’ square hole. Lou made Chinese noodles for dinner.
Wednesday: (03/30) Granola and banana for breakfast. Lou and Dawn were off early for appointments and shopping. I attended my Wednesday Alpha software webinar. After that, I rode my bike over to the city compost pile to see if it had been resupplied. It had. On the way home, I stopped at theLocal Kitchen restaurant to get a salad for lunch. I worked on our tax return the rest of the day collecting information. We tried to go out to dinner at Chili’s restaurant to use a gift card we had. Unfortunately they were over occupied and under staffed, so we returned home for chili baked potatoes for dinner.
Thursday: (03/31) Lou and Dawn were off to appointments today. I prepared a quesadilla for my breakfast with some leftover homemade tortillas. I tinkered with a couple of small projects in the morning. Later, I rode my bike over to REI in Sunnyvale to get some GU electrolyte tablets. I picked up some dim sum for my lunch. I worked on tax preparation again. Dawn BBQ’ed a roast, potatoes and apples for dinner with rice and green beans.