Saturday: (11/02) A frozen breakfast sandwich for breakfast. I got out the table saw and made a new base mount for the new compost toilet. This new one has a much more rounded base edge so the base frame needs to be taller to keep the toilet in place. The toilet is now all set up and ready to use. I’ll need to paint the frame some time but I’ll wait until I confirm it works well. We went to Harry’s Hofbrau in Redwood City for lunch. Back home, the glue has set on the toilet frame so I installed it to the board the toilet sits on in the shower. In the evening we went to IKEA for a walk. Leftovers for dinner.
Sunday: (11/03) A nice relaxed Sunday morning even better because of an extra hour's sleep due to DST. I had leftover lasagna for breakfast.I took Lou to Kaiser to get a checkup. I dropped Dawn off and Barnes and Nobles while I visited the Walmart Neighborhood Market. After getting a few things I relaxed in the lot watching Youtube videos until called to pick everyone up. We stopped at Safeway and got some soup for Lou and Dawn’s lunch. For lunch I had a bacon and cheese sandwich. Back home I paid bills and tinkered on the computer. Later I helped the neighbor with a leak on her sink valve. I wasn’t able to improve it and recommended a replacement. For dinner I made chili, mashed potatoes, corn and onion with cheese bowls.
Monday: (11/04) Granola and yogurt for breakfast. After a shower, Lou and I were off to San Jose to meet the heater repair technician. He was scheduled to arrive between 8-9 am. I called about 0850 and confirmed I had given them the correct address. I had. About 1000 I was notified that the technician had called in sick and another technician would be out between 1100-1300. Alex arrived just after 1100. He checked it out and determined the control board was bad. He departed and found a board and returned to install it. Heater back in operation about 1330. Lou and I stopped for lunch at Aqui’s restaurant in Cupertino on our way home. Dawn had planned on riding her scooter over to Stanford but had some kind of event that made her leave the scooter and walk home. On our way home we stopped to pickup the scooter. Unfortunately, it was locked with two cable locks, one through the front wheel and the other locking that cable to a fence rail. The lock on the wheel had an unknown (unremembered0 combination so I had to move a bunch of stuff from the Van garage and load the scooter into the garage. Back home I returned everything back to its proper home in the van and cut the cable off the wheel. I had some wieners and hash browned potatoes for dinner.
Tuesday: (11/05) Granola and yogurt for breakfast. I was a chauffeur for Dawn to pick up her food. We also stopped by the library to return books. I worked on our old Coleman generator. I determined it might be the ignition coil shorted so I ordered one. Stir fry vegetables with tofu for lunch. Just relaxed in the afternoon. Salad for dinner.
Wednesday: (11/06) Two waffles with ham and cheese as a sandwich for breakfast. I worked on the honda generator this morning. I checked out why no spark and found the kill switch seemed to be active when it shouldn't. After disassembling the entire generator to get access it started working. Hopefully it continues to work. I used starting fluid and could get the engine to run momentarily but now with its own gas. After assembling and disassembling the carburetor several times, I eventually cleared the plug and it runs like a champ now. It only started because I gave up and ordered a replacement carburetor then trie fixing it one more time. It then worked so I was able to cancel the carburetor order. Each time I reassembled the carburetor one of the gaskets leaked gas. Tightening the bolts wouldn’t stop it. That final reassembly when the engine finally ran, the leak also stopped. Don’t know why but I have ordered a gasket kit to keep around. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Lou made porcupine meatball stuffed peppers, chili rellenos and Brussel’s sprouts for dinner.
Thursday: (11/07) A frozen pancake, sausage, egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast. I blew the leaves from the yard to start. I worked on the second generator. I received the replacement ignition coil yesterday evening. It went in and needed a second seating to make the coil closer to the flywheel to work. I cleaned the carburetor and it started. A little tuning and it seems it will be OK. I had a salad and some jambalaya soup for lunch. In the afternoon I checked the Van’s spare tire pressure. It was only 59 psi and needed to be over 80 psi so I aired it up. It doesn’t seem to have fixed the fault code. I then worked on installing the struts on the bed to allow lifting it for storage access. The struts I bought are too strong so I need to get some weaker struts. I did make a run to ACE to get some screws and I filled the gas cans on the way. Lou made a pot roast for dinner.
Friday: (11/08) Granola and yogurt for breakfast. I lost my blue hat. I had to dig out one of my spare hats to be able to go out in public. I drove back to ACE, where I was last night working on the van bed strut installation, to look for my hat. It wasn’t there. I planned on a hike today. But, I decided to do some shopping first. I stopped at Dollar Tree to stock up my freezer with breakfast sandwiches and ice cream. I stopped to pick up lunch at Super Taqueria. I made my way up to Foothills Nature Preserve to the ViewPoint and ate half my burrito for lunch. About 1300 I started my hike. I hiked a 10,5 mile loop around the park on the Coyote Trail, the Los Trancos Trail and the Toyon Trail and then, because it was now dark, I took the road back to my van at the ViewPoint from the Entrance Gate, about 1 mile. The rangers were telling people to leave the park because it closed at 1800. Dawn called and wanted me to pick her up at the Los Altos Library later after a book sale event. I went there and had my dinner of some Dollar store trees. A cheese burger, a salisbury steak with macaroni and cheese and some salad.
Saturday: (11/09) Leftover burrito for breakfast. Recovery time in the morning. I relaxed all morning.We all went to Harry’s Hofbrau for lunch. More relaxing back home. Not much accomplished today. Some wieners and hash browned potatoes for dinner.
Sunday: (11/10) Dawn wanted to go to Hobee’s Restaurant in Palo alto for her birthday breakfast. After breakfast, Lou and Dawn headed off thrifting for the day. I walked from the restaurant to Walmart, then Kohl’s looking for a new hat. They are very hard to find and I struck out. Walmart is being remodeled and it’s been a few days since I was last there. Lots of rearranging. KIt looks like the food section is going to become a real market now. I caught the bus home. My knees and legs are not working correctly. I may be canceling my hikes at Pinnacles unless I can find leaders for them. Back home I worked on the junk piles in front of my shop. I cut a lot of scrap wood up and am ready to burn it some time soon. Lou and Dawn went to Famous Dave’s for their late lunch at 1600. I had leftover lasagna from Harry’s for my dinner at 1800.
Monday: (11/11) A frozen pancake sausage sandwich for breakfast. It was a rainy morning so we were slow getting out. Lou and I went to Walmart and bought a tent I saw there yesterday. Lou wants a new one to sleep outside. Her current screen tent doesn't work now that we are coming into winter. I had a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Then Dawn joined us and we went to the Dollar Tree store and REI. I started working on the mulcher. I set up a work table and cleaned the gunk off the engine. Tomorrow I’ll clean the carburetor and try to start it. Lou made linguini with clam sauce for Dawn’s birthday dinner. It was followed by a chocolate cake.
Tuesday: (11/12) I heard the vibrating roller on the paving project about 0330. I walked down to see their activity and watched as they were finishing the last 100 feet of the last lane. They seem to be doing about 1.1 miles of a single lane each night and ended where I had predicted yesterday. Tomorrow they will be passing by our street. I binged the 800 Words TV series all night. A frozen pancake sausage sandwich for breakfast. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Lou made linguini with clam sauce for dinner.
Wednesday: (11/13) A frozen pancake sausage sandwich for breakfast. I cut down the apricot tree. It's always been in the way and is a little worse for wear. It is (was) 80 years old. I managed to trim it down to within an inch of the ground. I was also able to remove half of the roots. While I was hacking and hewing I was also burning all my scrap wood. Vegetable beef soup for lunch. Leftovers for dinner. About 1930 I took a walk toward Stanford to watch the paving crew. I also took a walk over to the Arizona Garden on the Stanford Campus. It is quite different when viewed at 2200 at night. I finished watching about midnight then walked home and tucked myself in bed at 0100.
Thursday: (11/14) A frozen pancake sausage sandwich for breakfast. I removed the rest of the tree stump and back filled with dirt. Our neighbor, Meili, took us all to dinner at Aqui’s restaurant. Ernie joined us. I think this is due to my jack hammering out her sidewalk and repairing a water leak in her backyard a few days ago. I filled the compost bins with more apricot tree wood after they were emptied by the disposal service. I still have another load for next week but I can’t make the bins too heavy. Not much else done today. A wiener and hash browned potato sandwich for dinner.
Friday: (11/15) Granola and yogurt for breakfast. I tinkered with the leaf shredder motor. I cleaned the carburetor. Then I couldn't confirm it had spark so I headed off the Harbor Freight for a spark tester. Before leaving I blew and raked the leaves in the front yard since I moved the van out of the driveway which was fully covered. Then off to shop. I, of course, got a few other items while at Harbor Freight. Then I visited the Walmart Neighborhood market near there, And then I stopped by a Grocery Outlet for more stuff. I stopped for lunch at an REI store in Sunnyvale and walked over to get lunch from the China Wok across the street. After lunch I looked around the REI store. I’m looking for an inexpensive day pack but none to be found there. I stopped at a Ross store across the street and found a good enough day pack for $19. Then headed home. I tested the spark on the motor and there wasn’t any. So I started disassembling the top of the motor to get access to the ignition coil. I needed to remove the flywheel to get to the coil but it would pull off. I added some penetrating oil and am waiting to see if it breaks free. I then covered it to protect it from any rain while I wait. We had a salad for dinner.
Saturday: (11/16) A waffle, ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast. I went down to San Jose to pick up the electric heaters that we loaned the tenants. I stopped at Grocery Outlet and at Smart And Final for a few things. I had my lunch at Smart and Final, leftover Chinese food. At 1325 Dawn called and reminded me that we were to go to a play at Gunn High School at 1400. I was in San Jose and had a good distance to get to the play. I made it about 5 minutes before curtain time. Nice play. Then I returned to my shopping run visiting Walmart, and Dollar Tree and getting gas before picking up dinner from Super Taqueria.
Sunday: (11/17) Lou made an oven omelet for breakfast. We were busy all morning getting ready to travel in the motorhome. Lots to do. We finally left at about 1300. We stopped in Gilroy for gas then continued on to Pinnacles National Park. We settled into site 98. After I got us all settled in, I took a walk around the camp to find some of my fellow hikers that are camping here. Peggy, Sharon, Chinese and I took a walk around the park looking for others. As we got back Sue was walking around looking for us. There is one other camper here, Belong=da with her husband. We had vegetable ground beef soup with toast for dinner.
Monday: (11/18) Leftover omelet for breakfast. I met my fellow SJMW Hikers at the camp store and we headed up to Bear Gulch for our hike. We hiked up to the reservoir and hacked around to the back side. Then we backtracked and headed up to the High Peaks rocks and returned on the Condor Gulch Trail. I had called Lou to come pick us up at the Bear Gulch TrailHead. I forgot to tell her it would be in about an hour. She arrived before we did, She had talked with a ranger there and he later told us she left a little miffed. I waited for her to return and some hikers left in one of the cars and some hiked back to the campground. Later the ranger returned and told me that Lou was on the way per a ranger at the campground. Evidently a broadcast to all the rangers in the park went out to be on the lookout for a man in a funny hat. I was back at camp and had enjoyed a chili baked potato when my fellow hikers caught up to Lou as she arrived after a ride around the park and they told her I was up at the trailhead. Lou thought they were nice to be concerned about me by stopping by. Lou made catfish with squash and rice for dinner.
Tuesday: (11/19) PBJ waffles with bacon for breakfast. I met my fellow hikers by the cmp store and we went up to the Old Pinnacles Trailhead and hiked through the Balconies Caves and then up Juniper Trail to the Tunnel Trail, then onto the High Peaks trail, then Down the Blue Oaks Trail and back to our start. About half of the hikers took an alternate route through the High Peaks Rocks rather than doing the Tunnel Trail. Back at camp I had a chili size for lunch. We had bell peppers and potsto salad for dinner.
Wednesday: (11/20) A couple of pancake sausage breakfast sandwiches to start. I met my fellow SJMW Hikers by the camp store and we headed up to the Old Pinnacles Trailhead. We hiked either through or past the Balconies Caves and then out into the North Wilderness. It was an 11.5 mile loop hike. Nice fall hike with golden trees and hills. Back hole we gave a couple of tours of the motorhome to my fellow hikers, I had a salad for lunch. We had leftovers for dinner.
Thursday: (11/21) A waffle ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast. I met my fellow SJMW Hikers by the camp store and we headed up to the Bear Gulch Trailhead. We hiked up through Bear Gulch to the reservoir then on up to the top of North Chalone Peak. We had lunch there then came back down. Back at camp I had a better lunch then took a nice shower in the park showers. They are much better than in the past now having hot water. Then Lou and Dawn returned from their day in King City and Greenfield. For dinner we had carnitas and pickled pepper sandwiches.
Friday: (11/22) A day of rest. I prepared eggs with carnitas and toast for breakfast. Then we battened down the hatches and drove over to the dump to empty our tanks and then filled our water on the way back. Now ready for a couple more days. Lou made fresh tomato soup for lunch. I relaxed all day binging on videos. Macaroni and cheese for dinner. After dinner, it started to rain and continued well into the night.
Saturday: (11/23) Lou’s birthday. Lou made eggs, bacon and home fried potatoes for breakfast. We relaxed at home most of the day. We did drive up to Bear Gulch to look around at the nature center. We also stopped for a walk by the river then returned home. I made carnitas and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Chili bean size for dinner.
Sunday: (11/24) Granola for breakfast. We slowly prepared to roll out of camp and finally did at about 0930. Lou tried driving out but we swapped back ner the exit to the park. We stopped in Holister to look around the Grocery Outlet and the Dollar Tree stores. I picked up a couple of donuts at the Spudnut donut shop next door. I accidentally left the headlights on and that killed the battery. I tried jumping as I usually do but my mind wasn’t working again. E called AAA and they jumped it for us. While he was jumping it i finally noticed what I was doing wrong. I was jumping to the negative rather than the positive, which explains the sparks and why our hand held jumper beeped. Fortunately, no damage to either batteries or jumpers. We stopped at the Longhouse Restaurant in Gilroy for lunch of Gilroy Garlic Pork Chops. Excellent. We disconnected the Jeep and Lou and Dawn were off shopping and Thrifting. The motorhome started up nicely. I stopped for some propane in San Martin then headed home. I setup the motorhome and cleaned up some leaves. Lou made some spaghetti for dinner.
Monday: (11/25) I had a donut for breakfast. About 0615 the battery died in the motorhome. The inverter had died again killing the AC power in the MH as well as the battery charging. It was raining again today so I waited until the sun was up and during a lull in the rain to bypass the inverter and install the battery charger I bought the last time this happened a month or so ago. I’ll pull it out later and install the terminal strip that arrived after I had made temporary repairs before. Then later prepared pork chops with eggs and toast for all. Lou and Dawn were off to an appointment. I went shopping as well. I stocked up at Dollar Tree and browsed Walmart. I also spent some time in the van on the computer. I had a problem with my Kaiser pharmacy order with it saying I didn’t have any unfilled needs. Today there was no problem so the order went through. I parked there all afternoon. As I was about to leave, Lou called and asked me to get some paper cups for Dawn. I got them and headed home in the commute traffic. Back home, I had some hashed brown potatoes and ham for my dinner.
Tuesday: (11/26) A pancake, ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast. A drizzly day. I relaxed at home all day. A salad for lunch. Dawn got a couple of chicken coops from her trading group, “Trading and Talking”. They went off to get them and ended up calling me to help. Dinner at Harry’s Hofbrau.
Wednesday: (11/27) Unfrozen griddle pancake sausage and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. I tinkered in the van on the computer all day. I received Lou’s new Chromebook laptop and set it up. I also received my new projector for the van and set it up. It works quite good in daylight for such an inexpensive projector ($80). Dawn prepared vegetable soup for our dinner at her apartment.
Thursday: (11/28) Thanksgiving day. Nice day, no rain. Unfrozen griddle pancake sausage and cheese sandwich for breakfast. I worked in the van again, still trying to resolve problems with automatic recurring payments. I finally decided it might be all a problem with a certain bank card and I used another card. We’ll see. Things have worked well for years and now, likely, an improvement caused this problem. We enjoyed a nice holiday dinner in the motorhome. Ernie joined us. Chicken, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, fresh cranberry sauce, ambrosia, deviled eggs, and stuffing. After some recovery time, we had homemade apple and pumpkin pies.
Friday: (11/29) After showers, and my stepping into long pants for the day, we headed off to San Francisco. I ate my usual unfrozen breakfast sandwich, Lou and Dawn had pie for their breakfast. We went to Golden Gate Park in SF and visited the Natural History Museum and Steinhart Aquarium. We enjoyed the aquarium much more than our visit to the Monterey Aquarium. We had leftovers for lunch in the van before returning to the museum to see what remained. We were headed home before 1600. Back home we had pie for dinner.
Saturday: (11/30) Granola and yogurt for breakfast. Lou wanted to take a drive on the coast. I prepared the van and we headed over to the coast on Highway 84, then up to Half Moon Bay. We had some clam chowder from the New Leaf Market for lunch. We then headed back South to Pescadero Road. I stopped in Pescadero and Lou took a walk there while I took a nap. She bought some artichoke garlic bread from the market there. Then on to home. A couple of slices of Artichoke garlic bread topped with cheese and chicken.
