RV Dish Repair

Sunday: (06/24) We started the day with a quick visit to Walmart for a couple of things.

Fried sauerkraut potatoes with pork and eggs for breakfast. I finally got to work on the satellite dish on the RV. I've been having problems with it for the past couple of years and have attempted to find the problems myself and hired help on several occasions. No lasting or permanent fixes have occurred. After having it repaired by the Motosat factory folks in Quartzsite in January it was acting up again a month later in Yuma. I finally determined that the then remaining problem was a heat sensitive LNB. I suffered with it the remainder of the trip because I had another at home from the spare dish I got a couple of years ago. As an aid, I installed a silver bubble insulation cover for the LNB that gave me a few more hours use per day. We've now been home for almost four months and it was time to fix it. I swapped out the complete arm including the transmitter and LNB. I also installed a missing base cover on the dish from my spare. The cover had evidently blown off on our way home from Pismo Beach last month. There were some fierce winds and evidently two screws had worked their way out and the third screw remained to hold the remaining half inch sized cover piece. So now the dish appears to be working properly and fully. I installed a monitor on it that should tell me if it is intermittent.

Lunch was olallieberry shortcake with whipped cream.

A few days ago I noticed that the Fantastic fan in the RV was not working. I also looked at it today. I suspected that the motor had burned out. Maybe not. Several years ago the rain sensor that closes the vent if it detects rain failed and intermittently closed the vent with no rain. Since we needed a good vent to make our traveling cat happy I disabled the sensor and the fan worked well otherwise. Sometime later the manual/automatic crank failed and the vent couldn't be opened or closed automatically or manually without appropriately wiggling it. The automatic portion needed to be disabled and the manual crank was used. Now, the motor failed. Well maybe not. The variable seed electronics failed. The motor ran when I bypassed the speed control.  So I remove the electronics and wired the motor directly. The fan seemed to be working properly. I left the fan running. When i came back later it had slowed down and barely turning. It should have still been going full speed so I guess the motor is kaput. So I guess it has come to the end of it's life after all.

Later, I washed the three cars. For dinner we toasted wieners on a campfire in the backyard. It was served with corn on the cob, potato salad, grilled squash and zucchini, chili beans and sauerkraut with bacon and apples. For desert there was key lime pie. Yum!

Monday: (06/25) I took Dawn to an appointment this morning. The plan was that we'd meet Lou after the appointment for breakfast in San Jose. Lou was waiting at home for a call from Home Depot about the new carpet installation at Dawn's place. As it turned out Home Depot had the wrong phone number so they never arranged the morning appointment to measure for the carpet but scheduled at afternoon appointment today. So I returned home. Breakfast was some of Lou's chili beans.  A ham sandwich for lunch. Lou went down to meet the carpet installer to measure for the new carpet. I dropped by Harbor Freight and bought a plate tamper. It's a bit odd that it's cheaper to buy one than rent one. I also stopped by Walmart and bought a new desktop computer that was calling to me. It's a mini desktop (3.3ghz, 3GB Ram, 1TB HD) with a monitor for $300. No reason to suffer through my 9 year old slow and dying laptop that has been serving as my home desktop.  More chili beans and artichokes for dinner.

Another Day Off As The Water Recedes

Saturday: (06/23) The flood water in my hole is drying nicely but not enough for me to not take advantage of another day off. Dawn made some buckwheat sweet potato bread which was toasted in the panini maker and served with sausage for breakfast. I took Dawn by a bunch of garage sales in the morning. Again, I found some things while escorting Dawn. I found a bathroom scale at one sale with a large LCD display. It worked well at the sale so I bought it. When I got it home it didn't work. Odd? Then I noticed it was a solar powered scale. In dim room light it didn't work In bright room light it worked. And, of course, It worked well outside in the sunlight. i usually weigh in the buff so the neighbors might enjoy the scale more than I do? I'm still not sure if it was a bargain at $3. A nice walnut apple raisin corned beef green salad for lunch. In the afternoon Dawn visited the crafters swap meet while I visited Fry's Electronics. Dinner at Carrow's Restaurant. Lou  and Dawn shared a prime rib dinner and I had the usual pot roast sandwich. It was sunny and breezy all day.

Landers California

Wednesday: (01/25) Helen fixed bacon with grits and toast for breakfast. We finally left Bakersfield about noon. Lunch was ion Tehachapi at the Apple Shed. we shared an apple, avocado, ham and bacon sandwich after sharing a slice of fresh peach pie ala mode.  We took highway 58 on to highway 395 then hichway 18 to highway 247. We stopped in Landers to visit with Aunt Mary about 4pm. Dinner was leftover chicken with home fries, and avocado. We chatted until 10 pm. Since it was late, we spent the night by the Post Office in Landers.
(GPS: 34.26582662, -116.39379615)

Bakersfield Stopover

Sunday: (01/22) We started the day with cereal watching CBS TV's morning shows. This post is being made on my phone. I really prefer a bigger keyboard. My computer's power adapter's cord failed last night so I may be suffering withdrawal pains until remedied.

We tool a short walk out to the beach. The tide was very high and the was lapping on the dune a couple hundred feet further than normal. We watched the waves and ocassional wader.

We finally got on the road about noon. We must have been home too long. We seem to have forgotten a lot. Like remembering to check the gas. We stopped in New Cuyama for a little expensive gas to carry us all the way into Bakersfield. Lou made hamburgers with grilled onions, mushrooms, and cheese for lunch. We arrived in Bakersfield about 4pm.

We decided to go to the Rice Bowl Chinese Restaurant for dinner. The power went out before we ordered and we had to leave. The neighboring Bill Lee's power was also out so we tried the Casa Mexico.They were closed. Next we tried Spencer's. It was closed as well. What luck! We then went to Milt's, a good local truckers restaurant where we finally had dinner. We all has deep pit BBQ dinners.Very good!

Monday: (01/23) PBJ toast for breakfast. I picked up a smoke/CO detector and installed it a Helen's. We awoke to rain which then cleared to blue skies then returned to rain before noon.
We met cousin Judy and Don at the new Golden Corral Buffet for lunch. All very good and too much. We followed lunch with a tour of several thrift stores. In the evening we visited cousin Delynn at the hospital. Dinner was chicken wings.

Tuesday: (01/24) Helen fixed biscuits and gravy for breakfast. While we had a good amount of rain yesterday, today it look like it will be a nice day cloudy but not raining. Lou and Helen went out thrifting and grocery shopping. I went out hunting for a power adapter for my computer. I found a perfect one at a reasonable price at Best Buy. It did cost twice as much ad exact replacements available online but then there is the shipping problem. I also picked up an auxillary battery for my phone so I can use it freely for GPS on hikes. And sitting on a shelf right next to the battery was a cell phone range extender from Wilson Electronics that I'be been looking at. It should allow use of the phone where we camp in Yuma. For lunch I stopped at a Chinese fast food place I spotted next to Best Buy called the Bamboo Cafe. It's a place I'll return to.$5 for a two item combo with rice and chowmein and very good. Lou and Helen had Lou's special ham peppers and onions salad for lunch. Dinner was roast chicken with baked potatoes and cooked carrots.

A Quick Trip To Fresno

Thursday: (05/26) We got up early and hooked up the Jeep and were off toward Fresno by 8am. Lou was nice enough to do the hooking up since my back was acting up. Lou's niece Ashley is graduating from high school and all graduations are special.
It was a little overcast in Palo Alto as we left. Our first stop was in Los Banos for a stretch. It was very smoky in and especially East of town. Must have been a fire though we didn't see anything. We arrived at Ashley's place, parked the RV and Lou placed the leveling blocks. This is kind of nice having her do all the heavy lifting.  We then headed off to lunch.

Everyone there was busy preparing so just Lou, Dawn and I went to have Basque food downtown at the Shepard's Inn, excellent lunch. We skipped the entre and just have the fixings, known there as the Shepard's lunch. A hearty fresh bread, soup, nice green salad,  shrimp potato salad, rice pilaf, and beef stew. Definitely a place to return to.


The graduation was held at Sav-Mart Center at Fresno State. Nice place but we should have brought our binoculars. Ashley is the 11th from the left in the first row in the photo above. It took unusually long for the ceremony because as they had each student come out they read a short statement from each student usually thanking family, friends and teachers. There were only around 160 students in this class so it didn't take as long as it would have for my graduation with way over 600 graduates. If all my high school freshmen class (2500) had graduated as seniors it would have been a months long ceremony. My senior class shrunk due to school splits and a few people who were delayed graduating.


Later we returned to Ashley's place where her parents threw a party and BBQ. Lou provided some games for the kids, mostly text book tortures and a balloon fight. Now, when's the next graduation? Ashley is the one with the electric hair do above left.

Friday: (05/27) A sunny day in Fresno! Breakfast at Ihop then some shopping around town. New town, different thrift stores. We enjoyed lunch at the World Chinese Buffet on Blackstone. We finally left town about 4:30 PM. We stopped for a stretch in Los Banos. Dinner was leftover tofu and vegetable stir fry and cheese cake.

A Kitten In Bakersfield

Saturday: (04/23) We had the last of the choriso potatoes and eggs for breakfast then left Las Vegas about 07:30. We wanted to get across the desert before the winds pick up in the afternoon. We made a beeline to Baker and stopped for a short walk then on to Tehachapi where we stopped for another walk around downtown and a snack.


We picked up an apple cinnamon roll and a chocolate walnut bar at the Apple Shed. The winds had been picking up prior to Mojave but all was nice from Tehachapi on.


We arrived at my Aunt Helen's place and set the motorhome up for our stay.


While Helen and I Chatted, Lou headed out for a visit to a thrift store. Bad mistake.


Someone had abandoned a kitten at the store and Lou decided to rescue it. It is cute, but it is a pet. Hopefully she can find a good home for it when we get home. For dinner we cleaned up most of the remaining leftovers, macaroni and cheese. chicken, spinach, and zucchini with choriso.

Sunday: (04/24) Lou fixed potato pancakes with yogurt and apple sauce with sausage for breakfast. We made a run to the local Winco market to stock up on a few things for home. Winco has some great prices and we don't have on near home. Lou fixed Chinese tofu, peanut, and cabbage salad for lunch.


After lunch we all attacked the garage. It needs some cleaning up. Helen doesn't need all the spare parts and a lot of the shop tools anymore. Uncle Doug had many interests and his tool and junk collection showed it. For dinner Helen BBQed some steaks and Lou fried some potato wedges and steamed some veggies. The weather was very nice all day, overcast much of the day and a nice low 70's.

Monday: (04/26) Strawberry pancakes for breakfast. We all spent the day working in Helen's garage and got it pretty well cleaned up and stuff ready for a garage sale in the future. Cottage cheese and fruit for lunch. Helen took us out to dinner at the China Town Buffet nearby.

Aunt Mary's Visit

Monday: (04/04) We took a walk around the campground in the morning and had a long chat with some of the campers. Granola and bananas for breakfast. Off to visit with My Aunt Mary today. We went over to Joshua Tree for lunch at the JT's Country Kitchen. We all had peanut chicken salads which were very good.


After visiting all the thrift stores in Joshua tree and yucca Valley we returned to our camp to visit the rest of the afternoon and evening. Dinner was chicken and corn salad, chicken potato salad, sauteed mushrooms and fresh asparagus.

Bakersfield In The Fog

Friday: (01/07) More tiramisu for breakfast today. We hooked up and were on the road about 9:45. We headed off to Dawn's apartment in San Jose to drop off some things then caught highway 101 South to Gilroy. We needed to stop at the Gilroy Outlet Mall again. The SAS shoe store had some shows Dawn needed. It's hard to find good shoes for her that fit and work right. Her long time Rx shoe store closed. We ate lunch of some shrimp balls and egg rolls from the King Eggroll restaurant across the street before we headed on South on 101 to Paso Robles and then toward Bakersfield. We arrived in Bakersfield by 5pm. We settled at Aunt Helen's then went to dinner at the Wool Growers basque restaurant in East Bakersfield. Excellent family style restaurant. Cabbage soup, beans, salsa, pickled tongue. tomatoes, Basque fries, salad, and spaghetti. That's known as a "setup" or no entree meal and is more that enough. We did get one entree of tri-tip that gave us all a good sized piece of meat. We all left over stuffed after dinner.


Dawn loves the pecan punch drinks from the bar. They're made with this liquor. So now they know and will be searching for some to make their own.

Saturday: (01/08) Cinnamon rolls for breakfast. It's gray and drizzling this morning but not really cold in the mid 40's. Costco's best for lunch. Chicken bake for me and hot dogs for Lou and Dawn. We stopped by Harbor Freight for a little shovel for the Jeep. Lowe's for some grab handles for Helen and looked around several other places as well. I got the handles installed as the project of the day. Lou made salmon and rice for dinner.

Sunday: (01/09) We had breakfast at our favorite market, Ranch Market, which has an excellent restaurant inside. Actually we were worried because it was recently sold and is now part of a bigger chain of Vallerta Supermarkets which now has about thirty locations around Southern California? Still a great place. We had our chorizo and eggs with rice and beans with fresh tortillas for breakfast. Lou and Dawn attacked the thrift stores again. I tinkered on a few projects for Helen. Dinner was chicken, potato salad and a green salad.

Monday: (01/10) Breakfast was French toast with peanut butter and some of Uncle Doug's strawberry preserves. Readied the RV to roll. Stopped by Delta Energy to fill the LPG tank. They have the cheapest LPG at $2.99/gal compared to others starting at $3.49. They're located on "Buck Owens" Blvd near Helen's. Also filled the gas tank. We were on our way by 10:30.

Dawn's Birthday

Tuesday: (11/09) Another nice day. First I enjoyed my tea as I watched Perry Mason, a typical morning activity.


I poured the concrete pad for the shop entrance today. All went well. The yard had mostly dried out. Unfortunately, it never warmed up much so the concrete took forever to dry and therefore I waited around a lot to do the finishing. While I waited I cleaned up the yard including moving most of the yard plants into the greenhouse. That was a couple of weeks early but a convenient time. With the time change, it sure gets dark early now. I also put away the unused 5 bags of concrete, not enough to do anything.


Dawn harvested some of her sugar cane.

After calling it a day and having dinner while watching the evening news weather report I learned that the forecast had changed and it would rain tonight. So, I went out and covered the concrete, which still hadn't dried enough to do a brush finish. It started sprinkling an hour later.

Leftover omelet and corned beef hash for breakfast. Grilled olive loaf and cheese sandwiches for lunch. More leftovers for dinner. Mashed potatoes. asparagus, bok choy, and chicken with corn salsa.

Wednesday: (11/10) Happy birthday Dawn!

The sky was clear for a little while and the rain is gone.

I stripped the forms from the concrete pad and cleaned the area up. It's still very raw due to the rain. I also put a few more and hopefully the last of the plant into the green house. After that I cleaned up and spent some time at the computer keyboard.


Lou fixed French toast with berries and sausage for breakfast. We went to Chevy's for lunch and didn't need dinner other than a piece of Dawn's birthday cake from the Hong Kong Bakery..

Thursday: (11/11) Veteran's Day. Thanks to those who serve(d)! A sunny day. Lou fixed eggs and sausage with some leftover potatoes for breakfast. I made the mistake of calling Ross Equipment in San Jose too early. They are the only place that does RV wheel alignment nearby. They said bring it right in. I hadn't even gotten out of bed yet but had to dash off. They took it right in and had the alignment done before noon. But, they also need to get some parts to fix the steering as well so I'll be coming back in a week or so. On the way home I stopped at Walmart and bought a new TV for the bedroom in the RV. I attached it to the wall like the previous TV but needed to build a stronger support for the bigger TV. Lunch was leftovers from the fridge. Lou had been down in San Jose working at Dawn's apartment. She called when she got back in town and we went to Costco for some things and dinner. i had a slice of pizza and Lou a polish dog. I stopped at OSH hardware for some hardware to finish installing the TV in the RV and then picked Dawn up in Mountain View. Busy day.

Friday (11/12) Sunny and nice today. The cool of fall is very present though. The trees have really been dropping their leaves, almost like rain. I fixed eggs, sausage and toast for breakfast. We took a long walk around the neighborhood including looking at a couple of open houses. We tinkered in the yard much of the day. Dinner was roast chicken, carrots and some of Dawn's bread of the day, bleu cheese and leek.

Saturday: (11/13) Lou fixed a Swiss chard and cheese omelet for breakfast. I spent the day tinkering in the RV and familiarizing myself with the problem with the Datastorm antenna. Since i haven't looked at it since it went out last April it took a little while. Now i have examined it, tested it, and  trouble shot it. Looks like it is either a bad D3 or a bad UCB. I can't tell further so will probaly have to meet a tech with spare parts to get it fixed or try on at a time waiting for shipping from the manufacturer. Could be fun. Not much more to do until Monday now. Dawn and i went up to Redwood City. Dawn visited the library there and the Savers thrift store. i returned some stuff to the hardware store there and, of course, got some things there as well. Drip tubing and sprinkler parts. Then i visied the Grocery outlet there and picked up a couple of tings i couldn't pass up. then Dawn was ready and we stopped at the Big lots store for a look. Dawn fixed hot and sour chicken soup for dinner. After dinner, I walked over to Fry's Electronics for a look and to pick up some parts. I want to make a manual dish control box so if the Motosat disk sticks in the up position again, I can get it down and parked a little easier.

Sunday: (11/14) I got up and out early enough to adjust the RV tire pressure and re-setup the tire pressure monitor. For some unknown reason, every time the professionals at the tire or RV shops check the tire pressure, they inflate it to the maximum presure on the tire sidewalls. the correct pressure for my RV is much less so it was just a matter of releasing air to get to the correct pressure when they were all cool. We went down to Sunnyvale to Lowe's to pick up some molding and stopped in a Sprout's for some produce and Kob Hill Market for our olive loaf. For our afternoon walk we looked in on some open houses at a development nearby.

Apple pie for breakfast.  Chicken salad for lunch. Beef franks with cabbage and onions for dinner.

Bee Is For Bakersfield

Monday: (04/26) After our showers we were on our way toward Mojave, Tehachapi, and Bakersfield. We gassed up in Mojave then stopped in Tehachapi for lunch at the Apple Shed. I had twice baked potato soup while Lou had a slice of apple pie. I followed my soup with a slice of pie as well. We then walked around downtown checking the antique and thrift stores. Lou found a couple of puzzles at one thrift store and another featherweight sewing machine at an antique store, that wasn't even open, for a great price. We also stopped by the local Ace Hardware store and they had some new lounge chairs for $36 each. We can't restring our existing for that price. Finally we had to leave and were off to Bakersfield.

We arrived at Aunt Helen's about 4:45. Lou and Helen went off to get a couple of pails of strawberries to make jam with. They were busy all evening preparing them.

We went out to Bill Lee's Bamboo Chopsticks Restaurant for dinner. The usual Cantonese Chinese fare with their family dinner #1.

Tuesday: (04/27) Breakfast was strawberry pancakes and eggs.

Today was chore day. I worked at some brush trimming in the yard, got Helen's motorhome started and exercised and other miscellaneous tasks. While we were out in the front yard, Lou noticed the air was full of bees. They were everywhere in the front yard and street. They found a place to settle in, Helen's backyard.


We also had a swarm of bees arrive in the yard so we got to watch as a beekeeper removed them. The large swarm was about the size of two basketballs. The small swarm on the ground about the size of a baseball. The small swarm contained a queen bee. There may have been a queen in the large swarm as well?


The beekeeper carted away about 3 gallows of bees. Good ridence. The aren't a good pet.

Dinner was spaghetti with a green salad.

Wednesday: (04/28) Cereal for breakfast. After breakfast, Lou and I went downtown to the new Central Park for a walk. They have turned an old park with a fenced canal through it into a nice park with a nice water feature in it. Unfortunately there is a duckling trap in it. The little ducks get swept over a weir into some fast water with no place to climb out or rest. Hopefully they fix it.

We also looked around downtown and in the Westchester area. While Lou concentrated on looking around Beverly's Fabric store, I took a walk around and found a place to get the RV oil changed and browsed at motorcycles.

For lunch we went to Donna Kay's Cafe on Oak Street. After lunch we all went our separate ways. I took the RV out to get gas, empty the holding tanks and get an oil change. Among other things, Lou visited some thrift stores.

Thursday: (04/29) Strawberry waffles for breakfast. I finished up posting the recent photos onto this blog. Lou and I will be out on the town today shopping and looking. Lou and Helen were busy finishing the strawberry jam. Lou went out thrifting while Helen and I move her RV to her son's house for storage.

For lunch we went out to Spenser's Restaurant on Rosedale Highway for chicken tortilla soup. We then did some shopping at Lowe's for light switches and OSH for a descent piece of plywood. When we got home, I replaced all Helen's light switches with newer Decor style switches.

Dinner was leftovers, spaghetti, rice, chicken, beans, and other stuff.

Friday: (04/30) Lou and I were off early to the Ranch Market in South Bakersfield for breakfast. Huevos Rancheros for $1.99. We went on a shopping excursion all around town. We got son odd bolts for Lou's sewing machine. We visited Harbor Freight Tools which is always interesting. Lou visited Hancock Fabric next door. We also visited Costco. I stopped by another motorcycle shop, just looking. We drove by my childhood home location which is now a warehouse district and drove by our former house to see how the neighborhood is doing. Our final stop was at the Winco market for some groceries to resupply the RV. So we wasted the entire day out having fun.

Lou's roommate from 35 years ago, Anita, dropped by for a visit. She and Lou went out to dinner at Applebee's.

I cut a piece of plywood to make an attic access door for Helen's garage and installed it.

Helen and I went to dinner at the Casa Mexico restaurant on Rosedale Highway. I had a fish taco and chili relleno and Helen had a chile verde burrito. We then stopped by and picked up the missing switch for Helen's switch conversion project. I miscounted the number of switches I'd need. I had just enough daylight to get the last switch installed.

Saturday: (05/01) Breakfast was oatmeal or grits. Lou and I had a couple of errands before we left. Another stop at the Pioneer Mercantile hardware store for some nylon web strapping and buckles for our chair cover that Lou is making. A stop at Walmart for some items and we were ready to go.

We made it away about 11:30 heading East on Highway 178 through the Kern River Canyon. We had a nice visit here in Bakersfield, made much nicer by the unusually nice cooler weather. We stopped in Lake Isabella at the Von's market for lunch. Baked potato soup and a pastrami sandwich.

We continued on highway 178 to highway 14 then North to highway 395 stopping at Coso Junction for a nap and walk before continuing on to Lone Pine.

Note: We left Bakersfield headed back North along the Eastern Sierra mountains. We'll be without Internet most of the time so posts will be sporadic.

New Years Day Week

Tuesday: (12/29) Lou fixed a nice breakfast of home fries, eggs and bacon. Helen was off back towards Bakersfield this morning. Lou headed down to San Jose for more doll molds and Dawn and Courtney were off to a friends house. I enjoyed some time inside. Every thing is muddy again due to a good rain yesterday evening. Lunch was a grilled cheese English muffin. Dinner was English muffins with chili, cheese and Italian sausage.

Courtney wasn't feeling well so stayed at our place. It's nice to have someone to watch over you.

Wednesday: (12/30) Lou fixed a variation on my muffin breakfast. She used croissants, eggs, cheese and bacon. Show off! She picked up some more doll stuff in San Jose and worked on trying to fit it sll into her storage area. She's also been busy entering oll the new stuff into her inventory program. It doesn't work if you can't find it.

Courtney spent the night and by noon was much better. It's nice to see a 24hour bug rather than those long lasting bugs.

I accomplished nothing just tinkering at the computer. I'm getting better at nothing.

Lunch was leftover breakfast potatoes with leftover chili, cheese and Italian sausage on it. For dinner Lou fixed split pea soup.

Thursday: (12/31) Lou fixed French toast for breakfast using home made bread and Italian sausage. Another day of relaxation. I worked hard, on a couple of Soduko puzzles, read the papers, browsed the Internet and generally wasted the day. I did check the neighbors sump pump, which should count as work, about 10 minutes worth.Leftover pea soup for lunch. We all went out for a little shopping trip about 1pm. Dawn went to sell some books and Lou and I visited Walmart. We're practicing for when we get back on the road. We had no particular needs but left with a couple of bags full.

Lou and Dawn went down to San Jose in the later afternoon. Lou made a final pickup of doll molds from the store that is closing and they also checked out Christmas in the Park, a sort of Santa's village in downtown San Jose. They then examined all the thrift stores on the way home. Busy Busy.

There was another 2 for 1 coupon in the paper for Chicago Pizz'a Chicago which prompted pizza for dinner.

I often stay up into the wee hours of the night sometimes actually getting to bed about dawn. For some reason, on New Year's Eve it is usually more difficult to stay awake. Why is that? We'll see if this year is any different.

It's been an interesting year. It started out much as usual with a visit to Las Vegas for New Years Eve, Quartzsite for the big get together, our first visit to Yuma and Imperial Dam LTVA, some time at Joshua Tree NP, some knee surgery for Lou, a lot of work at home in the yard, a couple of trips to Utah for family, and then more work in the yard building new sheds and then the year was over. In a couple of weeks Lou and I hope to be out on the road again to start all over though a little late this year.

Friday: (01/01) New Years Day. Breakfast was different. It was some Chinese angle hair noodles with tofu provided by our neighbor.

I unloaded a used shelf unit Lou picked up at the closed doll store. First order of business was to clear the area where the shelf is to go. Unfortunately it was my leftover concrete bags and the like in the area so a little work was in order. I then had to adjust the shelf's leg lengths since I have a low roof 6'4" in the shop. I got the frame all assembled and then tried to install the wood shelves. The wood was 18" as intended but the shelf support was only 16" deep. Easy to correct by ripping the boards to the correct width but it's raining today and I need to roll the table saw outside to rip them so it will have to wait a day or two.

Lunch was leftover tri-tip roast with broccoli and pasta. A nice walk with Dawn around the neighborhood followed lunch. Much of the rest of the afternoon was doing as I prefer, playing at the computer. I did finally roll the saw out, cut the shelf boards and also make a new insert for Lou's sewing machine cabinet that's been on the list for a while.

Ernie fixed dinner. Homemade Swedish meatballs with asparagus and noodles.

Saturday: (01/02) A nice day outside even though the sun never appeared. Dawn fixed Irish oatmeal for breakfast. Lunch was leftover pizza.

I worked in the shop putting things away and organizing, an endless usually avoided job.

Dinner was an unusual treat, more leftovers.

Sunday: (01/03) Lou fixed baby croissants with egg, bacon and horseradish cheese for breakfast. Lou and I started with a little shopping run to find some plastic storage boxes for my new shelf. That took a while but there was a lot to look at  in the search.

Lunch was leftover more tri-tip roast with broccoli and pasta. I spent the afternoon making two vertical screens out of the old deck fence. It's always nice to successfully re-purpose something.

Dawn made a nice vegetable soup which we had with olive bread. I then packed my bag. Ernie and I are headed to Las Vegas to pickup some stuff from his storage tomorrow. Just a quick trip.

Christmas Week

Monday: (12/21) Wow! it doesn't seem like it's been another year already.  Normally we would have departed for our winter trip a week ago but this year departure is delayed. Possibly mid January now. Weather was nice this morning but drippy all afternoon. I tinkered in the shop finishing most of the electrical in the morning. When it got drippy I went in and played at the computer.Lou and Dawn went down to San Jose, Lou to pick up some  doll molds and Dawn to see her friend Andrea.

Breakfast was PBJ English muffins. Lunch was a chili size. Dinner was at New Tung Kee in Mountain View. Cheapest dinner around and very good.

Tuesday: (12/22) The day started with a visit to the hardware store for a couple of things. I returned and finished the shop wiring then hit the trench. Ernie and I finished connecting the drain pipe under the new shop to the storm drain system. Next will be to connect the downspout to the system.

Last night I worked trying to get my email server to work. I have two virtual servers residing who knows where. One is Linux the other Windows. Working with them is like working with black boxes. The Linux system handles most of my websites and email. It just works and doesn't cause problems. The Windows server is much more difficult but I needed a Windows server to host my own software development projects. It also hosts several websites to be. The problem is that in order to be allowed to install my own software on the server I had to get a do-it-yourself server which requires I manage the server, including the email server. Some of the settings do not become effective immediately so sometimes I try something and then have to wait a day to see how it works. Patience has never been one of my virtues. Eventually it will work but this do-it-yourself stuff is getting tiring, educational but tiring. I hate Windows and wouldn't use it if I could avoid it but some things just have to be.

Lou's been busy getting more doll molds from a shop that is closing in San Jose and organizing her storage. Dawn and Courtney walked to the library. The weather was nice all day except occasionally windy.

I fixed English muffins with bacon and eggs for breakfast. A healthy lunch of guacamole and chips. Dinner was Dawn's potatoes a gratin with Italian sausage and raw vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli).

Wednesday: (12/23) Sunny but cold today. No wind so a really nice day.

I had to try to help a neighbor's kid who picked up a computer virus, no anti virus software installed. I couldn't help. She has a young friend who probably knows more about fixing computers. Don't they all. More than likely the drive will have to be restored in the end. Another reason to dislike computers. Of course the developer and distributor of the virus should be subject to the death penalty, in my opinion.

Ernie and I started going through junk in the remaining tent in the yard. Some to be saved and some to finally get a chance to take a trip to the dump. We managed to move my considerable lumber pile from it's storage rack. I need to make some improvements to the rack so it had to be emptied. It will end up in the new shop.

Lou worked on organizing her molds and did most of the Christmas grocery shopping.

Dawn, Courtney and Ashley caught the light rail trolley to the Great Mall late in the afternoon. Getting such a late start isn't too bad around Christmas when the stores are all open very late. The returned about 10 pm.

When I took a morning walk I picked up a newspaper and found a coupon for 2 for 1 pizza at our favorite Pizz'a Chicago. Of course, that was lunch. Lou and I went to the New Tung Kee Chinese restaurant, again, for dinner.


Thursday: (12/24)I spent the morning welding the wood rack making some needed modifications. When I built it in a hurry  last year when I moved out of the old shop shed        I did just enough. Today I finished it making the upper racks stronger. I was finished by noon when Perry mason came on. I like the show and it provides a break for lunch.

In the afternoon I moved all the wood, again, onto the upgraded rack in the new shop shed. That was enough work for the day.

I was just thinking today that I haven't been taking any pictures. Both my cameras are failing so I tend to not take as many right now. Maybe I'll make an extra effort tomorrow.

Lou's been busy cleaning up for guests tomorrow and cooking. Ernie was busy cooking as well.

Today is a special day that all too often wasn't special enough. Today is my mother's 99th birthday, or would have been. She passed away in 1989. Having Christmas Eve as your birth date has to be rather unfortunate because you probably never get a birthday present nor have a birthday party but, this is when it does pay off. It's easier for others, like me, to remember it due to the holiday relationship. So happy birthday mom!

And this makes me think of my Dad as well. His birthday wasn't so date gifted being October 26th. I missed remembering his 116th birth date, or what would have been, this past October. So happy birthday dad, belatedly.

I fixed eggs bologna and English muffin;s for breakfast. Lunch was refrigerator treats du jour. I had leftover seafood salad and cottage cheese. Dinner was pizza #2, the free one from yesterday.

Friday: (12/25) Speaking of remembering birth dates, this date seems important for some reason? Merry Christmas.

Breakfast was a healthful bunch of tarts, a wonderful by product of pie making. Ernie used a crust recipe that included vinegar which makes it light and it also has an interesting added flavor. Ernie and Lou were busy starting the ham and other kitchen duties. Dawn and I were busy not doing that.

Dinner was the usual feast. Ham, chicken, smashed potatoes, yams, green beans, macaroni and cheese, savory bread pudding, Fruit salad, Fresh cranberry sauce, green salad and probably something I forgot. I'm glad we convinced Ernie to minimize dinner for years past. Desert was choice of apple pear or apple pie. Our guests were Melei, Ping and An An (our neighbors), Courtney (Dawn's friend) and Ashley (Courtney's roommate).


Ernie fixed dishs for the doggie's special dinner.

I accomplished a great deal, ate too much and did nothing. Now if I can remember how I did it for future reference.

Saturday: (12/26) Breakfast was my egg, bologna and cheese English muffins. Absolutely nothing accomplished today. How nice.

The rain returned in force in the afternon and evening.

My aunt Helen drove up from Bakersfield. She had an interesting tour of the South bay due to a missed turn but arrived in time for dinner. Dinner was leftover Christmas dinner.

The Color Of Palo Alto And The Loss Of Our Bowling Alley

Monday: (12/14) I fixed the leftover  sauerkrauted potatoes as fried potatoes with bacon and eggs for breakfast. VERY good! Today was the nice day between two rain storms. It actually got warm and was quite nice outside. I started a pot of white beans with ham in the crock pot. We managed to take a nice walk and did some work in the yard. We also made a run to Costco for some things.

Lunch was ham sandwiches from a ham Lou baked. Dinner was the withe beans with ham.

About 6pm we hurried downtown to city hall to attend the council meeting. A developer wants to  tear down the only bowling alley in Palo Alto and Northern Santa Clara County, The Palo Alto Bowl, and a Motel six and replace them with a larger hotel, an office building and a bunch of condos. Dawn wants to protest the change so we attended the meeting. There was some confusion as to when it would start so we looked around downtown until the meeting at 8pm. Then all the preceeding agenda items were heard including an unusual presentation on "The Color Of Palo Alto". I didn't know that for the past 7 years a young man with far too much time on his hands has taken multiple pictures of every parcel in our fair city during the various seasons, a total of over 250,000 pictures, He then processed each photo to derive an average color. Then he's been analyzing the data and can report of the average color of each parcel, each street, each neighborhood the city, all parcels with a numeric address of 2358, each season, or any way you want to present the average color data. There was some useful data provided that the police and fire departments can use as well. Only in Palo Alto! Oh, of course the average color of the city of trees is green. Unfortunately, the pictures were prior to our house getting it's new siding so there are errors in the average color.

About 10:30pm, Dawn's item was heard and she along with a number of other concerned citizens spoke to the council. The city council members  listened politely and then approved the development. Money is more important than a livable city. It was actually interesting. It's been nearly 30 years since my last council meeting and it related to a protest of rezoning at our home in San Jose. Lou and I organized that revolt and the result was the same. Some things never change. We didn't get home until nearly midnight.

Tuesday: (12/15) Due to the late retirement last night this morning didn't start early. Breakfast was cereal. We chased a few leaves into the compost barrel and I unstuck the neighbors garbage disposer. That was it for work. I've been getting in to this doing nothing, if playing at the computer is nothing.

Lunch was leftover sauerkraut potatoes. Lou fixed fish with steamed vegetables and millet for dinner.

While we were supposed to have rain it turned out to be a nice day all day. The storm ran out of gas and stalled up North  a ways.

Wednesday: (12/16) Another nice morning, pretty clear and mild. It did rain well last night some time. Google still reports we're in for a little more rain today before we clear up for a while. Unfortunately, the wind and rain evidently don't have a good Internet connection.

I started the day with a visit to the the Kaiser Lab to give them some blood for an annual test. It's in downtown Mountain View so of course a visit to the Hong Kong Bakery was in order. A baked pork bun and an egg tart corrected the delay in breakfast caused buy having fasted unnecessarily for the test. Since it wasn't raining I did a little work in the backyard. I started to put some lights in the new shop.

Dinner was baked potatoes, broccoli slaw, and ham.

Thursday: (12/1 7) I had to get up early and head to my old workplace, the traffic operations center, to a pancake breakfast they put on each year. The food was good and it was nice to see everyone again. Not much has changed but they did have a big Christmas tree on the roof made from old LED signal heads. It was sure bright. Time does pass. It's now been over 10 years since we converted all the signals to LED.

I then headed over to the Great Mall, the old Ford Motor Plant, in Milpitas to look around. I found a dog collar that blasts a high frequency tone when dogs bark. We'll see if it works to quiet down Ernie's dogs. I stopped for lunch at the House Of Eggrolls in Santa Clara. They make the best egg rolls around.

And then I stopped at Costco to get new tires on the Toad. It was 1pm by the time I got there so the wait was considerable so I looked around there and at the nearby stores until after 4:30 when they finished. A bit longer that I had hoped.

Lou had a doctor's appointment this afternoon. She and Dawn also went shopping.

Lou had dinner ready by the time I arrived meatloaf, rice and soybeans in the pod.

Friday: (12/18) We couldn't get the batteries into the dog collar. The little door wouldn't open so we decided to head back and get another. Kind of a special effort since the mall is more thsn 20 miles away in Milpitas but quieting the dogs is important. We stopped for breakfast on the way at the Country Gourmet in Mountain View. Good place to eat but a little pricy when we each get an item rather than sharing and we evidently were all rather hungry. It was lucky we chose this spot because Lou got to see a bunch of her former students who stopped for breakfast on their way to work. It's great that some stores really have good work programs for developmentally challenged adults.

We made it to the mall and had no problem getting the collar replaced, just a dud on the first try. We looked around the mall some but were worn out early and returned home. It's a big mall and is difficult to get through it all in one visit.

Lou did pick up next years big calendar. Hard to believe the old calendar is already worn out.

Leftovers for lunch. Rice, soybeans and meatloaf mixed up.

I did do a little work. I exposed the drain pipe for the new shop and the yard drain pipe. I just stubbed it out before I poured the floor. It's only about 5 feet of shallow trench but the drain line that it needs to connect to is in a drain fabric lined rock filled trench and will be fun getting in to. I may not get it finished before the rain comes again Monday. Nice to get some rain but I'd love to see the sun for a moment or two. With clay soil, working in saturated ground is no fun.

For dinner Lou had prepared split pea soup and oven toast.

I spent some time in the evening working on website setup. I setup six sites with Wordpress as the publishing tool. Wordpress works great but for some reason i had some difficulty getting some of these to work. Once it's installed and works it's great.

Saturday: (12/19) Just a lot of wheel spinning by me today. I spent most of my time solving a little problem with those pesky websites I set up yesterday. They started not working and it took most of the day to figure out why and get the server setup correctly.  I still  need to get the email server working but every problem solved is a good learning experience. Now if my memory were only good enough to utilize the knowledge in the future.

Lou worked threading a loom and Dawn was busy baking scones and fruit cake

Interesting breakfast. It started with a piece of cheese cake followed by one of Lou's baked omelets. Lunch and dinner were leftovers. I discovered white beans for lunch and split pea soup for dinner.

Sunday: (12/20) I don't get busy too early as a rule but I enjoy Sunday mornings even more because of the political shows at 9am. So the day usually starts an hour later, at least. Lou an Dawn dislike them. I sort of think of them as like an oil change or some high speed driving for the heart. The blood pressure increase cleans up the cogs  in the brain a little.

I started the day with a call from our neighbor to assist with re-installation of a DVD player in his car. That was followed with a call to bring my jumper cables over. I did eventually do a little work in the shop but that was interrupted regularly to just enjoy the sunny day.

Breakfast was Lou's leftover omelet.Lunch was whatever one found. I had a PBJ English muffin. Dinner was at the Mi Pueblo Market. Lou, Dan and I shared a super carnitas burrito and a milanesa torta.

Stormy Weather

Monday: (12/07) It's freezing out there! We moved out  of the RV. Lou was busy helping the neighbor. I worked at the computer much of the day.

Cereal for breakfast. Lou and I shared a lunch from our local Chinese restaurant. Dinner was leftover pork roast with vegetables and potatoes.

Tuesday: (12/08) Another cold day. I started the day with a dentist's appointment. When I got home I worked on the car. While we were at Pismo the drivers door handle of the toad broke. It was worn out. I swapped it for the rear door handle and fixed up the old one so it worked but probably not too long. All's well now.

Breakfast of Irish Oats. Lunch at the Sunny Chinese Buffet in Sunnyvale. Dinner at Chipolte's Burrito House which just opened up near us.

Wednesday: (12/09) A much better day. Oatmeal and honey with sour cream for breakfast. I left in the car a little before 9am and the windows were already clear, naturally. I attended my Traffic Signal Association meeting in Fremont, CA at the public Works department building. We learned about a new single camera video detection (tracking) system for traffic signal control. Interesting and promising. I like to attend these meetings when I can to try to keep up on what's developing with my old trade.

I had lunch at a nearby Chinese Buffet, one of my many weaknesses. I then stopped by a big Fry's store in Sunnyvale. Our local Palo Alto Fry's, their second store and former headquarters, is a small store. I found two tings I was looking for some small diameter wire organizer tubing and an 8-gang UHF TV antenna. All the TV stations in our area, except for one are now UHF, even all the low number stations that were formerly VHF and still have their old channel assignments but are translated from UHF stations by the lousy new digital tuners. Channel 2, 5, 9, and 11 are all UHF now. Channel 7 is the only VHF left. I'm not sure why. Our old massive VHF/UHF antenna is no longer needed nor as effective as the new antenna is supposed to be. We'll see. If it fits, I'll also add one to the RV. The blade antenna on the RV, even with the UHF reflective elements that Camping World sells, is non functional.

My final endeavor was a visit to the Post Office for some stamps. For some reason, they no longer have stamp machines at the Post Office, just a nice long line. Of course the season has some effect on the length of the line but the appalling slowness of the clerks and patrons is a little stressful. It took 30 minutes to get through the line of about 15 patrons with three clerks working. I was patient and made it through to get the exact number of 5 cent  stamps I need to make my 39 cent stamps usable. I will no longer by any quantity of stamps, just tiny bunches in the future. They raised the rate twice before I used even a 1/3 of the last roll.

Lou was busy with the neighbor most of the day making funeral arrangements. She and Dawn also attended their braille class in the evening.

Dinner was some Chinese spaghetti and a tofu salad.

Thursday: (12/10) Lou was busy all day with errands with our neighbor. Dawn worked in San Jose. I didn't do much. I did install some door sweeps on the shed doors to help keep leaves and varmints out.

When the weather is stormy like it has been, I tend to enjoy doing nothing and doing it inside.

Breakfast was Irish oatmeal. Lunch was popcorn. Lou Dawn and I went to dinner at Chevy's sharing a couple of Chevy Cinco's.

Friday: (12/11) Breakfast was Irish oatmeal. Another nice day to be inside, it raned all day.  I stayed in and played at the keyboard.

Spaghetti for lunch. Chevy's leftovers for dinner.

Saturday: (12/12) Breakfast at Joanie's Cafe on California Street nearby. Lou and I shared a combination omelet and Dawn had salmon omelet. We had more leftovers for lunch.

Lou worked in the garage on her mold inventory organization while Dawn and i worked the keyboards. It was rainy all day.

I made pork, sauerkraut and potatoes in the crock pot for dinner.

Sunday: (12/13) Lou fixed French toast with sausage for breakfast. A little rain and occasional peak of the sun.

Dawn and I went shopping in San Bruno at Tanforan shopping center, a former horse race track.

When I was out the other day I found my favorite Sketcher shoes on sale at Penny's in Cupertino.I wear size 12 and ask the clerk to get a pair to try on. She came back and said they had size 10.5 or 13 as if I should decide on which one she should bring out. No thanks, not even close. So, I wanted to stop at another Penny's to see if they had a pair. The store in Tanforan didn't have any Sketchers like I wanted. When I checked Sears, they had a pair in my size and it was on sale the same as Penny's. The other day when I was at Penny's I also checked the Sears and they didn't have any Sketchers there? Why is the product at stores so variable? No one stocks anymore they just get random deliveries and never restock.

We had lunch at Fresh Choice.

Lou enjoyed her time at home alone reorganizing her mold inventory.

Left over pork, sauerkraut and potatoes for dinner.

Enough Work Already

Monday: (11/30) I delivered the old car to Midas for a free oil change. Not too much is free anymore and this ended up costing use nothing. Nice.

Ernie and I finished the shed base, built the front walls and raised the rest of the walls. The front wall is not part of the manufactured shed but 2x2 and plywood construction so we can have a higher entrance and better door.

Breakfast was my egg, cheese and bologna English muffins. Dawn and I walked down to San Antonio Mall to Fresh Choice for dinner.

Tuesday: (12/01) Up early and took Dawn to the light rail station. I then "had" to stop by the Hong Kong bakery for breakfast. I then visited the  hardware store for a couple of things.

Ernie and I worked on his storage shed putting the roof on and a door. I really think building from scratch is much easier than building a pre-manufactured shed because you have to put things together their way for the manufactured shed. A scratch built shed can be adapted as it goes up. Ernie had to take his dogs to a vet appointment. I had to meet Dawn in San Jose for a while as well. We still managed to get the shed finished.

Enough work already. Time for a break!

Dawn and I had lunch at a newly discovered Mexican fast food place Gallo Giro in East San Jose. Our Cubana torta was very good. We went to Chili's for dinner then walked home.

Turkey Week

Monday: (11/23) I'm not sure I'm ready for winter, especially since we'll be hanging around close to or at home until at least after Christmas. Our last extended trip ended in April and Lou and I haven't gotten out since then. We've been busy here at home. Even though I'm a sissy Californian and don't  really know what a winter is, I still prefer the more summer like days in the desert during winter

I completed setting up Ernie's trailer with a macerater so he can dump more easily. We have found ours to be very handy. I also spent, the all to often deferred time, to put things away in the shop. Stuff piles up from previous tasks. I also returned leftover stuff to the hardware store. It's much better to store it there so I can find it for the next project. Lou was busy stuffing stuff back in the closet. It was sort of like Dagwoods closet. It's much better organized now. She also cleaned up in preparation for holiday guests.

Today was leftover day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. We need some room in the refrigerator for Thanksgiving's coming leftovers.

Tuesday: (11/24) A short work day. Ernie and I located and cut the boards for the base of his storage building. That was it for me. Lou went down to San Jose to pick up some shelf units she bought used from a business that is closing. Ernie helped her set them up in her shed and studio.

I caught the train up to San San Francisco to a meeting of the BAADAuG computer user group. I like to attend these meetings when I'm in town. I arrived early and enjoyed a nice walk around town along the Embarcardero by the piers and up to Coit Tower for a nice view as the sun set. I then came down to my meeting. Our group leader, Mark Altenbernd, presented a project he developed that presented a bunch of gauges and charts developed in Flash. Interesting.

An interesting lesson in San Francisco's waste management practices. They require all garbage be divided into compostables, recyclablles, and landfill bins with serious fines for failure to do it correctly. The plan is to reduce landfill to less than 25% of total waste. Our host site, Learn-It had nice signs on the three bins in their lunch room. After a short reminder and instruction by our group commander, we all started to get the hang of it. It actually seems better than our system in Palo Alto and most everywhere else. While San Francisco wants soiled compostable food containers and food scraps in the compost bin, our compost bins only get yard trimmings. Our recycleable bins accept most of what they can put in theirs. This is all getting rather complex but it is necessary. Too bad we can't have a more consistent method though.

Ham and eggs for breakfast. Leftover fish soup for lunch, Subs for dinner at my meeting.

Wednesday: (11/25) I had planned to do a little assembly of Ernie's storage shed but "the best laid plans...." I secured Lou's shelves so they should survive an earthquake. Helped Ernie with a few tasks. I managed to wear myself out and ended up napping in the afternoon.

Ernie, Lou, and Dawn were busy most of the evening advance cooking dishes for the big meal tomorrow. Ernie also baked an apple and a mince meat pie. Dawn fixed some sweet potatoes and baked fresh sour dough bread. Lou fixed the dressing as a casserole and fresh cranberry sauce.

We've done a good job getting rid of leftovers to leave room in the refrigerator. Breakfast was cereal. Cold cuts for lunch. Pizza from Pizz'a Chicago for dinner.

Thursday: (11/26) Turkey Day. Ernie got the bird on and prepared the rest of dinner. My only contribution was providing a sheet of plywood for the table top. A 4x8' sheet makes a great table for eight (even up to 10).


Dinner was about 3pm. There were Ernie, Lou, Dawn, myself, our neighbors Eric and Melei, Courtney and her roommate Ashley, a foreign exchange student from Hong Kong. Eric and Melei lived in Hong Kong for several years leaving about the time Ashley was born so they had something to chat about. It was Ashley's first Thanksgiving.

Cereal for breakfast. Turkey for dinner. How odd. Actually Turkey, smashed potatoes, creamed peas with baby onions, dressing, sweet potatoes, sour dough bread, fruit salad, and Eric brought a cucumber jicama salad and baked quince apple grape compote. All this was topped off with Ernie's apple, mince meat, and/or Courtney's pumpkin pies.

Friday: (11/27) Lou was off early to Bakersfield to see Aunt Helen. It's raining today, at least enough to keep me inside, so no work today. I did get my desk cleaned up and worked at computer projects as well.

Breakfast was PBJ English muffins. Lunch and dinner were Thanksgiving leftovers.

Saturday: (11/28) The rain is gone but today has strong winds. I bought a new entry lock set and installed it on the storm door. The original had round knobs that were hard to open. The new set has lever handles and is much better.

Dawn and I took the train up to San Francisco. She had a class reunion event there and I'll escort here there. It was held at the Minna Galery. My original thought was why San Francisco and why Thanksgiving. I learned that they reasoned that they had a good chance of more attendees because the out of towners came home for Thanksgiving anyway and were available. San Francisco seemed kind of far away from home but the turnout was good so evidently it helped as well. Dawn had a good time.

I went to see the SF Auto Show nearby. It was a bit smaller but still a lot  to see. Nothing new though. Mostly the same product, no original ideas. Kind of sad. They still haven't learned. You can't tell one car makers product from another without  a label. They all look exactly the same. No style. No deviation from average. Last time I attended there was a lot more emphasis on hybrids and electric vehicles. Not much this time. My favorite car right now is the Volkswagon Jetta diesel. I've owned two VW's before and liked both. I had to give up on the bus because it wasn't safe to drive though. The Jetta is made with the VW's high quality and a little originality. The diesel has the best mileage of any car available, including any hybrid, assuming you do mostly highway driving where it has gotten 67mpg average in a 9000 mile drive around the country. It's city mileage is slightly less than the best hybrids at 30 mpg but equivalent to the Ford Escape hybrid. A problem for us is that only the manual transmission is towable. I'm too lazy to use a clutch again. So, I'm still looking for our next car.

Breakfast was an apple fritter. Lunch was more Thansgiving day leftovers, almost gone now! Dinner was a subway sandwich and slice of pizza at Goldie's in San Francisco.

Sunday: (11/29) Another sunny day. Time to get back to work. Ernie and I installed and leveled the shed base and anchored it. That effort seemed to use up the day.

Our backyard becomes very interesting on occasion in the fall. The seed pods on our wisteria vine start popping. It's sort of like someone shooting in the back yard. They fly to all extremes in the rear yard. One seed tweaked my ear and I was 40 feet away. Ernie said he noticed them popping when he went outside about 10pm. We arrived home at 1am ourselves. They started popping again later in the morning. I've always thought they worked something like popcorn and when they were ready and as they warmed up, they popped. Oddly, it's not really hot and has been in the past and no popping. Also popping late in the evening is contrary to that theory. It does seem that all the leaves fell off the plant at the same time? Can the wisteria fire at will? That's a bit scary! About half of the pods have fired now so tomorrow will be interesting as well.

Breakfast was PBJ English muffins. Chili beams for lunch. Chinese food for dinner.

We're Expecting

Monday: (11/16) A day off.Lou and I went out looking at our local shopping center. We had a successful shopping trip by buying very little.

Breakfast was leftover enchiladas. Lou and I had lunch at our favorite noodle house Luu Noodles in Mountain View. Ernie fixed hamburger stroganoff with fresh broccoli and cauliflower  for dinner.

Tuesday: (11/17) Russ from Roger's Camping Trailers delivered Ernie's trailer this morning. Our experience with Roger's was a pleasure. Russ and Denise, the owners, were very helpful and knowledgeable, definitely not like your average RV salesman. I wish they also sold motorhomes. We may need one someday and would love to work with similar folks.

Ernie was busy moving into it all day. The dogs called it home immediately, especially Walter who never left it all day. Lou and I dropped the old dishwasher off at the dump.

Lou fixed corned beef hash and eggs fr breakfast. Grilled cheese sandwiches with artichoke bread for lunch. Stir-fry dinner.

Wednesday: (11/18) Busy day. Ernie worked well into last evening moving in to his new home. Today, he continued.

Lou and I worked on installing a pipe under the house. As long as I had to crawl, we also pulled in two new TV antenna cables, one for a TV in the kitchen and another for Ernie. While the crawl space was nice, for this time of year, I did have to dig some to fit under some beams I used to squeeze under before. My waist dimensions are at least partially at fault but our clay soil is also a culprit. It moves around. To get under one beam I had to chisel it out because it was as hard as cement. To get under the other beam I had to remove some mud as the clay was wet there. Neither was pleasant work. The project did take much longer than planned but did result in success. I'm glad I haven't been down there for more than six years and hope I never have to again!

Lou and I enjoyed a nice breakfast out at Joanie's Cafe on California Avenue. Skipped lunch. Dinner at the new Mi Pueblo Market in East Palo Alto. Lou Dawn and I shared a torta Cubana and a super quesadilla.

Thursday: (11/19) Lou and I started the morning with a short bike ride over to Fry's. i picked up a piece of wire molding for the kitchen TV cable.

I tinkered around the house adding a new TV antenna amplifier and activated an antenna for the kitchen TV. The TV's been around a year or two and finally has an antenna. I also tried to fix the RV macerater. It didn't work well the past couple of times blowing fuses. I took it apart, cleaned out a few fibers around the cutter but couldn't get it to work.

Cereal and bananas for breakfast. A hot dog for lunch. Brussels sprouts, leftover fettuccine Alfredo and one of Lou's famous oven baked asparagus omelets for dinner.

Friday: (11/20) Almost the whole day off.

Yesterday, Lou emptied the entry closet to allow access to the crawl spac entrance. I realized that it took special effort  to get the door closed when getting a jacket but seeing all the stuff filling the entire living room made the amount of stuff more obvious. Something has to go. lots of jackets not worn since put in the closet.

When I was through under the house yesterday and taking my shower Lou came in and told me Dawn had asked why she didn't get a cable to the TV in her bedroom. She just watches videos on it, it doesn't have a new ATSC tuner so no broadcast TV on it anyway but it was a good question. We forgot. Since I haven't crawled under the house in more than eight years I decided to get that wire in while I knew I could. But I did wait until today with clean coveralls again. The task was quickly accomplished and hopefully that takes care of crawling for a while. The clay soil under there is in one of two conditions. hard as a rock with sharp edges or soft and muddy. So I either crawl on sharp rocks or in sticky mud. Neither one is pleasant but the sticky mud is worse bad. I worry about becoming glued to the ground with the mud.

Mission accomplished and a shower and we were off for the day.

Dawn, Lou and I drove down to Gilroy, the city of garlic, for a shopping excursion. The smell of garlic seems almost everpresent in Gilroy and we love visiting. Our nearest Camping World is there and we needed a new macerater pump. They also have a nice discount shopping center for Dawn. We started with a visit to the Longhorn Restaurant for breakfast. We managed to wear ourselves out before stopping at the Black Bear Diner for dinner. We finally got home a little before 8pm. Nice to take a day off!

Today was a good day to be out. It rained all day. Can;t do much in the yard anyway.

Breakfast Lou and Dawn shared Buckwheat pancakes, eggs and bacon. I had the chicken fried steak and eggs with pancakes. An early dinner at the Black Bear. Lou and Dawn shared spaghetti and meatballs while I topped of the day with more chicken fried steak potatoes and green beans.

Saturday: (11/21) A sunny day. Not much undertaken today. I did make a parts run to try and find some parts needed to hook up the macerater. Otherwise, I worked at the computer all day.

Cereal for breakfast. Leftovers for lunch. Lou baked a big ham for dinner with baked potatoes sweet potatoes, and a nice green salad.

Sunday: (11/22) A partially sunny day. Rain was forecast but only threatened. It is cool though. I spent the morning working at the computer and took a parts run to Pep Boys Auto Store for some parts for the macerater connections. No real work today.

Ham and eggs for breakfast. Leftover corned beef hash for lunch. Mexican vegetable soup for dinner.

Actual Progress

Monday: (11/09) Ernie and I finished the front of Lou's new shed. It still needs a door but it is a building now. Lou and Dawn were in San Jose for a meeting in the morning.

Well, it happened again. We finally lit the pilot light on our heater at home. It's been getting cooler and is almost cold at times now. I guess when I had to abandon my short pants a couple of days ago that it was near the end of summer. Hopefully we'll get out of here for warmer climate soon.

Breakfast was leftover omelet with English muffin. lunch was a visit to Carl's jr and a bacon avocado burger. Lou fixed enchiladas for dinner with re-fried beans.

Tuesday: (11/10) Ernie and I put away the collected tools and stuff piled on the shop table. We also installed the ridge cap on the new shed roof. Until the front was in place, I wasn't sure it would remain standing if I leaned onit and getting to the middle of the roof ridge requires leaning on the roof. Our final accomplishment was building and installing the shed door. All done. It's now Lou's turn to arrange shelves and move in.

Ernie fixed eggs, home fried spuds and sausage for breakfast. Cottage cheese and fruit cocktail for lunch. Lou fixed fried fish, brown rice, and asparagus for dinner.

Wednesday: (11/11) Lou was very busy moving her molds into the new shed. Dawn, Courtney and Ernie assisted. It should take 2 or three more days to complete the move. Lou needs to update her inventory sheets to show the current locations as she moves them. I worked at cleaning out her old building and moving it to the rear of the yard temporarily. We now have a path to get the trailer into the yard.

It was cool enough that Dawn and Courtney started a campfire in the afternoon and we enjoyed in the evening too.

PBJ English muffins for breakfast. Ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Ernie fixed corned beef with corn on the cob and his baked potato slices for dinner.

Thursday: (11/12)First thing was to adjust the shelf levels on one of Lou's shelves in her mold shed. Today, the Chinese pine tree by the driveway got a serious trim.

After an early dinner I went down to Adobe headquarters in downtown San Jose for a meeting of the Silvafug, another Adobe user group. It was my first visit with this group. Chet Haase a Flex SDK desine engineer spoke about the rules of animation for applications as compared to Disney's 12 rules of animation. It was very interesting to get a set of rules for use in developing web applications.

PBJ English muffins for breakfast. Left over treasures from the refrigerator for lunch. Courtney fixed chicken, pomegranate waffles for dinner.

Friday: (11/13) Friday the 13th!

Everyone took a day off today.  Ernie and I went over to Roger's Camping trailers for the walk through on Ernie's trailer.His trailer will be delivered Tuesday. Lou, Dawn and I took a walk around the recently remodeled Stanford Town And Country Shopping Center in the evening.

We all went to Anne's Coffee Shop in Menlo Park for breakfast. I had something from the lunch menu, baked hash. Dawn had Alaskan Benedict, Lou corned beef hash, Ernie Sausage and eggs. Since we had a late breakfast we had an early dinner of steak, brown rice, and fresh spinach.

Saturday: (11/14) Lou was busy moving molds. She made great progress getting most of the stuff moved into the shed. We started by moving another shelf into the shed and I cut a few boards to optimize the shelves. My major effort was watching Lou work providing an occasional assist. I did move a few last items out of the way and cut the boards needed to level the trailer. I'm ready.

Popcorn for breakfast. Ernie fixed potato soup and home made saltine crackers for dinner.

Sunday: (11/15) Lou finished getting here stuff into the shed except for some odds and ends that she will go through later when she gets another shelf for the shed. It's on order but wasn't available in time. We filled two carts with all the remaining molds and cleaned up the deck and are ready to receive Ernie's trailer.

Ernie prepared pancakes for breakfast. Courtney took us out to Buca de Beppo for lunch. We had a Caesar salad, fettuccine Alfredo and garlic cheese toast. Dinner was left over enchiladas.

Ernie's New Home To Be

Ernie has a new home, almost.  We Started looking in earnest for Ernest's home recently. We had been looking for either a class A or B motorhome or a travel trailer. We don't have anything that could move a fifth wheel so that was ruled out. We also decided that a travel trailer was better since it won't need a motor because it won't be moving. Finding a good trailer is difficult both because good used RV's are hard to find and because there aren't too many good trailer floor plans.


We seemed to have found both a good floorplan and a good unit at an equally important good price. It's a 1991 Nomad 24' trailer. We found it at Roger's Camping Trailers in Fremont, Ca. We thought we couldn't find a good used RV at the best price at a dealer but Rogers really surprised us. They only had a couple of used units but one was what we wanted. Even though it is short, it has lots of closet and storage space and includes two doors. We'll probably be putting a dog door in the bedroom door.


Unlike most of the units we looked at, it seems well built even having a one piece shower.

Falling Back

Monday: (11/02) The time change is always a challenge. Our cell phones, fortunately, automatically follow the correct time. The VCR's now set themselves to the correct time as broadcast by PBS. I did remember to reset our main clock back as required. But, that was it. Dawn needed to get up early so asked me to set the alarm. Since our old alarm clock failed, we're using the battery travel clock from the RV in the house. I set it and it woke us up at 6:30 as requested by Dawn. Unfortunately, the time on it had not been changed so the alarm had actually gotten Dawn and Lou up at 5:30. Sorry about that. I then followed through and reset the alarm clock, the car, and the microwave.

Since we had plenty of time. I got up and went with Lou to drop Dawn off at the light rail train. We had breakfast on the way at the Hong Kong Bakery, baked pork buns. After we dropped Dawn off we headed over to Home Depot for a few things and also returned some surplus items.

When we returned, the contractor was busy back-filling the holes on our street. Evidently, the new pipe passed the pressure tests.

Ernie and I worked on digging a trench to bury some pipes and wires for the sprinklers that were attached to the old wooden deck.

Breakfast was baked pork buns from Hong Kong Bakery. Lunch was popcorn with Parmesan cheese. Dinner was fish with quinoa and green beans.

Tuesday: (11/03) Ernie and I finished burying the sprinkler pipes that had been attached to the deck.

Egg, cheese and sausage English muffins' for breakfast. McDonald's snack wrap for lunch. Lou make spaghetti with a green salad and fresh pineapple for dinner.

Wednesday: (11/04) Ernie and I removed some stumps and roots and the dirt in the raised flower bed behind where the deck was. Everything is back down to sidewalk level now.

The gas line contractor patched most of the holes on our street. Previously there were a lot of speed bumps where they left traffic plates over the big holes they used to replace the pipes. We should get some parking back on the street now.

PBJ English muffin's for breakfast. Bologna and Swiss cheese sandwiches for lunch. Ernie fixed macaroni and cheese with corn for dinner.


Thursday: (11/05) Lou's moved all her molds out of her existing dilapidated shed and prepared them for moving into the new shed. There are quite a few molds. Ernie and I started assembling one of the metal sheds. Not wanting to let anything be easy, we started by building a pedestal so the roof can be higher (above right). The pedestal also levels the side walls since the old concrete slab that was under the wood deck is not level.


Waffles and sausage for breakfast. Spaghetti for lunch. Leftover spaghetti, with stuffed mushrooms and grapes for diner.

Friday: (11/06) Ernie, Lou and I left about 10am. We had three RV's to see. First appointment wasn't until 1pm in Concord. We had a list of RV dealers in the East bay as well. After crossing the Dumbarton Bridge We stopped at the closest RV dealer, Roger's Camping Trailers in Fremont just across the bay. It's a small dealer we've never visited before. They didn't have many trailers but did have two used trailer s. One was a tent trailer the other a 1991 24' Nomad trailer. The Nomad was in really good shape and priced equal to the lesser quality FBO trailers we've seen. we liked it.

We continued on to look at a used Tioga Class C RV in Concord which was in good shape but priced higher than most similar we've seen. We then went to Oakley to see a really cheap travel trailer but it had seen better days. We continued our tour by heading back West to Novato to see a nice 3 year old travel trailer. It was in good shape but had many repairs including many bad patches to the rubber roof reportedly caused by a malicious awning. it also looked like it had a rear wend collision. No thanks.

We returned toward home across the Golden Gate Bridge through San Francisco during rush hour stopping for dinner in Millbrae.

Breakfast at Jack in the box. Lunch at a shopping mall in Concord. Ernie had Parmesan chicken, I had a slice of stuffed pizza. Lou had some rach and bacon fries. Dinner at Neal's Coffee Shop in Millbrae. Lou and I had shrimp fettuccine. Ernie had the corned beef hash breakfast.

Saturday: (11/07) Our Friday night dinner out with Dawn and Courtney became breakfast this morning at Dina's Poolside Cafe just down the street.

Ernie and I then drove across the Dumbarton Bridge again to Roger's Camping Trailers to buy the Nomad trailer. It's the best we've seen and was at the right price. It's a two door short 24' trailer, has lots of storage, a corner bed, a nice dinette with a drop down bunk above. Should be nice for Ernie and the dogs.

I spent a little time working on the base for the new metal shed for Lou's molds.

At Dina's Poolside Cafe Lou, Dawn, Courtney and I shared a couple of Nunley omelets. Ernie had a bacon and Swiss omelet. We haven't been there in at least a couple of years. The gardens adjacent to the pool are really nice. Cottage cheese and fruit cocktail for lunch. Lou got a new used wave cooker today and prepared dinner in it. Broccoli, cauliflower, steak and leftover quinoa.

Sunday: (11/08) Ernie, Lou and I erected the first metal shed. It wasn't all that easy since were not going to use the front and doors and that's what the instructions started with. So, we winged it and erected it without following directions requiring the removal and reassembly of a few items but all went well. Tomorrow we'll build the front.

Breakfast was one of Lou's baked egg omelets. Grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Penne pasta with white sauce, broccoli, carrots, and asparagus with roast beef for dinner.