Wednesday: (10/07) Granola and banana for breakfast. A bad air day, AQI 110. So, We spent the day inside. Dawn worked on recording one of her stories. I tinkered on the computer. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. We went on a tea run in the afternoon. Lou was out of decaf tea. We picked up dinner from Lucky Chinese Bistro on the way home. It was nice to get out. At least a little stretch. I received a call from our tenant in San Jose that they wanted to upgrade their Internet to fiber. Unfortunately that requires a new path for the cable from the garage to the house. The existing telephone cable is directly buried. I don’t want any overhead cables in the backyard so all the utilities are dropped to the garage at the back of the yard. So, when the air clears I’ll be installing a new conduit. Hopefully good air soon.
Thursday: (10/08) Granola and banana for breakfast. Another bad air day, AQI 98. I did some more grouting on the patio, anyway. Lou and Dawn ordered pizza for their lunch. I had chili. We all took a drive after lunch over to the coast via Highway 84. We visited Pescadero and Santa Cruz. Didn't see as much burned as we expected. It must be over the ridge from the beach, for the most part. Tomato soup and toast for dinner.
Friday: (10/09) Lou made an omelet with fruit for breakfast. I headed off to San Jose to work on the new conduit for the fiber to the house. I stopped on the way to get some buckets to manage the dirt from the trench. All my old ones are busy at home. I unloaded my tools and measured the length of the conduit run then headed back to Lowe’s in Sunnyvale. I got my conduit and fittings and some items to repair a couple of bad faucets. Back at the San Jose house I cleared out some brick paving in the path of the trench. That turned out to be more difficult than I had planned but I did get them out. Lunch at La Victoria, a nice torta. I returned home at 1645.
Saturday: (10/10) I drove down to San Jose to work on the ditch. I stopped at Ace Hardware to pickup a conduit fitting on the way. I managed to get about half of the conduit installed in the trench and backfilled. I replaced some of the bricks I lifted to dig my trench. Granola for breakfast. Lunch at La Victoria, a nice torta. Lou picked up dinner from the Redwood City German Restaurant.
Sunday: (10/11) Granola for breakfast. I headed down to San Jose with a stop at Ace hardware to get a street elbow. Rich relocated the potting table that was in the way. In San Jose I dug out the trench and installed the conduit. In the process I burnt out the motor of my concrete saw and tripped the outlet circuit. I was trying to break out the concrete with my heavy crowbar. I chipped a break line but wasn’t making much progress breaking out the concrete. I finally decided the time it took to return to Palo Alto to get my jackhammer would be worth it. I headed home with a stop at Ace Hardware for a new GFCI outlet. I prepared a ham sandwich for lunch. I loaded the jackhammer and returned to San Jose. It made quick work removing the concrete and I was able to finish the trench. I’ll try sawing the edge again tomorrow. I got the conduit into the basement and back filled the trench. Now just some cleanup and restoration. I also have a few other maintenance details to take care of. Lou made green salads for dinner.
Monday: (10/12) Granola for my first breakfast. I loaded up the Jeep installing the hitch rack and loading the cement mixer. Ernie helped. He came with me to San Jose to help unload it. I bought his breakfast on the way home as payment for services rendered. We stopped at the Country Inn and I joined him for a second breakfast. Back home, I swapped back to the Hyundai and loaded 12 bags of concrete. I returned to San Jose and unloaded the concrete. I repaired the leaky faucet. I tried to install the condulet at the garage end of the conduit but couldn’t use my long drill to get straight through the wall before I use the hole saw so the conduit can pass through. I moved on to clearing the area for the concrete between the walkway and the house. I also changed saws and cut the other side of the concrete where I had broken it out with the jackhammer. Not too much accomplished except for prep for future work. I headed off about 1645. At home I loaded another 12 bags of concrete for tomorrow's run to San Jose. Lou made chicken and veggies for dinner.
Tuesday: (10/13) Granola and banana for breakfast. I headed off to San Jose early. I unloaded the 12 bags of concrete I brought down first. I drilled the garage wall and installed the through the wall conduit piece. I removed the five sprinkler valves that aren’t used any more and replumbed the water line to the back faucet. This required a run to Lowe’s to get a few PVC pipe and fittings. I picked up lunch on my return trip. I then leveled and prepared the area where the new concrete is going. And finally, I laid all the good bricks I had on the walkway I had removed earlier to install the conduit. I need about 12 more from home. There are a few broken and deformed bricks that I’d prefer not to use. I headed home early at 1500. While I'm ready to pour concrete now I didn’t want to do it late in the afternoon. Lou made pizza for dinner. I made a trip to Kohl’s department store to return a light fixture I got from Amazon. Convenient way to return. In the evening I completed setting up my new micro desktop PC in the RV. Arnold Young emailed me and I installed Skype on the PC and we chatted for a while.
Wednesday: (10/14) Granola for breakfast. I drove down to San Jose early. Today is the day ATT installs the fiber optic cable to the hose for the tenant. My conduit is ready for it. I got to work on laying the bricks to complete restoring the path to the garden that I had to remove for the conduit. All done and grouted. The ATT guy arrived about 0900 and was finished about 1300. All went well. I decided it was too late to try to pour a bunch of concrete because I hadn’t had lunch. After lunch of my usual torta from La Victoria, I didn’t feel like doing a bunch of mixing and pouring so it can wait until a new day, tomorrow. I enjoyed a nice long nap until about 1900. I took a walk around the neighborhood and to Grocery Outlet where I bought a chicken pot pie for dinner.
Thursday: (10/15) Dry granola for breakfast. No milk in the house. I mixed and poured 14 bags of concrete doing a big chunk of the new patio. I started about 0830 and finished the pour and cleanup by 1100. Most of the rest of the day was watching and finishing. I had some ramen noodles for lunch. Later in the afternoon I did a few repairs inside the tenant’s house. I nailed down a threshold strip into their bathroom, re-nailed a curtain bracket, and replaced a faucet. I picked up an early dinner from La Victoria, some chili rellenos.
Friday: (10/16) I mixed and poured about 8 bags of concrete to finish the patio extension here at the San Jose house. I finished the pour before 1000. I then cleaned up and packed away much of my tools and excess materials into the car. I then just waited for the concrete to dry and did final finishing. I also got a nice afternoon nap. I left about 1600 to head home. After dinner at home, I unloaded the car and put things away. Dry granola for breakfast. Leftover beans, rice and tortillas from my dinner last night. Amy’s vegetable soup for an afternoon snack. Macaroni and cheese for dinner.
Saturday: (10/17) I headed off toward San Jose. I stopped at Ace hardware for some caulk on the way. Breakfast at Scramblz restaurant in San Jose. I enjoyed a nice chicken fried steak. First in a while. I loaded the mixer, jack hammer and everything else onto and in the Jeep. I washed down the concrete and replaced the outlet in the back room. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the GFCI to fit in the outside box so I will need to return. On the way home I stopped at Lowe’s and picked up a weatherproof box. At home I cut the back out so it can be an extension box for the outlet. I unloaded all the stuff that I brought back. Then I relaxed the rest of the afternoon.
Sunday: (10/18) Another run to San Jose.. This time Lou came with me. She visited with Cecelia down the street from Dawn’s House. I finished up my work on the house. I installed the outlet box. I also caulked the gap in the foundation by the new concrete walkway I just poured. I then loaded up the last of the items from the project. Corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Salads for lunch. Dawn’s chicken chowder for dinner.
Monday: (10/19) I unloaded the car and put things away. Otherwise relaxed all day. Leftover corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Shepherd's pie for dinner.
