Hot Summer Daze

Monday: (08/23) I built the forms for the fence base. It was lots more fun today since summer has finally arrived. We've enjoyed a very cool summer so far, even cold as recent as yesterday. Not so today. It got up to 95 today and we'll have a couple of more days of the heat. It makes hanging out in the shade much nicer.

Breakfast was leftover omelet. Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich. Lou fixed a tofu, pepper and onion salad for dinner.

Tuesday: (08/24) An even hotter day, 101 degrees high. I chauffeured Ernie to a doctors appointment. I also picked up a bunch of concrete to pour tomorrow. Lou had a therapy appoint and Dawn was at work at San Jose City College.

Cottage cheese, ham, an peppers for breakfast, leftover tofu salad for brunch, a torta for a late lunch and a ham croisant sandwich for dinner.

8/24

The fence base behind our storage sheds formed and poured.


Andd finally reinstalled.

Wednesday: (08/25) Oatmeal for breakfast. Ernie and I were busy pouring the concrete for the second part of the fence repair. This pour amounts to a 6 inch wide 2 foot high retaining wall 25 feet long, about the same as the first phase. We finished by 11am well before our hot spell got really hot. We cleaned up an I tinkered doing the finishing then we enjoyed Lou's latkas with apple sauce and yogurt and steak for lunch. In the afternoon  I picked up the concrete for the next pour while it's on sale. Dinner was a nice broccoli raisin salad and fish.

During this hot spell even San Francisco has been very hot. Well fortunately the hot spell should be gone tomorrow and San Francisco will be back to the high 60's which coincides with a break in my fencing work as I let the concrete dry tomorrow. I'll be off on another "walk-about' tomorrow.

And More Fencing, When I Can't Avoid It

Wednesday: (08/18) A little layout work was done on the fence, then a little post hole digging, then some material pickup. Pretty much avoided real work today too.

Cheerios with yogurt and honey for breakfast. Leftover hominy and pork for lunch. Beef wellington for dinner.

Thursday: (08/19) I spent the day digging the post holes for the fence posts then took a load of dirt to the dump.

Cheerios with yogurt and honey for breakfast. I cooked up a bunch of sausage we got a few days ago so they can be frozen. Dinner was a chili and sausage size. Lou and Dawn were out in San Jose all day and until late


Friday: (08/20) I spent the day installing the tube forms for the fence bases. Now ready to pour the concrete tomorrow.

Lou fixed an mushroom omelet for breakfast. Stuffed tomatoes with salmon for lunch. Dawn made sausage and vegetable soup and Lou made corn bread for dinner.

Saturday: (08/21) Ernie and I filled the forms with concrete in the morning and then relaxed the rest of the day.

Lou was busy cleaning out the cottage (storage shed). She and Dawn also were busy taking books to the recycle book stores. Unfortunately at one they didn't seem to understand how to do it. She left with a store credit and two more books than she left?

PBJ English muffins for breakfast. I had a ham and cheese sandwich with some chips and an avocado for lunch. Lou and Dawn had roast chicken. Dinner was leftover vegetable soup and Pescadero olive bread.

Sunday: (08/22) Whole wheat pancakes and sausage for breakfast. I removed most of the forms from the fence bases but left the paper tubes because the concrete isn't dry enough yet. I also pruned at our Japanese maple tree which was quite stressed with no water until we came home. Lou is still busy cleaning out the cottage. We went to lunch at the Sunny Chinese Buffet with our neighbor. I took a nice afternoon nap to recover from lunch. Lou was busy unfluffing her the cottage. She had taken every thing out and rearranged it and cleaned but needed to get it all back inside before the lawn sprinklers run tonight. I stripped the paper tubes off the fence bases. Tomorrow the rest of the base between the post bases will be formed for pouring.

Golden Gate Park To Golden Gate Bridge

Tuesday: (08/17) Lou and I put all the garage sale leftovers out for pickup this morning then she dropped me off at the train station. I was off on another day trip to San Francisco and an evening computer user group meeting there. By 10am I was out by Golden Gate Park at the Crepevine restaurant for breakfast. I tried their corned beef hash, which they call an "El Paso". It was excellent as expected. Everything I've had there on these past three visits to the park have been great.

After breakfast, I walked over to the Arboretum as I did on the previous two visits. I like the arboretum but evidently San Francisco is growing tired of me. They now charge admission to the arboretum for non-residents. That means I wont be visiting it as often.


I enjoyed a walk through other parts of Golden Gate Park instead. I explored Stow Lake and shared the path with a poke-o-dot crawdad.


I crossed the bridge onto the island in Stow Lake. There is a nice pagoda on the island presented to San Francisco by their sister city Taipei.


There are a lot of flowers in the park at other places than the arboretum.


Some bison were brought to the park in 1891 and some are still there. The one on the left is still green though.


Eventually 9 made my way to the beach.


Then on to the Cliff House and along the coast and through the Presido to the Golden Gate Bridge.


From there through Crissy Field to the Marina area and the Palace of Fine Arts. It seems to be a popular place to get a picture taken.

It was then nearing 6pm so I caught a bus downtown for dinner and my meeting. I picked up a piece of pizza and an energy drink to keep me awake during the meeting. I had walked well over 12 miles and was starting to feel it.

The meeting was presented by a couple of Adobe engineers on their upcoming application distribution tool code named "Melrose". It should release in a couple of weeks with some new name. It's sort of like the Apple App Store on steroids. Applications that you develop using the Adobe software can be distributed through many channels from one site. Now all I have to do to take advantage of it is to actually develop something worth while. It was an interesting meeting. After the meeting I caught the train and was back home before 11pm. It was a good day of avoiding the fence.

Our Garage Sale

Friday: (08/13) Today was mostly busy getting stuff out for the garage sale. I helped with the big stuff and completed removing the old post bases.

Maple sugar oatmeal for Breakfast. Ham sandwiches for lunch. Pizza for dinner.


Saturday: (08/14) Today was garage sale day. Since I guarded the piles last night by sleeping in the RV and watching out the window I missed some sleep as people came by to take their late night looks. Nobody took anything, just browsed. I enjoyed an afternoon nap to make up. Our sale includes stuff from four of our neighbors as well. We only did OK today. Garage sales are not for making money anyway. they are to get rid of junk and avoid it's going directly to the dump or thrift stores. What doesn't sell won't be staying around after the sale.

Oat bran hot cereal for breakfast with yogurt and honey. Leftover piza for lunch. For dinner I made hominy with fire roasted tomatoes, salsa, onions, mushrooms, and diced pork chops.

Sunday: (08/15) The second day of our garage sale went much like yesterday. By 4pm visitors had disappeared so we packed stuff up, cleared the lawn and driveway and looked pretty much normal again. I brought back the RV to fill the driveway again. Most of the stuff will be picked up Tuesday for a thrift store. We left some things out with "free" signs on them . Three half used tires and a composter. (Monday morning while we were out the tires found a home.) Lou took Dawn home to San Jose this evening.

Supreme croissant sandwiches for breakfast from Jack In The Box. Leftover hominy casserole for lunch. Subway sandwiches for dinner.

Monday: (08/16) Lou and I went up to Redwood City for breakfast at the Talk Of Broadway Cafe, a nice little cafe downtown that fixes excellent stuff. After breakfast, Lou examined the Saver's Thrift Store. She must feel we need to restock after our garage sale? Then we stopped at the Grocery outlet for a few things since we were there.

When we're home enjoying our tea and watch perry Mason on TV we were disturbed by a call from our neighbor who was trying to stop people from taking her garage sale leftovers piled by the curb at here house. She intended them for a charity and asked them not to take the stuff but they kept loading so Lou went out and made them unload their truck. That's why we didn't leave our stuff out. It's nice that stuff may find a good home but these scavengers aren't taking it for personal use just for flea market sales. We did leave a few things that the charity pickup probably wouldn't want out with signs marked "free". It was on the opposite side of our yard from our neighbors pile. We were happy to see the three tires that Lou was saving disappear. They would have cost us $10 each to deliver to the dump. Now if only our composter would find a good home. It's a Cadillac of composters. It's much easier for Dawn to have her worm farm and let the City handle the composting.

Fencing Phase Two

Saturday: (08/07) Lou fixed kale, tomatoes, onions, eggs, mushrooms and cheese for breakfast. I tinkered in my office most of the morning. Lou and Dawn went off to the Santa Clara County Fair. It's not much of a fair and it may be the last one held o they wanted to go. Lunch was leftover enchiladas. After lunch I went outside and got to work. I removed the next section of fence to start rebuilding it. Lou fixed taco soup for dinner.

Sunday: (08/08) Bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast. I started by picking plums from the neighbors tree.


I broke out some more old concrete fence base then dug out some dirt and hauled a load of dirt to the dump. Lunch was leftover Enchiladas. Next, I hauled a load of concrete rubble to the dump. Enough for today. Our friends Pete and Debbie stopped by for a visit. Dinner was pizza. Our neighbors Larry and Frannie dropped off a couple of pizzas, extras from an event they attended. That was fortuitous. Lou hadn't decided what was for dinner until then.

Monday: (08/09) I tinkered with the computer much of the morning getting some pictures ready for the blog. I haven't posted any pictures since we returned home the first of June. Now I have.

Eventually, I went outside and faced up to the task at hand, working on the fence. I moved a bunch of baby tears plants then broke out the old fence base. The jackhammer makes fast work of that task. Now the car is loaded ready for a trip to the dump tomorrow.

Leftover pizza for breakfast. Leftover enchiladas for lunch. Lou fixed a Chinese concoction for dinner. Rice noodles tofu, chicken, and all sorts of vegetables. Ernie baked some plum pies using the plums I plucked yesterday.

Tuesday: (08/10) Lou fixed Don McMuffins for breakfast. I started by taking the load of concrete debris to the dump. Brunch was a slice of plum pie. I drove a neighbor to a doctors appointment.  Lou fixed chorizo salad for lunch. After lunch I took Dawn down to San Jose and worked on anchoring the water heater and softener.

Wednesday: (08/11) Maple sugar oatmeal for breakfast. First task of the day was to put away all the tools and stuff I threw in the car to use in San Jose. While I was at it I cleaned out my tool bags, moved in to a new tool pouch, and cleaned off the workbench in the shop. Lou fixed corn on the cob and sausage for lunch.


After lunch I loaded the car with dirt and went to the dump. Upon return it was time for a piece of plum pie. Then the car was loaded again with dirt and another run to the dump. Lou had an an appointment and Dawn worked on going through her books. They both have been busy getting ready for a garage sale this weekend. Lou fixed chili beans for dinner.

Thursday: (08/12) Today was a busy day. Three loads of dirt to the dump, two before lunch and one after just before the dump closed. The first two loads were from the garden spot whicj is nearing completion of the excavation. With our soil, it's more like breaking it our with the hard clay. The afternoon was spent digging out for the new fence base and starting to remove the old post remnants.

French toast for breakfast. Leftover Chinese noodles and vegetables for lunch. Leftover chili beans for dinner.

Strybing Arboretum, San Francisco, Again

Friday: (08/06) Lou dropped me off at the train depot where I caught a train to San Francisco. Just a day off, out and about. Lou and Dawn were busy cleaning up piles of stuff getting ready for our garage sale in a week. In San Francisco I caught the Muni train to Irving Street near Golden Gate Park. I stopped at the Crepevine Restaurant for breakfast. I had the Santa Fe savory crepe. It was a crepe filled with scrambled eggs, and chicken apple sausage served with a salad and home fried potatoes. I like this restaurant.


After breakfast I walked over to the park to the Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park and walked many of the trails like above.  The arboretum is still looking good even this late in summer, as always. I like the little dirt paths found everywhere in the arboretum. Above right is a pond by the bamboo trail.


Above left is the redwood trail.


Lots of bright flowers


An interesting round tree above left.


Some flowers just hang around.


Some look like cones, others have interesting paint jobs. I like the arboretum!


On the way leaving the arboretum I spotted this sign on the back of a bus which I kind of liked.

Then it was time to take a busmans holiday. I worked for a transportation agency for twenty years and helped build a light rail system. So I like to ride the trains. I caught the train back to Noe Valley then walked down Noe Street through the Castro District then caught the train again and rode out to the Stonestown Mall and back trough  the Ingleside district then back downtown. Dinner was a Mexican pizza at Goldie's Pizza Parlor after which I caught the train home. It's usually nice visiting San Francisco because the temperature is usualy 10-20 degrees lower than at home but that wasn't needed since our weather at home has been perfect. It was a nice day out and there was no way I had to touch a shovel or pick ax today.

Hardly Time

Monday: (08/02) Off to San Jose this morning. I fixed a hardy breakfast this morning. Home fried potatoes with pork chops and eggs. After breakfast, I got distracted for a while by Ernie who wanted to setup the fountain and get it going. So it's now working with the new frogs and in it's new centered location by the arbor.


I collected my tools and headed on to San Jose. When I got there, my plans changed. I was going to install a new water softener but when I got down in the basement I found the water heater leaking and a flooded basement. I called for help and went and got a new water heater and Ernie came down to help. We got the thing installed and vacuumed up the water. So tomorrow I'll get the softener installed, maybe. It has a broken rim and I'll see if the manufacturer wants me to install it. I'm supposedly not supposed to return it to the store. I picked up some egg rolls for lunch while out shopping. Ernie and I stopped at Carl's Jr for dinner. Lou went down to San Jose separately to get some paperwork so the State pays most of the cost of getting the toad to pass the smog test. Then they shopped away the rest of the afternoon stopping at Carrow's for some prime rib for dinner. Since they share, they eat cheap.

Tuesday: (08/03) I started the day with the leftovers from yesterdays potatoes and pork. Lou enjoyed cereal. She then had to dash to get the toad down to get smogged. I went to the dump to get rid of the old waterheater then headed down to San Jose to install the water softener. I started with a call to the manufacturer who said take it back to the store, just the opposite of the large print paper in their paperwork. Lowe's replaced it with no problems. That was the easy part. I needed to rework the pipework some for the new softener but had great difficulty getting the parts. There is no such thing as a good hardware store anywhere around here. Not OSH, not Lowe's and not Home Depot. All are poor excuses for hardware stores. I finally collected enough stuff to get it together. After a some leak shooting I ran a regeneration cycle and all went well. I had a V* for lunch and some egg rolls for dinner and returned home late. Lou took the toad in and it passed the smog test with flying colors after the air mass meter was replaced. Lou and Dawn had chorizo and rice again. When I got home I had some for supper as well.

Wednesday: (08/04) Lou fixed a hot dog omelet for breakfast. I tinkered cleaning out the car of tools and trash in the morning.


Lou took the neighbor to the doctor and I took Dawn to a job interview then we all went to lunch at Brian's in Los Altos. I had fish and chips and Lou and Dawn shared a nice grilled roast beef onion and cheese sandwich. Lou got the toad registration taken care of. I'm glad she handled it this time. My only task was to lose the paperwork.


I took a load of dirt that Ernie prepared to the dump then returned some stuff to the hardware store. Lou fixed beef enchiladas for dinner.

Thursday: (08/05) Cereal for breakfast. Lou, Dawn and I had serial dental appointments this morning. After those appointments we stopped at the Sunny (Chinese) Buffet in Sunnyvale for lunch. On the way home we stopped at Walmart. I was just along for the ride but Lou and Dawn were looking for things but I was the one to make a find. I wear western snap buttoned shirts and found one for a really good price, $12. I only found one in my size. I normally find them on sale for about $15, $12 was a deal until I had checked all around the mens department and eventually found more but they were an amazing deal at $7 each. I found a total of seven in my size. Nice find. I loaded a few dirt buckets in our garden spot excavation but not too much work before dinner wich was fondue. Lou fixed some baked apples with cranberries and pecans for desert.