July 24th: Still enjoying Encinitas but thinking about Guppy, Linda and Friends

Guppy tied to our favorite rock island on Stony Lake

I must admit, I often think I'm supposed to be in Canada on our 28 foot Bayliner, Guppy. Of course I also often think Linda should be there with me. I've settled for just talking to/emailing our Canadian friends, Randy and Cindy, Gary and Karen, and Peter, Cheryl and her mom Lois. We've enjoyed travelling in our boats together for many years. Not being able to spend time together reminds me how wonderful our friendships are. We are all "Boat nuts". I saw this quote today on the trawler forum which is what prompted me to talk about boating in this blog. 

Boat Nut:
If you are one, there is no explanation necessary.
If you aren’t one, there is no explanation possible.

That pretty well sums it up. Here are some fun pictures from our past.

Peter and Cheryl on Deja Vu

Steve, Linda, Cheryl and Peter 

We met Peter and Cheryl on the loop in 2010. They are both wonderful and Peter has a crazy sense of humor that is contagious. You cannot have a bad day when travelling with this couple, although there are times when Cheryl threatens Peter to behave, rightfully so!

There are many small restaurants on the Trent and we loved going for breakfast. Especially the peameal bacon. (Only available in Canada) History of Peameal Bacon

Linda, Cheryl's sister, Lois and Cheryl

After travelling the loop, we met Cheryl's mom Lois. She traveled on the boat with Peter and Cheryl for a while and we really enjoyed her company. Peter is a continuous jokester which prompted me to ask Lois,  "So how was it, having Peter for a son-in-law?" One of my favorite memories was Lois's response. She said, "Well Peter is kind of an acquired taste." I said, "So how long did it take to acquire that taste?" She said, "Well, I'm still working on it." Lois is a minister, even where Peter is concerned, that's as far as she goes, but it's far enough!

Cindy relaxing in
Peter's banana lounge chair

Cheryl in Peter's banana lounge chair

We were someplace and Peter found someone selling these inflatable beach lounge chairs. Of course he had to buy one. We all tried it out. It was like trying to settle in-between two giant bananas. Actually, once you got in it it was quite comfortable. Of course getting out required help!

Breakfast at the Old Mill, Bobcaygeon

Randy and Cindy are truly our best friends. We love all our friends, but Randy and Cindy are like soul mates. The times we spent together were wonderful. We just seemed to be on the same wave length. And of course their dogs, Gigit and Cricket were lovable and so much fun.






Cindy and I loved to fish. Randy and Linda only liked to catch. So Cindy and I did the fishing. Cindy is fun to fish with because it takes very little to get her excited!

Cindy with her "Big" catch
 at Buckhorn Dam

Cindy with her monster Bass

We ended up at two different anchorages and Cindy and I were both fishing. I caught what I thought was a pretty nice bass and sent her a picture. Then she sent me a picture of her's. She's such a show off!

Windblown Gigit and Cricket

There were times when the wind picked up a lot. Randy and Cindy were coming to our boat with the dogs and you can see the effect of the winds. Gigit and Cricket were happy to get inside.

Cindy, Randy and
Linda at Bobcaygeon

 One of the most enjoyable things to do on the Trent Canal in Canada is sit at the locks and watch all the boaters and people go by. The picture on the left is at Bobcaygeon, our favorite town of the Trent Locks.

It's always 5 o'clock somewhere at Bobcaygeon. Remember the good times. They really are precious.

Randy & Cindy's boat

July 22nd: Progress with the blog site problems

Chris on Yesterday's Dream,
catching, on Lake Champlain 

I don't have much new going on but have made some progress with the blog site. My technology wizard nephew Chris, helped me find out why we couldn't open the pictures and a way around it. Actually, he discovered that clicking on SOME of the pictures would let you enlarge all of them, but you had to get the correct one. Obviously not the way it was designed, but it helped him figure out what I could do until the software is fixed. So hopefully, you will be able to easily enlarge the pictures again in new blog posts. It is still very difficult to move text, but it's readable! Picture placement is also difficult so I'll just put them where they want to go!

I finally finished the puzzle. It's a pretty cool picture with a lot of sea life if you look closely. I had fun putting it together.

My landlords, Scott and Mara, invited me for a glass of wine. They are delightful people and I enjoyed getting to know them. They love going to Italy and gave me a lot of information about travelling to Italy. I already wanted to go after listening to Rebecca talk about her trips, but now I definitely see a trip to Italy in my future. Gee, I wonder if Rebecca would want to come with me? 

Scott and Mara have two very friendly dogs. They informed me that one likes to eat the figs off of their fig tree. I said, "You have a fig tree?" There was a small fig tree in the corner of their front patio. I told them Rebecca had a great fig tree in her former house's back yard and the figs were great. Scott went over and picked three for me to take home. They're delicious. 

Fresh figs from Mara and Scott

My balcony gets a lot of sun in the mornings. Also it overlooks a "glass house". When I was on the balcony, or even in the kitchen, I felt like I was staring at the neighbors. Also felt like I was in a fish bowl with them looking at me. The glass doors on the bottom floor open all the way, which is great for them, but it felt like they were on top of me. 

When we finished adding the ivy layer to Rebecca's fence we had some Ivy stuff left over. Rebecca, said, "You could use these leftovers on your balcony." I thought, "Great idea". Of course I also recognized an ulterior motive when she said, "Well you need to just take all of the leftovers!" Not easy to get rid of "Stuff" in Studio City. As it turned out I was happy I took all of it. We used some for a dog fence in Matt & Wendy's back yard to keep Trevi and London from roaming the neighborhood, and I used all of the rest on my balcony.

Glass house viewed from my balcony

Ivy shade/privacy addition

I have continued my walking routine most days. It's getting too crowded at the beaches on the weekends so I just walk in the neighborhood. That works fine, I just miss the good workout of the massive stairs going down to the beach. I walked past a beautiful tree with orange blossoms. Once again, I have no idea what kind of tree it is but it sure is pretty. A little further I passed the house with the giant peacock sculpture in the front yard. It's fun just to walk around and see new things all the time. 

July 20th: Blog problem info

There are a lot of issues with Google's blogspot. I can still put a blog up but when you click on the pictures it tries to get you to sign in. My computer savvy cousin Marialice gave us a way to do it. In order to enlarge the pictures, you can just use your fingers on the screen on your phone or a touch screen computer. If you have an IPad you can hold your finger on the picture and it will give you the option to copy it. If you don't have a touch screen you can right click on the picture and tell it to copy it. I haven't figured out how to paste it where you want it but you can probably figure it out.

Here's the info about the problem.  Click on Blog problem info. If that doesn't work type in the address.

Blog problem info

https://9to5google.com/2020/07/16/google-blogspot-in-domain-lapse/

July 19th: More fun at Studio City

Jill's backyard, musical "Site"

Rebecca and Jill invited me to watch the musical Hamilton on the big projection screen in Jill's back yard. It's a very nice back yard with a great garage wall for a screen. Jill and Rebecca set up the projection equipment while Ollie entertained me. He's a feisty, friendly and fun little dog.








Jill provided a hot dog roast over her fire pit, including chili and roasted marshmallow s'mores. It's been a long time since I was at a hot dog roast and it was great.

Jill's signature cookies

And of course Jill made some of her signature cookies decorated just for the Hamilton screening. They looked so good it was again hard to eat them, but in the end we managed quite well. They are truly decadent! Jill twisted our arms so we had to take some home to go with our morning tea.

Streaming Hamilton in Jill's back yard

Ollie

We couldn't start the musical until it was pretty dark. The musical was pretty long and ended about 11:45 PM. Despite getting a little sleepy, the musical was very engaging so I stayed awake. Of course Ollie coming by every so often to look for me to pet him helped.






The weather was perfect. It was a very enjoyable evening and Rebecca's friends were a lot of fun. The yard was big enough for us to practice social distancing, even though everyone had been staying home bound until that night.


I slept in Saturday morning but London woke Rebecca up early as usual. (When I say early I mean 6 AM!) Fortunately, London just ate his breakfast and they went back to bed.

Removed numerous brackets
and started on the dry wall

My goal Saturday was to start taking down the many old brackets and bad dry wall in Rebecca's garage. It's a good sized garage but the interior is in pretty rough shape. We decided to take everything down to the studs and then put up new dry wall. I warned Rebecca this would be a many phase project. She said, "No problem."

I had done some surveillance and planning on my last trip up and
consequently ordered a very hefty 3 foot crow bar. It came in very handy. Some of the brackets were in a beam with 4 inch nails.

Half of the West wall drywall removed 

With the brackets removed I could remove the dry wall without too much effort. The hardest part was the 10 foot high wall, so I had to use the step ladder. Lots of climbing up and down. Good thing I had been doing the stairs at Swami's!

I had planned to finish the west wall but only completed half of it. Still it was a good day's work. There's always next time. It's not like it's urgent and with the CO#19, what else is there to do?







I was leaving the next day to get back for an eye appointment the following afternoon. I had put off getting an eye exam and new glasses for over 6 months because doing that in the Keys is "Iffy." With the CO#19 it took a while to get in so I wasn't going to miss the appointment. Rebecca, Trevi, London and I enjoyed the remainder of the afternoon and evening. Did I say the dogs are very lovable?








I decided to give Rebecca a break and took the dogs for their evening walk. You just never know what you'll come across in Studio City. These people are really into old cars and the 4th of July.






I knew that Rebecca had bought a portable air conditioning unit in her TV room that worked very well, but required dumping the condensed water quite often. I suggested we run a hose out the back wall under the dog door so she wouldn't have to empty the bucket. She thought it was a great idea.

Then she said, "You know, I think that dog door is too low for London." I agreed. She said, "If we raise it up, then we can run the hose easily." Made sense. I wanted to get it done before I left because it would be at least a couple weeks before my next visit and the summer heat was really kicking in. Lots of water dumping! Besides, how hard could it be? You guessed it. A lot harder than I anticipated.

London

Moving the dog door up

The guy that put the dog door in didn't put it in-between the studs, he just cut them off. Took 3 hours but I supported the studs and got it in. London looked on with minimal interest!

Hammer and Chisel
old school

When London tried the higher placement I thought, "That door isn't really big enough for London. She still has to crawl to get out." Didn't say anything though. At least it was good for now and the air conditioner water was now watering her raspberry bushes alongside the house.






I later called Rebecca to tell her I made it home and she said, "Would you kill me if I said I think the dog door is too small?" Guess great minds think alike! I assured her we could put a bigger one in more easily than this had gone.

In the mean time, the garage door started acting up again. I thought the motor was going bad because I had to adjust the tension as high as it would go. Oh well, new garage door opener and new dog door opener ordered for my next visit.

Puzzle June 18th

Puzzle July 10th

While at home I continued working on my puzzle. I work on it some almost every day and it is very slow going. It's  very detailed and the colors are very similar. It is fun when I finally find a piece or two! I guess I'm getting the kids' money worth out of my puzzle present, the gift that keeps on giving!

July 12th: 49th Anniversary Celebration

Linda and I were married July 10, 1971. We met in college and have been inseparable for 52 years. As this date was coming up a number of caring people expressed their support for me on what was perceived as a difficult day. I also perceived it as possibly a difficult day, but I wanted to get past the grief and celebrate 52 wonderful years.

Matt, Wendy, Rebecca and I got together to make that happen. I've learned that although I'm not past the grief, I can still celebrate and enjoy the memories.

Rebecca came down from Studio City with London and Trevi. We spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday together, doing what we would have done if Linda were here with us. It felt like she was.

Here are some pictures from the past that we enjoyed seeing again.

1971

Linda on our honeymoon. First trip together
 on the Trent Canal in Canada

4 generations, Grandma Grosswiller,
Linda's Grandma,  Leona Drouhard
 (Linda's Mom) Linda and Wendy 

Linda, Wendy and Rebecca, one of
 our annual trips to the Trent Canal

Christmas with Wendy and Rebecca

Celebrating our anniversary with
 a carrot cake while on the Great Loop

View from the top of the hiking path

The dogs really enjoy this path

I took the dogs for a hike on the path near Wendy and Matt's house Friday morning. It's a nice path with a great view.

We continued the tradition of playing Mario Cart. I even won a round or two!

And I decided to make a prime rib for dinner. It was always one of our favorites, Linda in particular. It turned out great!

Wendy made some zucchini bread with the zucchinis from Rebecca's hydroponic garden. It was also great! I was amazed that this is a picture of Rebecca's zucchinis just a week ago. They were full grown when she brought them.

London

Trevi & Linda

Of course, Trevi and London scored a little bit of the Rib Roast, after all it was our anniversary and Linda loved those dogs!

It was a very enjoyable anniversary celebration. 

June 8th: Studio City and San Juan Capistrano

Good blog news, at least for now. The old blogspot version came up this time. Let's hope it continues!

Matt, Wendy, Rebecca
Trevi & London

While at Rebecca's one project was to hang the big outdoor screen on her garage so we could watch movies in her back yard. The temperatures are very pleasant and the big screen is fun. Matt, Wendy, Rebecca and I enjoyed the evening. 

Of course in the pictures, it wasn't dark enough to start the movie.

The dogs seemed pretty happy also!

Jill's Designer cookies

Rebecca and I invited her friend Jill over for my salmon with dill sauce dinner. She'd enjoyed it when we were here in December and she was happy to come. She is a master cookie maker. She makes custom decorated high end cookies. If you want to order some you must do so several months in advance. Fortunately she is obsessively particular about her cookies. Therefore, she sometimes has rejects. Luckily for us, this was one of those times. Not only did they look too good to eat, they were delicious.

The faces are images of the couple that ordered the cookies.

Covered eating and relaxing area

Craig, Karen and Linda in Canada on
Rahn de Vous

I left Studio City and headed to Craig and Karen's house. As I said in an earlier blog, the four of us enjoyed cruising together in Canada for three summers They've been doing a major outdoor renovation to the front and back yard since October. Linda and I saw the beginning backyard and I was anxious to see the finished product. It is very nice. Beautiful and comfortable.

3 water flowing vases

Craig, being the engineer type he is, was really into the lighting. I should have taken a night picture. Next visit.

Karen saving succulents

Karen is very good with plants. I told her I was bringing some succulents from Rebecca's that were doing poorly. I had offered to try to save them. Karen was all over it. She gave me a lesson on growing succulents, showed me how to replant them in a big pot she provided along with "special" soil. Then she decided I might as well put some of her succulents into the small pots from Rebecca. All the succulents now have a home on my balcony, (out of the direct overhead sun which is apparently critical for succulents, who knew! Well other than Karen.)

Succulents on my balcony

The succulents might not look like much now but they are doing better already. I'll post a picture as they take over the balcony!

I enjoyed being with Rebecca in Studio City but it was nice to get home. I am pretty close to really feeling like this is home. It's hard for me to believe I will be here most probably through December. 

I continued my daily walks to the beach and/or through the neighborhood. I tried a couple different streets and you never know what to expect. I think this Smart Car has delusions of grandeur.

This tree gets my vote so far for the most spectacular. The picture doesn't do it justice.

And then there are also the artistically manicured trees/shrubs. Or maybe they just grow this way? I doubt it!

Camouflaged rabbit

On my way back I passed a field and thought I saw some movement. I stopped and watched for a while and sure enough, there was a very well camouflaged rabbit.

And then a little further down the road was the Surfer crossing sign. Hardly necessary. There seems to always be someone walking to or from the beach with a surf board. 

Scott, my landlord, said he has a learner's foam surf board I can borrow. I've tried surfing in the past with Matt but I was never here long enough to get the hang of it. The best I did was to stand up for a few short rides. Hopefully, I will become proficient, but first I need a wet suit. The water stays quite cold until August because the current flows from North to South.

I went out on to my balcony a few nights ago and the sky was unusually clear. There were planets very visible and quite a few stars. Reminded me of a card I received from Cathy Pendleton that I really liked. This night I appreciated it even more. Thanks again Cathy,