April 12th: Catching up

I guess I've been having fun because time has sure flown by! I decided I better get caught up with the blog. 

My Arizona trip to see Tom included moving on to Cleveland for a few days. My sister Julie asked if there was a van that Jim could drive a wheelchair into to make transportation more feasible. After some research, we found a perfect solution. It was an electric wheelchair that Jim could drive up a small ramp and lock the wheelchair in place electronically. This would allow Julie and Jim to be much more mobile. 

Jim trying out the new chair

Julie made all the arrangements and I said I would come to help them learn to use everything. It worked out great. The first day we went to the dealer and they measured placement of the wheelchair in the van. Jim practiced driving it around. It was a little tricky because it steers with a small joy stick. But he caught on quickly.

Two days later they delivered the van to our house. Julie successfully drove the scooter into the van which fits behind the wheelchair. 

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Jim successfully drove the chair into the van and got it locked into place. It's a great system. They were hoping for some good weather so they could get out for some adventures.

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Julie rolling buttercream 
centers

My visit was short but we managed to make a batch of butter creams. Julie hadn't made some for a few years and I told Tom I would try to send him a batch. They turned out great.

While I was visiting I learned that the broiler in the oven wasn't working. After doing some investigation, I discovered the problem. The broiler element was is terrible shape. I couldn't find one in stock in Cleveland. Installing the element was not easy so I wanted to fix it before I left. Thanks to the internet, I was able to order one on line with expedited shipping. Installing it required being a bit of an extortionist, but Jim held the light for me and we got it done. It's fun to have a project that is successful.

So I left the cold Midwest and headed back home to California. Surprisingly, our weather was not great, which is unusual. But it was good to be home. The nasty weather changed rapidly and I was treated with the view of a rainbow from my window.

Bev at Swami's, low tide

The weather improved rapidly. My friend Bev likes to walk the beach at low tide as much as I do. We had a very low tide. At high tide Bev would be in the water! We had a great walk with beautiful weather.

I had been putting off a project to polish the headlight covers on Wendy's car. (The car I rent from her very conveniently.) They were quite yellow. The kit to clean and polish them with an electric drill worked great. It's fun now every time I look at them. They looked so good we did Matt's Toyota Highlander also. 

I was thinking about Easter dinner. What to have? Matt and Wendy don't like lamb so that was out. Matt is not particular at all so I checked with Wendy and we decided on cabbage rolls. They turned out great!

Cabbage rolls

I found out the San Diego Botanic Garden did a bird walk the first Monday of every month. I signed up and it was great. We had four guides, two of whom had degrees in ornithology. It was a beautiful morning and the people were all great. I'll go again.

Bird spotting

The gardens are beautiful and we saw a large number of birds. 

I am helping Fran with some mechanical issues on her boat. Most are maintenance issues that require replacement of parts over time. Fran hired a great mechanic who is working with us to get everything up and running safely and efficiently. For those of you who are boaters, the pictures show the water pumps, the transmission coolers, hoses and some rust corrosion. Fran has invited me to captain her boat to several yacht club trips starting in May and into the Fall. I'm looking forward to it. 

I still enjoy hiking at the San Elijo Lagoon. My friend Bev and I went for a long walk around the south end of the lagoon. Bev encouraged me to take a trail into Annie's Canyon. It was incredibly beautiful and fun. I'd seen the signs for the trail but didn't think it would be that interesting. Glad Bev was the guide this time.

The trail comes straight up from the
bottom with the help of some small ladders.

Bev at the top of the trail overlooking the lagoon

I bought my hummingbird attracting plant. It attracted a couple hummingbirds so far. Also, a red eyed vireo spent time going from blossom to blossom getting something out of the flower. They eat insects so maybe? Fun to watch it.

March 2nd: Visit to Flagstaff

February 22nd, Pat (Linda's brother), his wife Becky and I went to Flagstaff to visit Tom. We fly into Phoenix and then drive to Flagstaff. We arrived in the morning, picked up the rental car and headed north looking for breakfast. I found a place nearby that had good reviews. When we arrived at the strip mall where it was located we noticed a Mediterranean Market. We entered the restaurant which was small and quite sparse. The lady in charge said, "Sit, Sit." So we sat. She said, "What do you want?" Pat asked for a menu. She said, "No menus, what do you want?" We said "Breakfast". We learned there were no eggs, no pancakes, etc. Three options. Beef Pita, chicken quesadillas, or sausage. We discovered this was a Bosnian restaurant. The lady was very nice with a good sense of humor. We figured we might as well go for it. She recommended the beef pita. We decided to split an order of chicken Quesadillas and an order of sausage thinking that would be plenty.

The food came. It was plentiful and delicious. She also brought an order of the beef pita on the house because she wanted us to try it. The many sausages came in a giant baked bun. The sausage tasted like beef. I asked the lady if it was pork. She said, "NO,NO, No pork here!" We decided she was Muslim! It was a fun and interesting breakfast.

There were some fun t-shirts for sale. We passed on the t-shirts, given we aren't Bosnian!

Pat suggested we go to the Mediterranean Market to see if we could get a leg of lamb. Seemed like a good possibility. Tom loves leg of lamb so Pat generally make it when we visit. He uses his mom's recipe which brings back many happy memories. The market was great. Many middle eastern foods and an extensive meat offering. The leg of lamb looked excellent.

We arrived early enough to Flagstaff to take Tom to his favorite Chinese Restaurant. It is an excellent restaurant. The timing was good. I proposed a toast to Tom because it was the anniversary of Tom giving Linda a kidney. Thanks to Tom we enjoyed Linda's wonderful life for an additional 35 years.

We always try to find a good place to take Tom and get him out of the house. Becky suggested Wupatki National Monument. It was only 45 minutes from Tom's house. We had all been there before but it is a beautiful place to visit. The drive to Wupatki was beautiful. We enjoyed walking around the historic site again. 

Here are some pictures of the park.

 

Here is more info on Wupatki.  Wupatki

We took time for walks, Pat is  recovering well from open heart surgery and exercise is part of his rehab. It's a great place to go for walks. 

The lamb dinner turned out great. Tom's extended family all joined us. 

Becky enjoyed holding Santana's baby girl. She is very cute. 

Sunday morning we took Tom to a great breakfast place. We would head back to Phoenix after breakfast. It was a great visit.

January 2024: Enjoying California Outdoors

We had another day with extremely low tides. Everything you see in the picture below is under water at high tide. The sea birds find a lot to eat when this happens. These Black-Backed Gulls are the largest seagulls.

It's really fun to walk around and checkout the tidal pools. 

Here a picture showing the contrast between low and high tide. At high tide the water goes up to the rocks and cliffs on the right.

The Rahns had purchased a small turkey over the holidays and invited me to come to share it after things quieted down. The turkey dinner was great and Craig did an excellent job carving. They both made all the usual fixings. 

I brought butter creams and Talenti East Coast Pistachio Gelato for dessert. I highly recommend the Gelato. My sister Julia was able to find it in Cleveland.

Craig and Karen

As usual, I stayed overnight and enjoyed the Rahns' company. The next day the weather was perfect for a nice hike.

Rattlesnake Plant Day

I am still fascinated by Rebecca's rattlesnake plant that I rescued. It is doing great. I think It might need a bigger pot but it is already pretty big for my place. Here is a picture of it during the day and a picture of it at night when the leaves curl and stand straight up.

Rattlesnake Plant night

Also, good news to report on my succulents. You might recall me reporting that after 3 years they just don't do anything. They have decided to grow a lot. There are many small leaves sprouting. They are  still in the same small pots.

5 days of rain were forecast starting Sunday evening so I decided to get in a long walk at the San Elijo Lagoon. Its one of my favorites and the last time I was there I saw a number of ducks and Coots. I took my binoculars because the trails do not let you get real close to the birds.

I probably posted this sign in the past but in case you missed it here it is again. 

Torrey Pine at San Elijo Lagoon

These unique trees grow very large and have huge pine cones.

Also on one of the trails is this fun locator sign. Hopefully you can enlarge these signs to read them.

This turned out to be the best duck sighting day ever. February is a great month for migrating birds. I saw all of the birds/ducks I have included in the pictures below. Most are from an identifying sign at the visitor center. I could get a good view with my binoculars but pictures are tough. I included the best pictures, which aren't that great.

Coot

Coots are very fun to watch. They dive down to get something to eat. Their little white beaks really stand out against their black bodies. The picture at the video center had more gray than the ones I see.

Coot

snowy egrets

There were over 30 of these snowy egrets.

American Widgeon

This was the first time that I saw some American Widgeons. They have light blue beaks and the males in particular are quite colorful. There were a number of small flocks throughout the lagoon.

As I was walking on a trail up a hill I came upon some people I thought were looking down into the lagoon. Turned out they were watching a tiny Rufous hummingbird. He just sat there for a long time so I could get a picture. The one from the visitor center gives you a better look.

I happened to catch this Barrow's Goldeneye flapping its wings. 

Buffleheads

The Buffleheads are my favorites. They are small, very colorful and dive under the water a lot. Their colors are very defined and distinct.

Bufflehead

Moving around the trail and down into a lower area I saw some pintails.

In the same area I spotted a pair of very unusually colored ducks. I was able to identify it at the visitor center. They reminded me of a burnt sienna crayon. They were too far away to get even a poor picture but here's the one from the visitor center. I included a link which has some better pictures.  Cinnamon Teal

There were quite a few small birds but they moved very quickly. I did get a good look at this White Crowned Sparrow.

As I was walking across a bridge a large bird flew right in front of me and landed on the other side of the river. It was a Long Billed Curlew. It has a very impressive beak!

I was able to get a good picture of this bird. I thought Merlin, the bird identifying ap, would identify it. But no match was found. Perhaps my niece Stephanie can tell me what it is.

There were other birds. Great blue heron, mallards, numerous seagulls an osprey and some hawks.  It was the best day ever at the lagoon.

I learned a little bit about lemons from Wendy and a friend. Wendy has a nice, very prolific lemon tree in her back yard. A friend asked me if it was a Meyer lemon tree. I didn't know but Wendy did. My friend gave me one of her lemons to compare. Wendy knew if was a Meyer lemon. Here's a picture of both and a link about the Meyer Lemon Tree. Meyer Lemon Tree The Meyer lemon is on the right.

I signed up for a watercolor and multimedia art class at Mira Cost College. It is designed for beginners as well as more accomplished artists. Its been fun. I don't think my work is ready for sale but its been fun. Here are some of my pictures.

Guppy (Sort of)

The instructor is very encouraging. He encourages us to not overthink anything. Just draw it, paint it, keep moving to the next thing instead of trying to get things perfect. I like his approach.

I continue to help Fran with her boat. 

I had pointed out a couple issues I noticed when examining the boat engines. The boat sat for a long time and I recommended a mechanic do an assessment. She was able to find a great mechanic who has been working with us.  Craig, Fran, her brother and I joined the mechanic for a sea test. 

I drove the boat while the mechanic did numerous tests on the two 435 horsepower diesel Caterpiller 3208 engines. They are large and powerful! It was a beautiful day and quite enjoyable. 

When we returned to the dock I was looking through a box of records Fran had on board. The mechanic, Marcus, said, "Wait, let me see that record." Turns out he worked on the boat in 2003 when it was named Legacy. Fran and her husband bought it later and changed the name. Funny coincidence. Fran told Marcus he's like family now! She is anxiously waiting for his assessment. I believe most of the repairs relate to general maintenance but we haven't received the report yet.

I found a number of electrical issues but I didn't have the equipment I needed to pursue them. Nothing fancy but necessary. The equipment came in yesterday from Amazon. Some issues I can take care of and Fran is anxious to learn and help. We're going to work on the electrical issues Thursday. Something worthwhile to do in the rain.

The rain came in as forecast. We had a lot of rain a couple weeks ago. I decided to make one more batch of anise cookies. Sometimes they come out the way they should with little caps on them. But sometimes they don't. The rain helped me figure out why. I expected the cookies to come out great. The mixture and consistency needs to be just right. I've made enough I can get very close to perfect. This batch should have been great. But it wasn't. 

I started thinking what variables could be at work. Humidity dawned on me. The humidity was 97%. The cookies sit over night for the tops to harden and then you bake them the next morning. I searched on line and found someone who said they won't get caps if the humidity is over 50%. Really? Fortunately, the rain quit and the humidity dropped to 27%. So of course I had to try it. They came out perfect! 

Looks like a very rainy week. I'll continue pickleball at the YMCA and I also started swimming again. There are 2 Olympic size swimming pools under a glass enclosure. The enclosure opens partially when the weather is nice, which is most of the time! I'll also have plenty of time to practice my art. I will be visiting Tom again in Arizona February 22nd with Linda's brother Pat and his wife Becky.