August 1st: Catching up on the last week

It's been a good week. I had intended to get an eye exam, new contacts and glasses in January. My old glasses were worn and no longer as clear as they should have been. Then I left them on the boat bench seat and Linda sat on them. They didn't like that! Had to use my old ones. (My fault) With the CO#19 the eye exam wasn't going to happen any time soon. Emergencies only. (Plus I wasn't sure I wanted to go to an enclosed office anyway.) I found an optometrist right here in Encinitas that got me in. They were very meticulous about safety and I really liked everyone in the office. So I finally got my new contact lenses and glasses. Everything is crystal clear!

I was also able to find a good dentist. I had a tooth bothering me 4 months ago and a dentist in Florida replaced a filling. Three weeks later it was still bothering me. Decided to chance going back. She was closed due to the CO#19. Went to a different dentist in Key West. He "adjusted" the filling and said come back if that didn't work, but give it a couple weeks. A week later I decided it was time to get out of Florida. Came to Encinitas and started looking for a dentist. Found a great one. She examined my X-rays and said well, the good news is I can save the tooth! I said, "Well that's good because I never thought I'd lose it!" I liked her direct approach. I'll spare you the details but a root canal, a crown and lots of money later, all is good. (I figured out why they call it a "Crown". It's because they cost so much they want you to feel like royalty!)

The thought occurs to me that it's sad when eye exams and dentists seem to be the biggest things to report. However, I will say, when waiting as long as I did to get those done, it became much more enjoyable. The old saying, "It's like pounding your head against the wall so it feels good when you stop," is appropriate.

Colorado mountains

There are some more fun things going on. Matt and Wendy were
able to take a road trip to Colorado. Lots of mountain biking for Matt and hiking for both. It was very sad that they had to cancel a 6 week or so trip to Spain and France this summer.

View from Matt & Wendy's place

Mountain stream

Abandoned mine shaft entrance

I was very happy they were able to take this trip. It's not Europe, but Colorado is very beautiful, especially for mountain biking and hiking. Notice how clear the air is in the pictures. Of course they are at elevations 5,000 - 9,000 feet.






Travelling vicariously through Matt and Wendy might not be like being there but its fun, especially having good memories of our trips to Colorado when Matt was stationed there for three years.

Linda, Matt Wendy & Rebecca at Garden of the Gods, 2006

Movie screen going up

Saturday morning I headed to Studio City, in part to celebrate Rebecca's birthday, and also to continue some projects. The first project was to hang the new 16 ft. x 9 ft. movie screen in her backyard. She returned the first one we put up because she realized she could get an even bigger one. Her garage wall was a perfect place to hang it. We wanted to use it that night, birthday dinner and a movie!

Lobster birthday dinner

We had the screen up in plenty of time before dark (movie time) to enjoy a birthday dinner.

Lobster is one of our favorite dinners, and there is a 99 Ranch Asian market close to Encinitas that has nice sized lobsters at a good price. I picked up the lobsters before driving to Rebecca's. They were delicious, as usual.

Rebecca's back yard theater

 I made a small birthday cake, given it was just the two of us, and it was just right. It was complimented with home made Tiger Tail Ice cream.

Rebecca always loved Tiger Tail ice cream cones when we went to Canada. You cannot buy Tiger Tail in the U.S. It's marbled vanilla ice cream, orange sherbet and licorice (anise oil). We could never understand why no one in the U.S. sells it. Rebecca decided to make her own! This is the second time I've had it and it's great. Especially since I can't go to Canada this year!

Premiere use of the screen

It became almost dark, so we started the Game of Thrones. The new screen was great. It needs a little fine tuning to get some wrinkles out, as you can see in the picture, but they weren't noticeable from our seats. As usual it was a beautiful weather night.






I was anxious to get to the projects Sunday morning, after walking the dogs of course! There were two projects I definitely wanted to complete on this trip. Both were related to things used every day, so the sooner the better. Install the new dog door so London could more easily get in and out, and install the new garage door opener.

Rebecca's new safety glasses

The new dog door installation went well. It was easier than moving the old one up a little because I had already reworked the wall studs. Took the old door out with London wondering what was going on.

Matt found a stucco saw blade for the reciprocating saw which was wonderful. Rebecca ordered some safety glasses given the reciprocating saw work. The saw blade saved a lot of time and chisel work.

Bigger dog door installed

You can see the new door is quite a bit bigger.

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London loves it! She no longer has to crouch down to get out.

Installing new wiring

Moving the hanging brackets

On to the next project. We were replacing a quite old garage door opener so I suspected it wouldn't be a simple swap. I was correct. Some of the wiring was different and also too short. The hanging brackets had to be moved and the safety sensors that stop the door if something is in the way, wouldn't work with the new opener.






Nothing was really that difficult except it was a lot of standing on the ladder. I've been doing the stairs at the beach a lot, but I discovered standing on a ladder uses different muscles. I got smart eventually and gave Rebecca a few turns on the ladder. She's very capable, learned from the best!

We had everything installed and I was looking for the mechanisms to tell the door when to stop at the top and bottom. Didn't see any and the installation instructions didn't mention anything so I pushed the button. Door moved 6 inches down and stopped. Pushed it again and it moved 6 inches up and stopped. I thought, "Please not another problem." Then I thought, "Linda would have read the operating manual before I started." In my defense, I made a point of sitting down and reading the installation directions before starting. Went into the house and found the operating manual. I knew there had to be a way to set the opening and closing. I quickly learned it is now electronic and easily programmed. I guess that's why Linda always read the manuals. Very smart door opener! Works great and is surprisingly quiet.

Beef short ribs ready to go into the oven

By the time we finished that project, I decided that was enough. Two projects successfully completed. Time to relax and have a nice dinner outside again. I had learned from our good Canadian boating friend Cindy that beef roasts cook much better in a cast iron dutch oven. I brought the small one I bought to make rye bread, along with some beef short ribs.  I baked them, lid on, for about 4 hours at 250 degrees. They were great, and so were the onions.



It was another great evening.  The new screen was installed, the two "urgent" projects were completed, and I still had a couple more days to work on Rebecca's next priorities.


Fortunately, Rebecca has remodeled her guest bathroom with a great shower, bench seat included, and a massive soaking tub. Linda and I both always enjoyed taking a long bath and Rebecca designed the bathroom for us. The tub is especially great after climbing and working on ladders. I soaked in the tub three of the four nights I was there.